Despite abandoning its effort to implement Unix on its NCR 32 chip set, NCR Corp did not abandon its ambition to bring Unix into the mainstream of its mainframe product offerings, and the company yesterday launched a facility whereby its top-end multiprocessor Series 9800 fault-tolerant mainframes can be used as servers to a network of 68020-based Tower Unix supermicros. The facilities come with Series 9800 Release 2 coupled with NCR 9800/Tower Union – created when a Tower 32/600 is connected to the fault-tolerant 9800 as an Extended Service Processor – allowing Unix and proprietary VRX software to run concurrently in an integrated environment. NCR reckons users 9800 users will have a greater ability to develop systems using the tools available under Unix. NCR also unveiled DBSR, which it thinks may be the first commercially available relational database with SQL running in a fault-tolerant environment: NCR plans to borrow Oracle Corp’s SQL/Form and SQL/Report to develop tools for DBSR. The Union opens up 9800 connection via the Tower to local area networks, and additional languages and specialist applications will be available on-line via application – to – application communications facilities between VRX and Unix. By putting in a 9800, Unix users will be able to add that machine’s high volume transaction processing capability to their systems. NCR also announced the VRX/E 1.1 release of the Virtual Resource Exective operating system, which supports the Union and a new System Bus Adaptor, which links the previous generation Criterion V8500 processors into multi-processor configurations with the 9800. Initially, it enables the connection of the V8500 providing an access and migration path for software and peripherals. V8600 and V8800 support will be added latter. Series 9800 Release 2 includes the Multi-tran high volume transaction monitor; the DBSR relational database, and Cincom’s Mantis applications generator, and a new version of Cincom’s Total database is to follow. Based on multiple NCR 32 processors, the Series 9800 main hardware elements are Application Processors, Data Storage Processors and the Inter-processor Bus, each running under its own copy of the VRX/E operating system. Its base system is the twin-CPU NCR 9811.
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