NCR Corp’s Comten IBM-compatible communications processor builder Comten up in St Paul, Minnesota seems to be run more as a secret society than as a commercial enterprise, so seldom does any news leak out of the company, and it is from Germany that we learn that Comten has extended its Series 5600 communications processors to include an entry-level Model 5600, and introduced new SNA software for the 3000 series, with interfaces to NetView and NetMaster. The 5600 alternative to IBM’s 3745 can be installed as a front-end processor, remote communication processor, or simultaneously as a front-end processor for local hosts and as a remote communication processor in distributed environments. The system costs the equivalent of $72,000 and is aimed at users requiring the throughput of the existing NCR 5655, 5665 and 5675 systems, but with fewer links to the host. The NCR 5645 currently supports four SNA-compatible hosts – or NCR mainframes under VPX – connected over four channels, 128 directly connected communications lines, 16 Token-Ring local area networks or 12 Ethernets, and up to four directly linked T1-connections with a peak transmission speed of 2,048 M-bits per second. Memory goes from 4Mb to 16Mb. The new SNA software, available now with functions including remote job entry, software distribution, communication network management or 3270 terminal emulation, supports SDLC and X25 in hierarchical or peer-to-peer links such as Advanced Program-to-Program Communication or APPN. For a migration path to Open Systems Interconnection, NCR is offering electronic mail services, which provide transition from SNA support to open networks, as well as virtual terminal services, or VTS, support for Unix System V.4 and OS/2.
