Editor: Demitrios Michalopoulos/California State University, Fullerton

IBM RT PC based on RISC Portable PC is IBM compatibleIBM has introduced the RT Personal

Computer 32-bit workstations, based onreduced instruction set computer (RISC)architecture. The series includes onedesktop and three floor-standing models.According to the company, they performstandalone computer-aided design/com-puter-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM)and computer-aided engineering (CAE)tasks.The units contain a 32-bit micropro-

cessor chip etched with RISC instruc-tions, plus an IBM virtual memory man-agement chip. They use operating systemsoftware called Advanced Interactive Ex-ecutive (AIX), which according to thecompany combines the multiuser, mul-titasking features of UNIX with onetrillion characters of virtual memoryresulting from a dual-stage virtualmemory mapping facility and an invertedpage table that increase the addressingcapability to 40 bits. All models comewith one 5 ¼/4-inch fixed-disk drive andone 1.2M-byte diskette drive. Diskstorage in models 20, 25, and A25 is ex-pandable up to 2.4M bytes. An optional360K-byte disk drive enables RT PCdisks with PC DOS programs to be usedon IBM PCs and PC-XTs.The system supports up to eight users,

seven on local or remote ASCII ter-minals and one on an RT PC terminal.An optional IBM PC Network adaptercard connects RT PCs to an IBM PCNetwork.

All RT PCs are equipped with a PC-AT compatible, 16-bit input/output

Minis for VARs

Honeywell Inc. has packaged the Suc-cess Builder/40, a 26-inch high minicom-puter, for sale exclusively through thecompany's value-added resellers (VARs)and manufacturer's representatives. Ac-cording to the company, the new systemis positioned between Honeywell's DPS6/22 and 6/42. It runs Honeywell'sGCOS 6 operating system and is soft-ware compatible with the DPS 6 line.

Success Builder/40's architecture isbased on a five-slot Megabus chassis.The basic system includes a central pro-cessor based on Honeywell's proprietaryLSI-6 microprocessor with IM byte of

main memory; a commercial instruction(I/O) bus, which permits the attachmentof peripherals. The RT PC desktop unithas six feature slots; the floor-standingmodels have eight. A separate 32-bit databus transfers data among the micropro-cessor, virtual memory managementunit, and an optional floating-point ac-celerator card.The addition of an optional $995 PC

AT coprocessor card and a $550 copro-cessor program reputedly make the RTPC compatible with IBM PCs. The com-pany also offers nine RT PC applicationpackages, a choice of three all-points-addressable IBM display units, an eight-pen color plotter, and a backup tapedrive. Moreover, floor-standing RT PCscan be configured as hosts for the IBM5080 graphics system.RT PCs communicate with IBM host

computers through an optional RT PC3278/79 data communications adapter orwith IBM and non-IBM host computersthrough an asynchronous RS-232-Cserial adapter (standard on models 20,25, and A25, and optional on model 10).The IBM RT PC 6151 model 10 costs

$11,700; 6150 model 20 costs $14,945.Available in September, IBM RT PC6150 model 25 costs $17,940; 6150 modelA25 costs $19,510.

For more information, contact Inter-national Business Machines Corp., In-formation Systems Group, 900 King St.,Rye Brook, NY 10473; (914) 924-4488.

Reader Service Number 20

processor; the system control facility; a16-line communications processor; a68M-byte fixed disk unit and controller;a 5 ¼/4-inch, 650K-byte disk drive; and a64M-byte ¼/4-inch cartridge tape. Thesystem can be expanded to 2M bytes ofmain memory and can accept a second68M-byte fixed disk.A Success Builder/40 with four com-

munications ports costs $28,800 and isavailable to Honeywell VARs and manu-facturer's representatives. ContactHoneywell Inc., 200 Smith St.,Waltham,MA 02154; (617) 895-6616.

