As expected, (CI No 1,398), DEC duly unveiled new top-end additions to its MIPS Computer Systems, RISC-based DECstation and DECsystem Series of workstations and servers in a worldwide launch yesterday. Also introduced was Ultrix V.4.0 – the symmetrical multi-processing implementation of the Unixalike which is XPG3, Posix and C2 security-compliant, and incorporates the Ingres 6.2 relational database which is offered as Ultrix/SQL. The two- and three-dimensional DECstation 5000 Model 200, available in four versions for up to 64 users, come in at 24 MIPS and 6.4 MFLOPS performance with a SPECmark rating of 18.5, which positions them just below the low-end Model 320 in IBM’s recently launched RS/6000, tagged at 27 MIPS with a SPECmark of 22.3. Each uses the MIPS Computer Systems R3000 chip running at 25MHz with from 8Mb to 120Mb memory, 21Gb disk, and come with DECwindows, OSF/Motif, PHIGS, PEX, GKS, Ethernet, three TurboChannel slots – TurboChannel is a new high-performance input-output option – and three serial ports as standard. The Model 200CX, with a single TurboChannel card, 8Mb RAM, eight-plane greyshade frame buffering and a 19 monochrome monitor is UKP12,750 without disk. The Model 200PX graphics workstation, with a single Turbochannel card, eight-plane two dimensional colour frame buffering and a 19 colour monitor starts at UKP18,280, without disk. The three-diemensional Model 200PXG comes with an on-board Intel 80860 RISC processor running at 33MHz and a PixelStamp rendering chip set for graphics processing. In a 16Mb, eight-plane three-dimensional colour frame buffering configuration, with a 19 colour monitor – but no disk – the price is UKP24,740. The top-end Model 200 PXG Turbo T is designed for high-performance three-dimensional modelling. With the same graphics processors as the PXG – but with the 80860 running at 40MHz – it comes with 24Mb memory, 24 plane 3D colour frame buffering and a 19 colour monitor. It starts at UKP47,770 for a diskless version. Graphics performance goes from 130,000 2D vectors per second and 10,000 polygons per second on the CX to 400,000 and 100,000 respectively on the PXG Turbo T. The 2D models are out this month, the 3D versions will be out in the summer. New symmetrical multi-processor servers in the 5800 Series – also out in the summer – are the DECsystem 5830 and 5840 for 200 or more users, which come in above the existing 5810 and 5820 models. The 5830 uses three R3000 CPUs and is rated at 48 MIPS. With to 192Mb RAM it starts at UKP118,500. The four-processor 5840 performs at 62 MIPS, and with up to 128Mb memory it comes in at UKP136,800. All models in the DECsystem 5800 Series are upgradable with addition of add-on CPU boards. DEC has also cut prices on its Ultrix systems. DECstations and VAXstations are cut by between UKP1,500 and UKP2,400, whilst DECsystem 5810 and 5820s are down around 30% to UKP58,870 and UKP95,550 respectively. All the new systems will run the new symmetrical multi-processing version 4.0 of Ultrix which is also out in the summer. It combines bits of BSD 4.3 and AT&T 3.2 Unix with Ingres 6.2, and includes the Remote Procedure Call part of Hewlett’s Network Computing Service and Network File System enhancements. In addition to DECstations and DECsystems it will be available on the VAX 6000 Models 200, 300 and 400, as well as the VAX 8820, 8830 and 8840. DECnet-Ultrix version 4 and DECnet/SNA Ultrix 3270 Terminal Emulator version 1.1 are also out now. VMS/Ultrix Connection V1.3 is UKP1,100 in August, Fortran for RISC V2.0 and Pascal for RISC V1.0 are UKP900 each in the summer. DEC has also extended its Personal Computer Systems Architecture – PCSA – network environment to support Ultrix in addition to VMS. The first release will integrate MS-DOS and OS/2 machines into DECnet/OSI and TCP/IP nets.
