IBM yesterday duly announced six high-end AS/400 models, claiming an average of more than 50% increase in relative performance over current models. The D35, D45, D50, D60, D70 and D80 offer 1.28Gb of integrated disk storage, maximum memory ranges from 72Mb to 384Mb, and maximum external disk goes from 27.4Gb to 123.4Gb. The D80 has N-Way multiprocessor architecture, and is said to offer 2.8 times the system performance, main storage and disk storage capacity of the B70. It uses two processors, closely-coupled D70s, and the company has made a statement of direction that more powerful N-Way systems will be announced in 1992. The intermediate models, the 9404 D10, D20 and D25, offer 33% to 55% performance improvements over previous models. Memory has been increased, from 32Mb to 64Mb, disk storage capacity ranges between 4.8Gb to 6.4Gb, and there is an internal 400Mb drive. The low-end 9402 models – the D04 and D06 – are said to offer up to 45% improved performance compared with previous models. Memory ranges from 16Mb to 20Mb, and both models have the 400Mb internal disk unit. IBM has made sweeping discounts and price cuts with the 9402 D04 costing UKP9,173 and the D06 is UKP12,000. The 9404 D10 is UKP11,313, the D20 is UKP22,626 and the D25 costs UKP47,698. The 9406 D35 is UKP23,000, the D45 is UKP47,086, the D50 is UKP81,581, the D60 and D70 are UKP154,164 and UKP237,265 respectively, and the D80 costs UKP440,285. A previous model B50 was UKP103,730 and the new D45 with 15% more power is UKP47,086, and the total hardware and software cost, formerly UKP129,329, is now UKP70,950, including OS/400 Version 2 Release 1. Likewise, a B35 costs UKP18,452 and its replacement, the D10, is $11,313. Hardware and software falls from UKP27,883 to UKP16,325. Other announcements include OS/400 Version 2 which now supports Open Systems Interconnection, TCP/IP and ISDN. Release 1 is available next month and Version 2.1 Modificati on 1, available March 1992, will provide additional networking func tions and support the first stage of the SAA Distributed Relational Database Architecture. There is no upgrade charge for new versions shipped before November 30, 1992, but IBM says it will now charge for new versions of OS/400 and other system software and upgrades ship ped on or after December 1, 1992. IBM UK has taken equity stakes put at 10% in the nine of its agents, AIG Computer Services Ltd, Acksus Computer Services Ltd, Bluebird Software Plc, CEP (Business Solutions) Plc, Computer Services for Industry Ltd – CSI, Cyberaid Ltd, International Banking Information Systems Ltd, JBA International Plc and Quality Software Products Ltd.