Reader Service Number 21

Toshiba's Information Systems Divi-sion has introduced the T 1100, an IBM-compatible portable personal computerthat measures 12.2 by 12 by 2.6 inches.According to the company, the systemfeatures 512K bytes of RAM, a 720K-byte3.5-inch floppy disk drive, CMOS, arechargeable Nicad battery, an 83-char-acter keyboard, and peripheral interfacesfor an RGB color graphics monitor, par-allel printer, and a second floppy diskdrive. The high-resolution (640 by 200pixels) 80-character by 25-line liquidcrystal display can be adjusted within 90degrees.

Options available include an externalfloppy disk drive in 3.5-inch or 5.25-inchformats, a printer, a multifunction cardwith asynchronous communications ports,a 300-bit-per-second modem, and acalendar clock.The system costs $1999. For further

information, contact Toshiba AmericaInc., Information Systems Division, 2441Michelle Dr., Tustin, CA 92680; (714)730-5000.

Reader Service Number 22

RuleMaster 3.0 generatesC source code

Radian Corp.'s RuleMaster Version3.0 expert system development packagefor the IBM PC-XT, PC-AT, and UNIX-based computers incorporates a C sourcecode generator that enables users to writeexpert systems in the C programminglanguage. According to the company,this results in reduced memory require-ments, faster execution, and portabilityof the expert systems produced. The Ccode generator reputedly references onlythose modules utilized during run-time.Moreover, special modules can be writ-ten in C code and inserted into the expertsystem produced.

RuleMaster Version 3.0's prices are$995 for single-user DOS IBM PC-XTand PC-AT systems; $5000 for single-user UNIX systems; and $17,500 formultiuser UNIX systems. Contact Ra-dian Corp., 8501 Mo-Pac Blvd., PO Box9948, Austin, TX 78766; (512) 454-4797.

Reader Service Number 23

March 1986

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QUBE has "snap ons"

Unbound, Inc. has announced QUBE,a transportable DEC-compatible system.The QUBE computer system consists ofa four-slot quad height 22-bit Q-busbackplane (eight dual slots), 175W powersupply, RX50-compatible dual diskdrive, a Winchester disk drive with a for-matted capacity of 22M or 44M bytes,and an MSCP-compatible controller.Unbound offers a choice of KDF1I-

AA (11/23) or KDJll-AB (11/73) CPUmodules, 256K to 4M bytes of mainmemory, and serial interfaces for four oreight terminals. Buyers may substitute anoptional removable IOM-byte Win-chester or 60M-byte cartridge tape forthe dual disk drive.

According to the company, the base

system can be expanded by attaching"snap on" modules. Interfacing of diskdrives to the controller logic of themaster module occurs automatically.Unbound has also announced the

MVED series Winchester disk subsystemfor the MicroVAX II, available with for-matted capacities of either 123M or165M bytes.

Prices for the QUBE system begin at$6500. The 123M-byte MVED lists for$7200. The MVED 330, with two165M-byte drives and controller, costs$12,500. Contact Unbound, Inc., 15239Springdale St., Huntington Beach, CA92649; (714) 895-6205.

Reader Service Number 24

Solids modeler available

American Channels, Inc. has an-nounced AC/Solids, a three-dimensionalsolids modeler software package that ac-cording to the company integrates withsurface modeling, two-dimensional com-puter-aided design (CAD), and numeri-cal control parts programming. It alsoallows the user to incorporate doublycurved surfaces. The company basedAC/Solids on the constructive solidsgeometry (CSG) approach to solidsmodeling.

Other features include solid primitives,Boolean operations, interference check-ing, and articulation of mechanism fea-

tures. A model can be viewed from anyposition, with hidden lines displayed orsuppressed. Engineering calculations canbe carried out at any time.

AC/Solids is available on DECVAX/MicroVAX and Apollo Domaincomputer systems. The license price is$9000 per single user and $18,000 perDEC VAX/MicroVAX system or fourApollo nodes. For further information,contact American Channels, Inc., 1050Waltham St., Lexington, MA 02173;(617) 862-4441.

