Hewlett-Packard Co duly launched the Sequoia Systems Inc fault-tolerant Unix machine yesterday, and, as it had said when the agreement was announced, pitched the machine primarily at the telecommunications industry. Called the HP 9000 Model 1240 in Hewlett colours, the machine is claimed to use more efficient technology and offer better price-performance than competitive systems. Telecommunications companies are increasingly relying on fault-tolerant computers to manage their networks, change telephone service on-line and to bill customers, Hewlett says. The Model 1240 goes from two to 64 68030 CPUs and is claimed to have processed transactions up to 150% faster than comparable Stratus Computer Inc and 25% faster than comparable Tandem Computers systems: 250 debit/credit transactions per second with 12 CPUs, 125 with six. It is $684,900 for a 128-user two processor configuration; ships start next month.
