Unisys Corp introduced new Intel-based systems to its U6000 line yesterday, including the expected 80486-based commercial Unix workstation – but in what appeared to be a last-minute decision, held back on its first entry into the technical workstation market with Sparc-based S2000 systems sourced from Solbourne Computer Inc under that $150m four-year pact (CI No 1,427). The new machines include an entry-level U6000/10 for two to six users, a mid-range 25MHz 80486-based U6000/60 for up to 64 users, and the U6000/WS, a 33MHz 80386 or 25MHz 80486 workstation with floating-point processor (Weitek version optional), Ethernet controller and 16 colour monitor. At the same time Unisys boosted the power of its top-end U6000/70 and 80 multi-processor boxes by using 20MHz 80386 chips, and cut prices on its mid-range U6000/51 and U6000/55 30% to 35%. The entry system is from UKP6,400 with 4Mb memory, 80Mb disk and two ports, the U6000/60 is UKP20,000 with 4Mb, 340Mb disk and 11 ports. The workstation is from UKP8,000 for a diskless version including monitor, rising to UKP25,000 for fully configured systems. Target applications include geographic analys is, imaging, decision support, electronic publishing and financial systems. As part of the workstation announcement Unisys announced its Primary Graphical Environment, which includes the Motif user interface, X.desktop from IXI and PC Xcite from Locus Computing Corp. It will eventually be available for the entire U/6000 line. Unisys also offers MS-DOS compatibility via the Locus Merge product. Mean while, Solbourne went ahead with its announcement of the OEM deal with the Unisys Europe-Africa Division – which now accounts for some 55% of total Unisys revenues – but Unisys said it needed another 60 to 90 days to manage its first entry into the technical workstation market. The US division has yet to make a decision on the deal. It continues to work on Motorola 88000 RISC-based systems, expected to see the light of day sometime next year.