Reader Service Number 25

Software for scientists

Macmillan Software Company has in-troduced Asystant Ready-to-Run Scien-tific Software, which runs on IBM PCsand compatibles, including the HP Vec-tra, and uses the 8087 coprocessor. Ac-cording to the company, the program of-fers data reduction, analysis, and presen-tation graphics. A second version of theproduct, Asystant +, adds data acquisi-tion and includes data manipulation,analysis, and high-resolution colorgraphics. Both versions will be availablein April, Asystant for $495 and Asys-tant + for $895.

Data reduction capabilities of Asystantinclude FFT; smoothing; integration/dif-ferentiation; data set averaging; polyno-mial scaling; rise time, peak width, areaunder curve, and envelope detection; in-teractive zoom and scroll graphics; andautomatic file processing for reductionof large data sets.

Data acquisition capabilities of Asys-tant + include real-time data display;

automatic thermocouple linearization;cold junction compensation; generalconversion to engineering units; built-intwo-channel function generator; interac-tive graphics-based waveform editor;signal averaging; fi've trigger types; sixmultilevel alarm conditions; and real-time operator control of A/D gain, datarate, digital output, and D/A range inoffset.

Analysis capabilities of both versionsinclude curve fitting with automaticdisplay of raw data, fitted curve, andresiduals; statistics; differential equa-tions; matrix operations; polynomialoperations; and an interactive scientificcalculator.

For more information, contact Mac-millan Software Co., 630 Third Ave.,8th Floor, New York, NY 10017; (212)702-3241.

Reader Service Number 26

Write-once laser diskperipheral is portable

Portable Solutions, Inc., has intro-duced a write-once laser optical disk pe-ripheral with more than 100M bytes offile backup and restore capacity per re-movable disk packaged in a totable unit.While the optical disk,an be written toonly once, according'to the company itthen provides a permanent backup thatcan be read from repeatedly withoutwear. The BackPac BP-100+ workswith the IBM PC, PC-XT, PC-AT, andcompatible systems under DOS 2.0 andup. According to the company, the unitweighs six pounds and fits within a stan-dard briefcase.BackPack BP-100 + costs $4995 and

comes with three Adaptacon boards,three LitePac 330 optical disks, and Sur-vival software, a collection of utilities forbackup and restore operations. ContactPortable Solutions, 1701 Directors Blvd.,Suite 250, Austin, TX 78744; (512)448-4965.

Reader Service Number 27

Trainable OCR software

Datacopy Corp. now producesCharacter Image Recognition (CIR), op-tical character recognition (OCR) soft-ware, in two versions. CIR operates withDatacopy's Series 700 scanners on theIBM PC.CIR I recognizes standard typewriter

and printer fonts used in most offices,according to the company. Unrecognizedcharacters are displayed in context. Ac-cording to the company, CIR II alsoallows operators to train Datacopy soft-ware to recognize new fonts. The opera-tor identifies the unrecognized characterto the software. Operators can also trainCIR II in a batch-learn mode. Theoperator types a few pages of the docu-ment, which creates a correspondingASCII file of the original text. In thebatch-learn mode, CIR II analyzes acharacter, profiles it, and goes to theASCII file to identify it.

According to Datacopy, both CIR Iand CIR II software automatically gothrough available font files to select theappropriate font.CIR I costs $695. CIR II costs $1995.

Both include two standard typewriterfonts. Ten extra fonts are available for$195 each. For more information, con-tact Datacopy Corp., 1215 Terra BellaAve., Mountain View, CA 94043; (415)965-7900.

