AIX/ESA 2.1 Programs and Statements of Direction
In addition to AIX/ESA 2.1, IBM has announced a set of associated licensed programs. These include the Network Computing System for AIX/ESA; AIX VS Fortran/ESA; AIX X-Windows Real Time Monitor/ESA; Network File System for AIX/ESA Version 2 Release 1; AIXwindows Environment/ESA; and Documenter’s Workbench for AIX/ESA. IBM says that a second release of AIX/ESA will be available in the next half. This will provide additional function like asynchronous input-output, data striping, and support of file systems greater than 2Gb. Asynchronous input-output will enable an application to overlap input-output and processing, while performance may be improved by using Data Striping that enables large files to be partitioned among independent physical channels attached to multiple control units, which are connected to physical input-output devices. The Documenter’s Workbench for AIX/ESA provides facilities for creating documentation and a family of programs for typesetting materials that contain equations, tables, diagrams and standard text. The Networking Computing System for AIX/ESA is derived from HP/Apollo’s eponymous product and provides a set of object-oriented tools for heterogeneous distributed computing. It enables tasks to be distributed by maintaining databases that control the information on the tasks. AIX/ESA contains an ANSI-compliant C compiler and with AIX VS Fortran/ESA Compiler and Library, AIX VS Fortran includes support for Vector Facilities, compliance with ANSI Fortran 77 specification, dbx debugging support, and Fortran source compatibility with VS Fortran 2.5. Also, IBM intends to enhance performance for AIX/ESA users connected through a channel or local area network-attached RS/6000. AIX/ESA will enable terminals connected to asynchronous ports on an RS/6000 to operate as if they are directly connected to the AIX/ESA system. The virtual terminal support that enables remote logins to AIX/ESA using Telnet and rlogin will be handled from on the RS/6000, reducing the load on the AIX/ESA system. IBM says it will provide staged support of specific processor configurations and operating environments, starting June 26, this year with all environments supported by December 31.
NFS for AIX/ESA Version 2
Network File System for AIX/ESA Version 2 is a system for sharing directories across internet protocol networks. Instead of duplicating common files and directories on every system, the file system provides a single copy of the file or directory that is shared by all systems on the network, and users need not log on to other systems to access files. AIX/ESA’s Network File System is said to increase performance through functions like identification mapping; the ability to unexport files; the capability for a server to allow read only access to a file for some users and read write access for others; an auto-mounter; Network Information Systems; Network Lock Manager; and a multiprocessing capability. Available June 26, it is $4,415 to $90,960, while distributed licences are $3,310 to $68,220. Monthly licences are $92 to $1,895, distributed options run from $69 to $1,420.
Network Computing System For AIX/ESA
The Network Computing System for AIX/ESA licensed program is a port of Hewlett-Packard/Apollo’s NCS object-oriented tools for distributing computer processing tasks over a network of similar or dissimilar hosts. IBM says customers that would benefit most from Network Computing System are those that plan to migrate to Distributed Computing Environment, as NCS is the base for the Open Software Foundation’s offering. It enables the offloading of large processing and a stub/run-time interface permits simultaneous support of a variety of transport protocols. NCS is claimed to have a relatively easy interface definition language, and when writing applications, most run-time library calls won’t be used directly. Instead, the interface definitions are written in NIDL, the Network Interface Definition Language, and they use the NIDL compiler to generate the calls to the run-
time library. The client and server stubs produced by the NIDL compiler provide transparent access to remote applications. NCS provides the same behaviour for applications regardless of the transport service used and applications need not be written for different transport services. The remote procedure call run-time library is independent of underlying communication protocols which means that applications based on NCS can use several different protocols transparently. The destination address of a message automatically determines the protocol to be used, and the NCS stub/runtime interface permits new transports and protocols to be introduced without changing the application. NCS runtime software currently supports the Internet protocols TCP and UDP as well as the Apollo Domain/Message protocol. Also, portable C source code is produced when the NIDL compiler converts high-level interface descriptions of the remote procedures. This code contains remote procedure calls that behave the same way as local procedure calls. For ES/9000 processor groups 18 to 80, NCS costs between $4,415 and $90,960, while the distributed options are between $3,310 and $68,220. Monthly licenses are from $92 to $1,895, and distributed options go from $69 to $1,420. It is available from June 26.
AIX VS Fortran/ESA 1.1.0
AIX VS Fortran/ESA is based on VS Fortran Version 2 Release 5 and provides Vector Facility support for the 370 and 390 families. Also, it provides symbolic debug support unavailable with VS Fortran for AIX/370. It exploits the entire address space so that when dealing with large arrays, the developer may not have to implement spill logic. AIX VS Fortran/ESA conforms to Fortran 77 and Fortran 66 standards, and it is compatible with VS Fortran Version 2 Release 5 for AIX/370 at the source language level, IBM says. With certain limitations, AIX VS Fortran/ESA is compatible with the VS Fortran Version 2 Release 5 for MVS and CMS at the source language level. This facilitates source code compatibility with VS Fortran Version 2 Release 5 on MVS and CMS. IBM says that it intends to add parallel processing capability to AIX VS Fortran/ESA functionally equivalent to that provided in VS Fortran Version 2 Release 5 for MVS and CMS. Available July 31, it is $5,760 to $118,300 for groups 18 to 80, and distributed options are from $4,320 to $88,730. Monthly licences are $120 to $2,465, distributed licences are $90 to $1,850.
