The US Navy has made use of the Futurebus Plus high-speed bus a mandatory requirement for all mission critical computers that it buys after 1991, Reuters reports from Pittsburg. Conceived in 1982 as a faster, more efficient bus for microprocessor-based machines, Futurebus Plus is being defined by the Computer Society of the Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers. The decision seems to be a blow to IBM’s hopes of establishing the Micro Channel as the standard high-speed bus of the future. IBM is among companies seeking to get involved in developing the Futurebus Plus specification, as are Hewlett-Packard Co, Unisys Corp and Honeywell Inc. One project alone, to equip 300 ships and aircraft, will require thousands of Futurebus Plus computers – and the Navy has some 200 projects all told that will need it. Intel Corp, which pushes its proprietary Multibus II, and Motorola Inc, which prefers the VMEbus, are both backing Futurebus for next generation systems. The specifications are expected to be ready this summer, and first products to come out within 18 months.