Reader Service Number 28

COMPUTER102

SNA clusters IBM PCsEmulex Corp. has introduced SNA

Cluster, which combines SNA/SDLC, orIBM's system network architecture/syn-chronous data-link control, interactivecommunications with batch processing.The package reputedly permits clusteringup to four IBM PCs and attached print-ers. Each PC can emulate a 3270 displaystation, including printer support, or a3770 RJE workstation.According to the company, the key to

the SNA Cluster is the DCP-88/VM, adistributed communications coprocessorthat utilizes a single PC slot to supportup to four synchronous lines and aprinter port. The Emulex control unitsupports an SNA 3270 or RJE emulationon the PC that hosts the DCP-88/VM.Each satellite PC uses the Emulex MPC-II board and PC/3270ST software tosupport the satellite emulation.The SNA Cluster package costs from

$2225 for a single-user system (includesPC/3270SC and PC/RJESC softwarewith the DCP-88/VM) to $3550 (includesthe hardware and software required forfour workstations). Contact EmulexCorp., 3545 Harbor Blvd., PO Box6725, Costa Mesa, CA 92626; (714)662-5600.

Reader Service Number 29

Dot-matrix printers from HP

Hewlett-Packard claims to have pro-duced the only 1200 line-per-minute(Ipm) dot-matrix line printer, the HP2567B, which according to the companycan also print 1600 1pm using a sparsematrix character set.A second medium-duty printer, the

HP 2564B, prints 600 Ipm and replacesthe HP 2565A heavy-duty printer. Ac-cording to the company, it offers high-resolution raster graphics, additionalcharacter sets, and the same speed at ap-proximately half the price.The HP family of printers offers bar-

code printing, high-speed graphics, mul-tipart forms handling, characters for 13different languages, line drawing, anddifferent character sizes and fonts. Ac-cording to the company, the printers re-quire no scheduled maintenance becausethe printing mechanisms contain fewmoving parts.The HP 2567B costs $28,050. The HP

2564B costs $9995. Corporate head-quarters are located at 3000 Hanover St.,Palo Alto, CA 94304. The company re-quests that interested parties contacttheir local sales offices.

The Icon/l 000 controller and workstation.

Icon/1000 offers CAPE

Data Acquisition Systems, Inc., offersIcon/1000, a distributed control systemthat offers computer-aided process engi-neering, or CAPE. The system reputedlyenables control engineers to configureprocess control strategies on screen with-out conventional language programming.The Icon/1000 systems are built from

two hardware elements: a PC-basedgraphics workstation and a dedicatedplant-floor controller linked by a localarea network, the Icon/Net. The work-station, based on the IBM 7531/2 In-dustrial Computer (Industrial PC-AT),serves as a CAD/CAE graphics worksta-tion, an operator display for the plantfloor, and an information managementsystem. It employs a 16/32-bit 80286 mi-croprocessor and a 20M-byte fixed disk.

The controller combines a 68010-basedunit and a modular signal interface. Ac-cording to DAS, one controller supportsup to 48 I/O channels. The hardenedenclosure meets NEMA-2 specifications.The CAPE software includes operator

graphics, alarm management, access se-curity, historical databasing, networkcommunications, diagnostics, and systemfault-tolerance.

Prices for the Icon/1000 begin at$67,500. Deliveries are scheduled to startin May 1986. For further information,contact Data Acquisition Systems, Inc.,349 Congress St., Boston, MA02210-1222; (617) 423-7691.

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Hewlett-Packard dot-matrix printers include the HP 2567B (upper right) with 1200 Ipm;HP 2564B (lower left) with 600 Ipm; HP 2566B (upper left), an enhanced version of theoriginal 900-lpm unit; and the HP 2563A (lower right) with 300 Ipm.

