Encore Computer Corp, Fort Lauderdale, Florida is hoping to ease users of its proprietary Concept/32 superminis over to its 88000 RISC-based machines, and has come out with the Encore RSX System, a RISC processor with dual operating modes: native RISC and Concept/32 mode. In native RISC mode, it is just another member of the company’s 90 Series family of 88000 real-time machines, in compatibility mode, it executes any Concept/32 object code – and it can also operate simultaneously in both modes – sounds as if it includes a Concept/32 processor as well as the 88000 – and has tools for moving object code from compatibility mode to RISC mode. Prices for a complete RSX system range from $149,400 to $249,900, depending on options. Upgrades to existing Encore systems, which involves an exchange of processor boards, begin at $99,500, and are expected to begin shipping this month. The company also announced the Encore 93 Series, a fully symmetric multiprocessor 88000 system designed for real-time and transaction processing applications. Each Encore 93 Series system can be configured with from four to 32 Motorola 88000 RISCs for performance up to 600 MIPS. Main memory goes from 64Mb to 840Mb, and multiple SCSI channels support over 100Gb disk. Up to eight 93 Series systems can be clustered with protocols such as Network File System and TCP/IP over 53Mbyte-per-second memory interconnects. As many as eight clusters of eight systems can be interconnected at distances of up to two miles and clusters can include other members of the 90 Family, as well as Encore’s Concept/32 and the new RSX. Clusters can be configured for distributed systems delivering over 5,000 VAX MIPS with an input-output bandwidth in excess of 300Mbytes-per-second. The machines run a multi-threaded real-time Unix that complies with current Posix, GOSIP, 88open, and System V Interface Definition standards and Encore has committed to compliance with future extensions. The company also announced that it was integrating Information Processing Techniques Inc’s Fortran-lint analysis tool with its software development environment for the Encore 90 Family: Fortran-lint is a source code analyser claimed to detect over 95% of the nonlogic errors for applications written in Fortran. And it signed a three-year agreement with Reston, Virginia-based Visix Software Inc to bundle the Looking Glass Professional graphical environment with all its Unix-based 90 Family. Looking Glass Professional is implemented in compliance with OSF/Motif and Open Look.
