Division Ltd’s Clive Jones says IBM Corp in the UK will begin shipping its virtual reality-equipped RS/6000 machines (CI No 1,878) at the end of the third quarter this year, through its value-added reseller chain. Basically, the RS/6000 will be available with an optional plug-in board, comprising what Jones cagily describes as an equivalent of Division’s ProVision compute engine (CI No 1,751), which is made up of Intel 80860 processors, Toshiba Polygon chips and Inmos Transputers. The board will be a plug-in-and-go device, running with easily-installed software. It is expected that users will buy the peripherals too – at the very least a headset or boom-mounted display will be required to benefit from the three-dimensional experience – a bundled package is expected to cost between UKP63,000 and UKP65,000, the price of a Division ProVision system today. The project is initially restricted to the UK – presumably IBM wants to dip its toe in the water before it makes for the big time. The package is aimed at the aerospace, automotive and ship-building industries where, it is claimed, IBM has a strong RS/6000 base of customers, using Dassault Systemes SA’s Catia industrial design suite. By the summer, it is expected that other IBM third party software vendors will begin to convert their products for the dVS/UniVRS environment. Jones notes that there are AutoCAD-like applications up and running on the RS/6000, so there’s no reason why IBM couldn’t spread its wings and get into virtual reality in a big way. As to whether Division will implement its virtual reality environment for other RISCs, again Jones says there is no reason why not. Currently, ProVision can be front-ended by an MS-DOS personal computer or a Sun Microsystems Inc Sparcstation, into which the board-engine could feasibly be integrated. Jones says Division is doing very well out of Pro Vision, and is excited about the IBM RS/6000 deal, the figures for which will begin to show in its financial results for the second half.
