IBM is reportedly nearly ready to take on Amdahl Corp head-to head in mainframe Unix with a new AIX/370 that runs native on 370-type mainframes: its present implementation, IX/370, runs only under VM, and re-quires a Series 1 minicomputer front-end in order support the necessary ASCII terminals. According to Computer Systems News, the new implement-ation of Unix System V has been developed by IBM’s big Unix team in Aus-tin, Texas without outside help. It will be compatible with a new rel-ease of AIX for the RT Personal and the AIX for the Personal System/2 Model 80 – and will be brought into the Systems Applications Architecture fold. The new implementation will supersede IX/370, which was dev-eloped with the help of Interactive Systems Corp, Santa Monica, and IBM is thought to be pressing ahead with it announcement is expected by the first quarter of next year because so many government contracts, not only in the US but particularly in Scandinavia, now specify Unix.