Reader Service Number 30

March 1986 103

Special Feature

New systems offer near-supercomputer performanceCompiled by Nancy Hays, Assistant Editor

Recent new-product announcementsmake clear the arrival of minisupercom-puters in the computer marketplace.They do not make clear the blurred dis-tinction between superminicomputersand the relatively new category ofmachines called minisupercomputers.The most obvious difference is that mini-supercomputers employ vector process-ing, pipelining, and 64-bit computing,while superminicomputers employ scalarprocessing and 32-bit computing. Not allcompanies list these vital characteristicswhen they describe their products. Whatcounts is what each computer does forthe purchaser-for the price.The following companies have intro-

duced a variety of minisupercomputersand superminicomputers, many withvaried options. The accompanying tablesummarizes some of the differentmachines' vital statistics and the ad-dresses of their producers.To begin:Scientific Computer Systems Corp.

(SCS) has introduced the SCS40, a64-bit minisupercomputer that utilizesthe Cray X-MP instruction set. The firstshipments are scheduled for July 1986.

Targeting the general-purpose scientif-ic and engineering market, the systemexecutes up to 44 million floating-pointoperations per second (MFLOPS) andcosts $595,000 at the entry level. TheSCS-40 specifically targets Cray andVAX users. According to the company,it offers compatible Fortran compilersand operating system environments to fitthe VAX VMS environment. Input/out-put (I/O) station interfaces are availablefor the DEC VAX series. Cray softwarecompatibility results from emulation ofthe Cray X-MP instruction set and useof the CTSS operating system and For-tran-77 compilers. The compilers meetANSI-77 standards and accept VAXFortran source code.The SCS-40 offers one, two, or four

million 64-bit words (8M, 16M, or 83Mbytes) of addressable memory organizedin interleaved banks accessed in parallel.Multiple memory ports support Vectorfetches and stores, and scalar fetches andstores. Programmable I/O channels arecontrolled by a 32-bit microprocessor.Scientific Computer Systems has pat-ented a pipelined control structure thataccording to the company enables thecomputer to concurrently fetch, decode,and execute multiple instructions.ELXSI has announced a 12-processor

version of its System 6400 computer that

according to the company performs 72million Whetstone instructions per sec-ond (MIPS). ELXSI designed the systemfor such applications as VLSI chipdesign, aerospace research and design,and seismic data simulation.The System 6400 contains a parallel

processing architecture that allowsmodular expansion by the addition ofprocessors. It employs a message-basedoperating system called Embos. Accord-ing to the company, the use of emitter-coupled logic (ECL) and large-scale in-tegrated (LSI) proprietary gate arraysallows ELXSI to package a single6-MIPS CPU on three circuit boards.The system features up to 4G bytes of

virtual addressing space per process. Thecentral computer memory can be ex-panded to 192M bytes (768 upcoming).

According to ELXSI, the key to theSystem 6400's performance and modu-larity is the Gigabus system bus, a syn-chronous, 64-bit wide channel that pro-vides a system bandwidth of 320M bytesper second. Since all major system com-ponents attach to this bus, additionalCPUs can be added.The System 6400 also accommodates a

variety of peripheral technologies, ac-cording to the company, and can com-municate with other computers by usingstandard local area networks and publicpacket networks. The System 6400 com-municates directly with IBM and DECcomputers using their communicationlinks. Each ELXSI disk controller sup-ports up to eight fLxed or removable diskdrives at 300M or 474M bytes per drive.The ELXSI magnetic tape controllersupports up to eight tape drives(6250/1600 bpi or 1600/800 bpi) and twoline printers.The system incorporates three operat-

ing systems designed for multiuser, mul-tiprocess environments: Embos,ELXSI's proprietary operating system;UNIX BSD 4.3; and UNIX System V.2.All three operating systems can runconcurrently.

ELXSI's computer supports a numberof programming languages, includingFortran, C, Pascal, Cobol, and Mainsail.ELXSI also works with OEM softwaredevelopers to offer application programsfor semiconductor-design, electronicdesign, aerospace, and seismic en-gineering.The 12-CPU system is housed in two

cabinets, each 32 inches deep and 59inches wide. The price for a fully con-

figured 12-CPU system is approximately$3 million.

