Data General Corp, which endorses Intel Corp chief executive Andy Grove’s notion that a Unixification process is under way on Intel systems (CI No 2,655), claims that less than 5% of DG-UX code, which was developed on the proprietary MV Eclipse, is processor-specific, and hopes to position current AViiON users’ considerable re-compilation tasks in the best possible light. But with an installed base of AViiONs worth well in excess of $1,000m, it’s a task the company said it will go to great lengths to address, while admitting that at the end of the day the decision to move is up to the user. It promises hundreds of applications up on the Non Uniform Memory Architecture-enabled DG-UX next year, along with Spec 1170 conformance. Specific product plans are not expected until later in the year, but the company will move to the new memory architecture in stages. It will introduce a standard 16-way 133MHz Pentium server by end of the year, systems with quad-P6 boards early 1996, and a full Non Uniform Memory Architecture-Scalable Coherent Interface implementation late next year. It said it made its decision to go with Intel nearly a year ago, and signed its agreement with Dolphin Interconnect Solutions A/S for the interface just after (CI No 2,693). Other Scalable Coherent Interface users include Convex Computer Corp, IBM Corp and Unisys Corp, with Vitesse Semiconductor Corp, fabricator of Gallium Arsenide chips. Current AViiON customers will be offered systems with twice the current chip count, now at 16, in new 88110-based models later in the year, although there is no mention of a higher-clocked version of the chip.
