Claiming both a top-end 1000 plus transactions per second and a 15% to 20% price-performance advantage over IBM’s 3090, Honeywell Bull Inc and affiliates yesterday launched their new family of DPS 9000 mainframes. Originally introduced by NEC in Japan in February 1986 as the ACOS 2000 (CI No 367), the range combines NEC S/2000 processors with a new release of Honeywell Bull’s proprietary GCOS 8 operating system – no details of either, together with Bull’s Distributed Systems Architecture networking software. Spanning one to four processor models – called 9100, 9200T, 9300T and 9400T respectively – the DPS 9000 family offers a maximum of 1,000 input-output channels, 1Gb of main memory, and 1Mb of cache, divided 512Kb and 128Kb per processor between the System Control Unit and the CPU. Other highlights include the integration of an optional vector processor, the TP 8 transaction processing monitor, high-speed bipolar Current Mode Logic, CML, semiconductor technology, and support for both heirarchical and relational database queries within the operating system. Comparative transaction processing rates were gained by running the TP1 Credit-Debit benchmark on an IBM 3090-150E, explained product consultant Peter Wells. When measured against system cost, the 9200 offered 518tps against 276tps on the 3090-400S, with the 9300 offering 764tps, against the 427tps recorded on the 600S. Performance issues aside, UK marketing and planning director Alex Russell believes the new range will provide Honeywell’s existing DPS 90 customer base with a clear upgrade path. The company also plans to target government bodies, local authorities and large organisations with distributed processing needs. Honeywell puts projected sales for the entire GCOS 8 based range at $4,000m: Honeywell Bull Italia and Groupe Bull already have a number of customers on their books. Prices for the new family start at UKP15m, with availibility set for the second quarter of 1989 in the US, and the third quarter in the US. The company also announced two new low-end extensions to the DPS 90 family – the single-processor DPS 90/91E offering 64Mb main memory and 20Gb on disks, and the dual processor DPS 90/92T offering 64Mb and a further 40Gb on disk. Migration kits to the three- and four-processor models are also available. And Honeywell added NEC-dev eloped tape cartridge systems, pro viding 200Mb storage capacity over a 3Mbyte-per-second channel, com plete with automatic loader units handling up to five cartridges.
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