Alliant Computer Systems Corp. of-fers a family of FX machines that rangesfrom the FX/1, a superminicomputer, tothe FX/8, a minisupercomputer.According to the company, the FX/8

applies parallel processing automaticallyto existing software, using a combinationof multiprocessing, instruction-level par-allel processing, and concurrency. It sup-plies concurrency for up to eight proces-sors. Dedicated hardware controls theparallel processing.The computation elements (CEs) are

pipelined general-purpose computerswith integrated vector instruction sets. Aminimum configuration of the FX/8($270,000) has one CE, two interactiveprocessors (IPs), 8M bytes of physicalmemory, one 64K-byte computationalprocessor cache memory, one 32K-byteIP cache memory, a 13-slot configurableMultibus chassis, a 376M-byte Winches-ter disk, and a tridensity start-stop tapedrive. This is expandable to eight CEs,12 IPs, 64M bytes of physical memory,128K bytes of IP cache, and 128K bytesof computational processor cache. Witheight CEs, the FX/8 reputedly reaches apeak of 94 MFLOPS, or 35.6 MIPS.The FX/l, a superminicomputer, em-

ploys integrated vector processing and8000-gate CMOS gate arrays. It includesone CE and one or two IPs. Accordingto the company, the FX/l reaches apeak performance of 4450K Whetstones,or 11.8 MFLOPS. It uses the Concentrixoperating system, based on the Berkeley4.2 version of the UNIX operating sys-tem. A minimum configuration is oneCE, one IP, 8M bytes of physicalmemory, a 32K-byte cache, a systemfloppy disk, a 67M-byte Winchester disk,a cartridge tape drive, and a 6-slotMultibus chassis. The FX/1 minimumconfiguration costs $132,000.

Alliant's FX/Fortran, an ANSI stan-dard Fortran-77, can process in parallelcode constructs that run scalar on vectorcomputers, according to the company,and the compiler reads and analyzesstandard Fortran to make it run on par-allel processors. Fortran written forVAX computers runs without modifica-tion. Compilers available are FX/Fortran, C, and Pascal.At the end of 1985, Apollo Computer,

Inc. signed an original equipmentmanufacturer (OEM) agreement withAlliant. The FX/8 and FX/1 will act ascentral computer servers in Domain

COMPUTER104

workstations. Alliant also signed anagreement with Sun Microsystems todevelop a set of system services thatallow users, as the company says, to takemaximum advantage of resources ontheir networks.CSPI has introduced the Maxim/32

and Maximn/64 series of vector proces-sors. The 32- and 64-bit micro VMS-based machines come in standalonepackages. According to the company,the machines are designed for scientific,engineering, and research users.

Maxim/32 is based on the CSPI Mini-MAP array processor family. Maxim/64is derived from the full-size MAP family.

Maxim/32 in a minimum configura-tion ($65,000) includes a 32-bit floatingpoint array processor, IM byte of datamemory, development software, a For-tran compiler, and a MicroVAX-II CPUwith 5M bytes of RAM, 91M bytes ofstreamer tape and control, a llM-byteWinchester drive and control, consoleterminal and terminal port, MicroVMSoperating system software, and VMSFortran software. A typical configura-tion costs $72,000.Maxim/64 in a minimum configura-

tion ($165,000) includes a 16-slot chassiswith four expansion slots, a 64-bitfloating point array processor, 16Mbytes of data memory, IM byte of pro-

gram memory, a Fortran-77 cross com-piler with system software, and aMicroVAX-II CPU with console cable,5M bytes of RAM, 91M bytes ofstreamer tape and control, a 71M-byteWinchester drive and control, a consoleterminal and terminal port, MicroVMSoperating systems, and a VMS Fortransoftware license. A typical configurationcosts $170,000.Convex Computer Corp. has made the

C-I supercomputer since 1984, based ona Cray-like architecture. The C-i systemfeatures 64-bit word length, integratedvector processing, scalar processing,pipelining, I/O bandwidth of 80M-bytesper second, and up to 128M bytes of

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March 1986

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main memory with a 64K-byte physicalcache. The Convex UNIX operating sys-tem is an implementation of the UNIX4.2 BSD operating system.

