These things always come along as a bit of an afterthought because they are never going to make as much money as the workstation version, but Hewlett-Packard Co has now introduced its most powerful VMEbus board-level computer yet, and calls it the HP 9000 Model 742i. The new computer is based on the 50MHz PA-7100 version of the Precision Architecture RISC, rated at 61 MIPS, and joins the company’s family of industrial computers. It is bundled with HP-UX Unix and is designed for system integrators and the OEM market in manufacturing, aerospace and defence. It fits into two 6U VMEbus slots, enabling the Model 742i to outperform multiboard computers, which typically have more intensive development and support requirements, the company claims. It offers standard VMEbus interface option, eliminating the need for a separate controller board. With 16Mb of memory going to 32Mb or 64Mb – it is $8,800 and has on-board local network connector, a Centronics parallel port, two RS-232-C ports and an SCSI-2 SE port; the bundled HP-UX 9.01 operating system carries a two-user licence.
