IBM Corp is working on a range of super-high-end parallel mainframes using a new CMOS RISC processor and running new moderately parallel versions of MVS and DB2, this month’s issue of our sister publication IBM System User reports. Analysts that have seen the things at beta test sites in the US expect them to be announced next year for delivery in 1994 – but analysts are almost always too optimistic in forecasting IBM announcement dates. The new machines are expected to come in above the ES/9000s and to dispense with water cooling, while being configurable with up to 100 processors working in parallel. It is suggested that the machines will be capable of input-output throughput of up to 1G-byte per second. While the entry price is likely to be high, price-performance should show a big advance on the current generation of mainframes, but it is questionable whether there will be big demand for the machines: sceptics will point out that once again MVS, and this time DB2 as well, will be being asked to do something that they were never designed to do.