According to the company, the C-l'sCPU is implemented with off-the-shelfLSI circuits combined with semicustommetal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS)VLSI gate arrays. The C-i uses multipleasynchronous processing units intercon-nected through 64-bit buses. These pro-cessing units include a dedicated addressand scalar unit (ASU) and a vector pro-cessing unit (VPU). The VPU containsthree functional units to handle add,subtract, and logical operations; load,store, and vector edit operations; andmultiply and divide operations. Eachunit is controlled by a separate4-kiloword RAM control store and canoperate concurrently on three indepen-dent streams of data for a peak process-ing rate estimated at 60 million opera-tions per second (MOPS).

Integral to each C-i is a dual-portedmain memory and up to five 32-bit I/Oprocessors, each with local memory and32K bytes of I/O cache memory. ThisI/O system permits I/O functions to becarried out independently of the CPU.Each I/O processor is attached to theC-l's 8OM-byte-per-second I/O bus.Each IOP supports up to four Multibuscard cages, each containing up to eightdevice controllers.

The Convex Fortran compiler is anANSI-77 Fortran compiler. According tothe company, it is a multipass, optimiz-ing, vectorizing compiler that includesboth language and run-time library(RTL) extensions.A basic C-i system, packaged in two

racks, includes the C-i processor with4M bytes of 64-bit ECC memory, oneI/O processor, a service processor unit, ahard-copy console subsystem, a414M-byte (formatted) Winchester diskdrive, a 6250-bit-per-inch tape drive, andone Multibus I/O chassis. Also packagedwith the basic system is Convex UNIX,the Convex compiler, and an industry-standard C compiler. The basic system is$495,000.

Ultimate Corp. has announced theUltimate 7000 Series of 32-bit super-minicomputers, including models 7000,7200, and 7400. Based on Honeywell'sDPS 6 minicomputers and peripherals,the Ultimate 7000 Series integrates theproprietary Ultimate 15x coprocessorsubsystem and Ultimate's Release 10 ofthe SMA Standard Pick Operating Sys-tem. According to the company, thesuperminicomputers support up to 400terminals.

Features shared by the models also in-clude 100 IPS streamer tape backup,UltiWord word processing software, andUltiPlot software. Model 7000 in its baseconfiguration features the Ultimate 15xcoprocessor subsystem; 4M-byte Ulti-mate memory and controller; 515M-byte

fixed disk drive; a 20-slot megabus I/Osubsystem; and 32 RS-232 communica-tion ports. Model 7200 features theUltimate 15x coprocessor subsystem;4M-byte Ultimate memory and control-ler; 515M-byte fixed disk drive and con-troller; a 40-slot megabus I/O subsys-tem; and 96 RS-232 communicationports. Model 7400 features the Ultimate15x coprocessor subsystem; 8M-byteUltimate memory and controller; two515M-byte fixed disk drives and control-lers; a 40-slot megabus I/O subsystem;and 128 RS-232 communication ports.

System prices range from $310,000 to$545,000.

In addition to base configurations,Ultimate supports the 7000 Series super-minicomputers with a range of terminals,printers, memory enhancements, and ap-plications software, including verticalapplications software for specializedindustries.

According to Digital Equipment Cor-poration, the recently released DECVAX 8650 CPU surpassed the VAX8600 processor by up to 53 percent insingle-user benchmarks. The VAX 8650is functionally equivalent to the VAX8600 and runs the complete line ofVAX/VMS software. This 32-bit com-puter can be integrated into a networkedcomputer system and VAXcluster. It ispriced from $475,000. A field installableupgrade kit for VAX 8600 units is pricedat $125,000.

