NEW YORK (09-21-95) - A wide array of Unix servers and workstations, from SPARC-based laptops to 64-bit workstations, made their debut here this week at Unix Expo.
HAL Computer Systems, Tadpole Technology, Tandem Computers Inc., Tatung Science & Technology and Unisys Corp. all introduced systems. Meanwhile, workstation market leaders Sun Microsystems Inc., Hewlett- Packard Co. and IBM used the show to unveil new software.
Sun, for example, demonstrated its Java development tools for the World Wide Web, now part of its long-anticipated Distributed Objects Everywhere (DOE) framework.
"DOE now allows you to take existing corporate applications and pull them over to your Web page using Java," said Melinda Ballou, an analyst with the Meta Group in Stamford, Conn. "Sun has been talking about DOE for five years, and now it is finally shipping."
As part of the announcement earlier this week that Novell Inc. had sold UnixWare to Santa Cruz Operation Inc., HP said that it would be leading the development of a 64-bit version of the operating system.
Data General Corp. announced its latest version of Unix, DG/UX 4.1, with enhanced clustering and systems management capabilities. And IBM said the PL/1 programming language is now available for AIX, its flavor of Unix.
One user at the show who was searching for hardware instead found software.
"I came to look for servers, but I ended up looking at interfaces," said Yenton Morgan, systems analyst with Virginia Dare, a manufacturer of food flavorings in Brooklyn, N.Y. "I like the Common Desktop Environment. I want a common interface for Unix."
CDE was introduced at the show by the Open Software Foundation, and IBM, among others, demonstrated it on Unix workstations.
Hardware debuts included the following:
--HAL unveiled the HALstation 300 series, based on the 64-bit SPARC64 architecture that it developed. The system runs Solaris 2.4 with 64-bit extensions.
The first two models are the midrange HALstation 330, with a 100-MHz processor and priced starting at $23,010, and the HALstation 350, with a 118-MHz chip and priced starting at $33,055. Both are available now, configured with 2G bytes of disk storage, 64M bytes of RAM and four SBUS slots.
--Unisys announced the U 6000/500 Model 80 SMP (symmetric multiprocessor) server, now supporting 10 Intel Pentium processors. The system supports up to 2G bytes of system memory, up to 12 internal hard drives and RAID disk storage subsystems for up to 800G bytes of on-line storage. Available now with 120 MHz processors, the system ranges from $35,000 to $65,000.
--Tandem introduced the Integrity S4000 SMP servers Models S4100 and S4200FT. Both machines use Tandem's ServerNet technology, a system of internal routers that replace the traditional bus architecture for connecting the computers in a cluster. The S4100 can house up to four processors, while the S4200FT provides fault tolerance. Both systems are scheduled to ship in December. Tandem did not announce pricing.
--Tatung announced three new models in its SuperCOMPstation 20 line of uniprocessor and multiprocessor hyperSPARC-based systems. Models HS14MP, HS22MP and HS21 all come with 32M bytes of RAM, 1.05G-byte hard drive and the Solaris 2.x MP operating system.
--Tadpole demonstrated its SPARCbook 3GX laptop with 110-MHz microSPARC II chip running Solaris and its P1300 portable with 133-MHz Pentium and running Windows 95, Windows, Windows NT, NextStep, OS/2, Solaris x86 and Linux.
[Copyright 1995 IDG News Service, International Data Group Inc. All rights reserved.]