The Fourth Generation automated teller machines surface for the OS/2 market
AT&T’s NCR Corp has launched its Fourth Generation Self-Service automated teller machines based on the Intel 386SX and running under OS/2. Developed and manufactured in Jute City, aka Dundee, Scotland, they include the 5674 cash dispenser for bank lobbies; the 5675 Multifunction System that supports conventional ATM transactions and auxiliary services like statement printing, envelope dispensing and passbook updating; the 5684 through-the-wall cash dispenser; and the 5685 Multifunction through-the-wall. NCR says that the Fourth Generation family will enable individualised services that can be integrated into the banking network infrastructure. There are a number of systems packages like Terminal Management which takes localised information and presents it at the centre, and an integrated diagnostic system called State of Health. Built-in alerts warn of impending hardware problems and the need for currency replacements before supplies run out. Terminal and host software from existing networks, NCR and other vendors, can be migrated to Fourth Generation systems, and the company claims that the redesign of the hardware modules facilitates lower running costs. NCR says that around half its installed base use a standard features package, and the remainder either customise the systems to their own requirements or have NCR make specified alterations. Also, previous systems were programmed in Pascal, but the Fourth Generation family have the facility to use C. The 5674 costs between UKP12,000 and UKP19,000, the 5675 Multifunction system is from UKP13,000 to UKP22,000, the 5684 goes from UKP16,000 to UKP25,000, and the 5685 Multifunction system costs between UKP18,000 and UKP28,000.
CAI-Net offers multiplexed communication for Unix boxes
NCR Corp recently announced a marketing alliance with Century Analysis Inc to provide its information management CAI-Net and CL/7 products for the NCR System 3000. Under the pact, which is reckoned to be worth $25m over the next few years, NCR and Century will jointly offer the NCR System 3000 with the CAI-Net package which eliminates islands of information by integrating different workstations and application hosts into a single network. This enables access to information anywhere on the network and communications between all network participants. CAI-Net enables Unix boxes to work together as peer-processors to move multiplexed communication traffic across local and wide area nets. It includes a multi-tasking workplace, which provides concurrent access to information from any workstation, including dumb terminals, personal computers running MS-DOS, Windows, and OS/2, Apple Macintoshes, and high-end engineering workstations. And CL/7 is an application development toolset that provides an added level of integration by simplifying the gathering and updating of information across multiple host applications. Information from various applications can be consolidated into a single view, thereby simplifying the management of information across multiple applications.
NCR, Network Software get together to provide NCR DynaComm/Elite
And NCR Corp’s Network Products Group in San Diego has announced a strategic alliance with Network Software Associates Inc, based in Laguna Hills, California, supplier of System Network Architecture communications software for personal computers. Network Software, in conjunction with co-developer FutureSoft Engineering of Houston is responsible for DynaComm/Elite software for SNA 3270 personal computer-to-host communications under Microsoft Windows 3. The new alliance was formed to develop and market an enhanced version of the DynaComm/Elite software, called NCR DynaComm/Elite. The new software product, due to ship in the third quarter, is reported to be a key component of NCR’s SNA WorkGroup Support for the NCR System 3000 environment, providing intelligent client/server SNA connectivity. With SNA WorkGroup Support, MS-DOS-based workstations running Windows 3.0 and NCR DynaComm/Elite are conne
cted to an Ethernet or Token-Ring local net. They access the mainframe through the NCR System 3000 server.
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The ADP-92-02 high-end disk array sees the light of day, supports RAID 3, 5
NCR Corp has unveiled two OEM SCSI products – the ADP-92-02 high-end disk array controller board, and the ADP-37 host adaptor, which offers SCSI connection to Micro Channel products. Both boards use the fast and wide 16-bit SCSI-2 connection. The ADP-92-02 is an intelligent high-end disk array controller capable of managing disk arrays of up to 35 SCSI drives. The controller uses Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks, RAID techology, where data is striped across several disks with an extra disk used to store parity information, and to reconstruct data in the event of a single disk failure. The ADP-92-02 can manage an array of disk drives implemented as RAID 0 – data striping without parity; RAID 1, a mirrored disk array; RAID 3, a parallel disk array suited to large block transfers, as used in applications such as image processing; and RAID 5, an independent disk array suited to transaction processing applications. The NCR ADP-92-02 provides a high-bandwidth 16-bit SCSI-2 channel connection to the host system. The OEM price for the NCR ADP-92-02 SCSI disk array controller is $3,300. The NCR ADP-37 host adaptor provides a high performance connection between a host processor and SCSI-2 peripherals on a Type 3 Micro Channel card for a personal computer. The OEM price for the ADP-37 host adaptor is $850.
No table-top is complete without its NCR 6292 Disk Array Subsystem
NCR Corp has also released another addition to its line of RAID-based disk array products. The NCR 6292 Disk Array Subsystem is a table-top disk array. The NCR 6292 Disk Array Subsystem requires only one extra disk per four data disks in the array. Mirroring techniques require one extra disk for each data disk. The subsystem offers uses multiple spindles and data striping, which NCR says is essential in server environments using transaction processing applications. An SCSI-2 connection offers data transfer at up to 10Mbps. The table-top disk array connects to the NCR System 3300 and System 3400. And, of course, it will connect to other vendors’ systems via the SCSI interface. Available now, the NCR 6292 Subsystem ranges from $15,800 to $24,735 for 1.1Gb to 2.1Gb capacity subsystems. Because of the SCSI-2 connection, up to seven of the 6292 disk array subsystems can be daisy-chained on a single SCSI host adaptor for a total of more than 14Gb of arrayed storage.
