First preannounced by Robb Wilmot as long ago as April 1982, Unix under ICL’s VME operating system on its Series 39 mainframes will finally debut in the next VME release due in September. ICL is according the facility little strategic importance and will sell it only to existing VME users who want the ability to run a few Unix applications. New customers and existing ME29 users wanting to switch to Unix will be offered the Clan range. A series of tools to help ME29 sites make the transition to Unix are also being developed in collaboration with third parties for later this year. As for the new low-end Series 39 machines (CI No 703), the models 15, 25 and 35 are available from July 1, with an 8Mb 15 coming in at UKP91,000, or UKP71,000 to ME29 sites that upgrade. The 25 and 35 offer 10% more power and 40% better price-performance than the models 20 and 30 they replace. Upgrades from the 20 and 30 to the new machines cost UKP5,000. The model dual 35D will be available late this year. And the Series 39 line will be further extended next year but this time in an upwards direction with introduction of a three-node and a four-node model 80.
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