NEC has announced a new parallel mainframe computer, the PX7900, the top of the line machine in its Parallel ACOS line, which is compatible with the Compagnie des Machines Bull SA DPS 7000 32-bit family. The new machine provides an upgrade path for existing users of the ACOS-6 series of mainframes. The PX7900 is based on a high-performance CMOS microprocessor originally developed by Bull and jointly modified for the Parallel ACOS series by Bull and NEC. There are six models, ranging from an single-processor entry Model 10 to an eight-processor Model 80; main memory up to 1Gb can be installed, and a maximum of four shared memory systems can be connected to construct a clustered parallel shared file system including file storage with a total of 64 processors. Parallel transaction processing and parallel batch functions are provided as another layer of the operating system so that existing applications do not have to be recompiled in order to exploit parallelism. An Open Link Facility is provided with a protocol based on TCP/IP so that transaction- level linking with ACOS-6 and ACOS-4 mainframes and NEC PC 9800 series personal computers running Windows, as well as Unix machines, is possible. The machines will be shipped from both NEC and its marketing joint venture with Toshiba, NEC-Toshiba Information Systems Ltd, with first systems being shipped in December this year. The base monthly rental price is $100,000. NEC expects to sell 100 systems within three years; these will be as replacement for ACOS-6 machines, according to Mr Oookuwa, senior manager for large scale computers in the Computers Group Planning Division. Up to the end of December 1995, NEC says, it had received 1,361 orders for machines in the Parallel ACOS range – conceptually akin to IBM Corp’s Parallel Sysplex, first released in July 1994.
