Build on your investment; users find more power, greater speed in ever-smaller personal computers

Communications News, Dec, 1990 by Bob Kaminski

BUILD ON YOUR INVESTMENT

As the power, speed, and graphics capabilities of personal computers grow, the overall size shrinks.

Today's users want as many as possible of these and other emerging PC advancements, at the lowest possible cost.

In many cases, this involves additing to their existing hardware platforms.

For example, companies that use PCs to create presentation graphics can project photographic-quality color images with an LCD projection panel from In Focus Systems of Tualatin, Ore.

The 6.7-pound 5000CX PC Viewer lets users display nearly 5000 (4913, to be exact) colors onto a wall or screen using a standard overhead projector.

It has 640 x 480 resolution and a contrast ratio of 15:1.

Digital Communications Associates' IRMAtrac tokenring adapter/convertible links end users over local area networks (LANs) using various PC architectures.

The $895 token ring solution allows users to protect their existing hardware investments, and at the same time provides them with simple migration paths to new technologies, says Gary Betty, president and chief executive officer of DCA.

An add-in board for PCs provides telephone swtichboard management and control at a fraction of the cost of traditional PABXs.

U.S. Trade Research's PC-based PABX, called PCBX, manages up to 256 ports for under $300 per telephone line.

The Santa Ana, Calif., manufacturer designed the system for customers who use less than 200 telephones. These users account for 91% of all businesses in the world.

RISCy Business

Prime Computer of Natick, Mass., has a new four-model line of RISC-based computer systems that operate on an implementation of the Unix operating system.

The Prime EXL 7000 Series ranges from a desk-side server that supports up to 100 users to a computer-room system supporting as many as 500 users.

Performance runs the gamut of 25 to 68 MIPS, under the Dhrystone industry benchmark.

Prices range from $18,000 to more than $150,000.

AT&T Computer Systems' System 7000 Series of RISC-based Unix servers was expanded with the addition of the System 7080 Release 2.

The 7080R2 offers up to 34% increased performance over existing AT&T models. It performed 201 transactions per second running the Informix TPI benchmark.

Total revenue for the RISC (reduced instruction set computer) workstation market will reach $36 million in 1991, up for $31.4 million in 1990 and $12.5 million in 1989, projects International Data.

Intel's new 32-bit embedded RISC processors bring 32-bit RISC performance to 16-bit processor environments.

The i960 SA operates at 10 MHz> the i960 SB at 16 MHz.

The Mariner 4i from Mars Microsystems, of Wexford, Pa., lets users run DOS and Unix concurrently.

Manufactured by Taiwan-based Tatung, the Mariner 4i combines SPARC and PC technology in one platform.

"Basically, we're offering the power DOS user the ability to bring all his software and peripherals with him," says Kevin Gonor, vice-president of sales/marketing for Mars Microsystems.

The Mariner 4i was rated at 16.8 MIPS, versus 15.8 MIPS for Sun Microsystems' SPARCstation 1+, he notes.

The integration of color Sun Microsystems to offer a 15.8-MIPS desktop system for $9995. (A diskless version costs $8995.)

The SPARCstation IPC features 8 to 24 megabytes of memory and a 16-inch color monitor.

The Open Look graphical user interface allows it to operate as a Macintosh.

Serving Needs

PC Craft offers two multi-user, floor-standing file servers based on the 25 MHz 80386 microprocessor.

The $5290 PCC3500/25C4 and the $4385 2500/25C both include 64 kilobytes of onboard static cache RAM.

The 80486-based DECstation 425c from Digital Equipment Corp. can be used as a file server or high performance workstation.

The basic configuration, at $6055, combines 25 MHz operating speed with one megabyte of standard memory, six 16-bit AT/XT expansion slots, and a built-in IDE disk controller.

Put It In Printing

HP LaserJet or compatible printers can be linked directly to LANs via the microprocessor-based ACScript multipurpose server from Applied Computer Sciences.

The system also mixes PostScript and PCL printing, even in the same document.

Pacific Data Products' printer sharing device simultaneously links as many as five PCs or four Macintoshes to a single HP LaserJet Series II, IID, III, or IIID printer.

Pacific Connect, priced under $500, can be linked to a mainframe or minicomputer.

Backing Up

Macintosh users can choose from removable mass data storage options from Sumo Systems of San Jose, Calif.

The new line of plug-and-play subsystems includes an erasable optical disk drive, a hard disk cartridge drive, a digital audio tape (DAT) drive, and a backup storage system combining a DAT drive and a Winchester drive.

Emerald Systems, San Diego, is offering two devices for network backup: the VAST Device 8-millimeter streaming tape product, which offers 2.2 gigabytes of storage capacity on a single cassette> and Rapid Recover 1.2, which stores 1.2 gigabytes of data (or the contents of three CD-ROMs) on a cassette measuring 2.85 by 2.1 inches.