Sun Microsystems Inc is expected to muster another technology paradigm this week when it brings multiprocessing to the desktop. The company is due to unveil its high-end SparcStation 10 models tomorrow, and will bring them out at substantially reduced price points to stimulate growth of a high-powered multitasking and multiprocessing desktop marketplace. Sun’s current multiprocessing entry price is $40,000 and with tomorrow’s announcement it could be reduced by around 40%. The expected models 52 and 54 will be fitted out with 50MHz SuperSparc+ chips, which Sun’s silicon partner Texas Instruments Inc is now producing in volume, and introduced under a new multiprocessing numbering scheme that will see them called the 512 and 514 respectively. Accordingly, the 5 refers to the 50MHz chip, the 1 to the machines’ 1Mb cache and the 2 and 4 to the number of processors. The SparcStation 10 Models 30 and 41 will stay in the product line but other additions are expected and there will of course be Mbus-based upgrades. Sun has been fairly successful in the Unix multiprocessing arena. According to InfoCorp figures believed to be close to the mark, it installed 10,000 units its first year in the business, giving it the number one slot in that market. Sequent Computer Systems Inc has a total installed base of 6,000 machines after eight or nine years in business. Sun also claims it has shipped 70,000 Sparc 10 multiprocessing-capable machines to owners that are just now beginning to see the advantages of going to multiprocessing. Sun is also preparing its Scorpion eight-way Sparc desktop machine for launch at the SunWorld show on May 11. The server is expected to be very cheap, perhaps as low as $50,000. Scorpion is said to outperform a SparcStation 2 by a factor of between 12 and 15 times.
