Sun increases high-end workstation performance by up to 35 percent

Business Wire, Feb 7, 1995

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 7, 1995--Sun's innovative SPARCstation 20 workstations and servers got another boost in performance with the addition of the new 75 MHz SuperSPARC-II CPU.

The new SPARCstation 20 Model 71 delivers over 35 percent more SPECint performance than the previous high-end SPARCstation 20 Model 61. Its SPECint92 of 126 and SPECfp92 of 121 make the SPARCstation 20 Model 71 the highest-performance system available for under $18,000.

Sun is also using its volume business model to lower the incremental price of a fully functional 1280x1024, 96-bit 3-D graphics accelerator by over 66 percent. The best price/performance 3-D graphics option in the industry, the ZX accelerator is now only a $8,995 option on select SPARCstation 20 and SPARCstation 5 configurations. This aggressive price move will make high-speed 3-D graphics acceleration so inexpensive that every engineer or scientist will be able to have a 3-D graphics workstation on their desk.

The new SPARCstation 20 Model 71 and SPARCstation 20 Model 712MP workstations provide enhanced performance for high-end, network-based technical computing and graphics-intensive applications, while the SPARCserver 20 Model 71 and Model 712MP servers are excellent workgroup servers and compute servers for technical markets. The former high-end workstation and server models contained 60 MHZ processors.

SPARCstation 20 Model 71 and Model 712MP

The SPARCstation 20 Model 71 and Model 712MP workstations are outstanding platforms for mechanical design, engineering and analysis, scientific visualization, animation and other high-end technical applications requiring both CPU and 3-D graphics performance. The SPARCstation 20 Model 71 and Model 712MP module upgrades consist of one 75 MHz SuperSPARC-II CPU on a single-wide MBus processor module card with 1-megabyte external cache and up to two cards in a single system -- providing an easy upgrade path for the current installed base of over 250,000 SPARCstation 10s and 20s. The SPARCstation 20 Model 71 workstation is rated at 126 SPECint92/121 SPECfp92 and the Model 712MP provides 5726/5439 SPECrate_int92/SPECrate_fp92 MP performance.

As with the entire SPARCstation 20 family, the SPARCstation 20 Model 71 and Model 712MP workstations feature 24-bit color with bundled SX graphics, CD-quality audio, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), ISDN and Fast Ethernet capabilities. The workstations are binary compatible with all SPARC-based applications and are designed for easy installation of future SPARC CPU upgrades.

"The SPARCstation 20 Model 71 and Model 712 workstations show the increasing acceleration of SPARC performance," said Bob Pearson, SMCC's director of workstation product marketing. "In addition to our increasing competitive position for new users, all of our installed base of over 250,000 SPARCstation 10 and SPARCstation 20 customers can add this new CPU option over a lunch break and significantly improve their system performance."

"The SPARCstation 20 Model 71 and Model 712 offer spectacular price/performance for graphically demanding applications like Adobe Photoshop and Adobes Illustrator," said David Harris, director of Adobe's Display Products Group. "The combination of a high-performance UNIX workstation and our market-leading software provides end users with a new standard of performance productivity and functionality."

SPARCstation 20ZX and SPARCstation 5ZX

SMCC also announced that it is reducing the price of its SPARCstation 20ZX and SPARCstation 5ZX 3-D modeling workstations, continuing the company's leadership price/performance graphics strategy. A SPARCstation 20ZX Model 61 workstation starts at $19,495, while a SPARCstation 5ZX workstation costs $15,995. The SPARCstation 20ZX and SPARCstation 5ZX systems are designed for demanding graphics applications, such as high-end mechanical analysis, scientific visualization and animation.

SPARCserver 20 Model 71 and Model 712MP

The SPARCserver 20 Model 71 and Model 712MP systems are high-performance workgroup servers for a wide range of technical and commmercial applications, including electronic design, database access, customer service and order entry. These powerful servers can be used as application servers, to increase a workgroup's file sharing throughput, or connect PC LANs and workgroups to an overall enterprise.

The SPARCserver 20 Model 71 and Model 712MP complement SMCC's successful midrange UNIX servers, the SPARCserver 1000E and SPARCcenter 2000E, and the lowest-priced UNIX server in the industry, the SPARCserver 4. SMCC offers the best line-up of scalable, binary compatible UNIX servers in the industry -- from the SPARCserver 4 to the SPARCcluster 2000 PDB server.

The new systems are available now. The SPARCstation 20 Model 71 workstation with a single CPU module, a 17-inch color monitor, 32-megabytes of RAM and 1-GB disk costs $17,995.

The price for the same configuration with a 20-inch color monitor is $19,795. The price for a SPARCstation 20 Model 712 MP workstation, with two CPU modules, a 20-inch color monitor, 64 megabytes of RAM and 1-GB disk starts at $25,295. Individual 75 MHz SuperSPARC-II CPU upgrade modules are available for $9,000. SPARCserver 20 Model 71 and Model 712MP system prices start at $18,295 and $28,795.