Kode Computers Ltd of Swindon in Wiltshire has launched the Icon 8000, based on Motorola’s 88000 RISC architecture (CI No 1,181). An extension to the present Icon family, which comprises the Icon 2000 and 4000, it conforms to the 88open binary compatibility standard, and has two Motorola 68020 processors in addition to the 88000. The new machine runs under MS-DOS, Unix and Pick, and all three operating systems can run concurrently, with simultaneous access to and transfer of data. The Icon 8000 supports up to 256 users and delivers up to 15 MIPS. The current model will be upgraded from 20MHz to 25MHz by the last quarter of this year, and a 33MHz version will be available by the first quarter of 1990. Jack Davies, Icon’s vicepresident of corporate development was present at the launch, having just returned from a meeting in Stockholm of the 88open Software Initiative. He said that Icon had chosen the 88000 chip set on the basis of its performance and the ease with which it supported operations in a multi-processing environment. He also said that the new machine would be a much more powerful workstation on a single user environment. Asked if the Icon 8000 would run under other operating systems in the future, Davies claimed that it would be technically possible to run it under most systems. If funds were to be made available, (and parent company Sanyo should perhaps bend an ear to this) VMS and MVS would be of particular interest.