106 COMPUTER

The VAX 8650 incorporates emitter-coupled logic (ECL) semiconductortechnology; a dedicated memory bus;write-back cache; pipelined operation;and other large system techniques. Sevenof the VAX 8600's 17 CPU boards havebeen changed for the VAX 8650, speed-ing the CPU cycle time from 80 to 55.5nanoseconds, according to the company.The company also announced in-

creased main memory capacity for theVAX 8650 and VAX 8600, from theprevious maximum of 32M bytes to 68Mbytes, expandable in 4 and 6M-byte in-crements. A fully expanded VAX 8650or VAX 8600 reputedly addresses 4Gbytes of virtual memory, manages 160Mbytes on on-line storage, and accom-modates 512 direct communication lines.According to DEC, the increase incapacity results from surface mounttechnology that packs more memorychips in a given area.The VAX 8650 connects to Digital's

local- and wide-area DECnet networks,enabling communication with otherDigital systems. Through gateways, theVAX 8650 also communicates and ex-changes files with systems of othermanufacturers, such as IBM. The VMSoperating system provides the same com-patible software and communicationsenvironment as for other VAX systems,while Ultrix-32 provides a UNIX en-vironment.

NCR's 9500 is a dyadic processor thatextends NCR's 32-bit very large scale in-tegration (VLSI) technology to large in-teractive systems. It utilizes the NCR/32VLSI processor family.An entry-level system includes 2M

bytes of main memory, a 45M-bytestreaming tape, 405M bytes of fixed diskstorage, 24 communication lines, a600-line-per-minute printer, and theoperating system. It costs $172,575 andwill be available for delivery in May of1986.According to the company, with

NCR's Link Level Communication Sub-system (LLCS) the system supports suchcommunications protocols as X.25,System Network Architecture (SNA),and 2780/3780 RBS, and provides dis-tributed data processing capabilities. TheNCR 9500 also provides connections forthe industry-standard small computersystem interface (SCSI) or Multibus Iconnectable peripherals and reputedlysupports more than 100 active users.

Celerity Computing targets its C1260and C1230 superminicomputers for CAEand scientific research. System featuresinclude Celerity's proprietary 32-bit Ac-cel processor and floating-point copro-cessor, RISC-based architecture, and theBerkeley 4.2 UNIX standard operatingsystem. A dual-processor option is avail-able on the C1260.

According to the company, the Celeri-ty systems support up to 128 users.Moreover, using the Whetstone bench-mark, the dual-processing C1260 has athroughput of 6.15 MIPS, single preci-sion, while the C1230 performs singleprecision operations at 3.25 MIPS.The Celerity units cost $75,000 for the

C1230 and $110,000 for the dual-pro-cessing C1260. Users of Celerity's C1200may upgrade their system.

Celerity will also market PC-interface(Locus Computing Corp.) for programand data sharing with IBM PCs and PC-compatibles, Network File System (SunMicrosystems) for use of data located onother computer systems, and the 4260and 4230 disk drives for increasedstorage capacity.The January 1986 issue of Computer

(Vol. 19, No. 1) covers the Culler 7 fami-ly of parallel execution computers andFlexible Computer Corp.'s Series 600and Series 1200 FLEX/32 multicom-puters, with parallel and multiple busstructure. For more information on theCuller 7 family of superminicomputers,contact Culler Information, 100 BurnsPlace, Santa Barbara, CA 93117; (805)683-5631. For more information on theFLEX/32 multicomputers (supermini-computers), contact Flexible ComputerCorp., 1801 Royal Lane, Bldg. 8, Dallas,TX 75229; (214) 1234.

Near-supercomputer systems: (from upper right, counterclockwise) DEC'sVAX 8650, ELXSI's System 6400, Alliant's FX/1 and FX/8 (center), CelerityComputing's C1260, CSPI's Maxim/64 and Maxim/32, Convex's C-1, andScientific Computer Systems' SCS-40.

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