An unusual technology agreement between US fault-tolerant systems manufacturer Tolerant Systems Corp, Bull SA of France and Denmark’s RC Computer A/S is hatching new Unix systems from the Europeans that will be fed back into Tolerant’s product line. Bull and RC have taken licences for Tolerant’s fault-tolerant Unix-based operating system, Transaction Executive, to put on their new products and Tolerant will have exclusive sales rights for their resulting products in North America. Bull is in the process of producing a Motorola 680X0-based supermicro range for fault-tolerant applications. RC meanwhile is engaged in developing an on-line transaction processing system based on MIPS Computer System’s RISC microprocessors. RC is aiming the new product at specific vertical markets such as telephone directory assistance systems, and library systems. Tolerant sees the partnerships as a means of sharing the research and development load, giving it an entry into the European market and a way of expanding its product line at minimum cost while maintaining compatibility with its existing product line. Bull’s product will fill out the bottom end of Tolerant’s range and the RC box will come in on top of the existing National Semiconductor 32032-based Tolerant Eternity series. The RC product is due for delivery in late 1988 but the Bull machine is set to be available from Tolerant by the end of this year. Tolerant Systems, based in San Jose, California adds that it is entertaining similar agreements with other manufacturers.
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