Kubota Computer Corp reckons that it beat Silicon Graphics Inc by a day or two with launch of the world’s first workstations incorporating the MIPS Computer Systems Inc R4000 chip. The initial model is to be shipped in the first half of this year, with a high-speed model based on an 80 MIPS CPU in second part of the year. The models conform to the Advanced RISC Computing specification of the Advanced Computing Environment Consortium. Kubota plans to sell the workstations through its subsidiaries and also on an OEM basis. Kubota’s US subsidiary Kubota Pacific Computer in Sunnyvale, which has taken over the Titan minisupercomputer business from failed Stardent Computer Inc, has announced that it is developing a high-end model of the Titan series. The new model will be a successor to the current top-end V3000, and is currently known as the G4. Its new model will have a graphics processing speed of 1m polygons per second. Kubota Pacific will have the American and European distribution rights.
