Concurrent Computer Corp, Tinton Falls, New Jersey has postponed shipment of its 68040-based real-time multiprocessors because of continuing problems in getting a version of the RTU Unix system to run on the new machines. Electronic News reports that the the 7000 Series was due to ship this quarter, but late May or June now seems more likely, and the release of RTU Version 6.0 on its existing Unix machines won’t be available until April although it was originally scheduled for September last year. Concurrent, which doesn’t need production problems compounding its crippling debt repayments (CI No 1,570), says that it needs at least 45 days after RTU 6.0 ships to add support for the 68040-based 7000 Series. Concurrent’s fiscal year ends in June, and that means that the financial impact of the 7000s this year will now be very limited. Given Concurrent’s recent losses, the research and development problems are unwelcome, and the company is threatened with an involuntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition unless it can get a satisfactory settlement with its lenders last week it got an additional one week extension to the deadline by which it must respond to the bankruptcy petition brought by three of its bondholders at the end of last year. Apart from holding up shipments of the 7000, the delays are affecting sales of the high-end Series 8000 RISC line – they are shipping, but they require RTU 6.0 in order to operate at full capacity in simulation applications, which is a key market for Concurrent.
