Force Computers Announces New SPARC CPU-20VT; Product offers proven, scalable solutions, functionality for high performance applications

Business Wire, May 13, 1996

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 13, 1996--FORCE COMPUTERS Inc. today announced its new SPARCstation 20-compatible CPU-20VT, giving the industry the highest VMEbus performance available in the durable SPARC V8 MBus architecture.

The CPU-20VT has 2 MBus slots for up to four, 150 MHz hyperSPARC processors. In addition, the product is equipped with dual SCSI and dual Ethernet interfaces providing superior scalability for a wide range of performance applications. The CPU-20VT is the latest in FORCE's family of highly successful SPARC VME-based, board-level products.

"This new platform is a performance workhorse for high-availability systems making it ideal for telecommunications, military command and control, industrial control, simulation and medical imaging applications," said Steve Little, director of marketing for FORCE COMPUTERS. "FORCE has combined proven SPARC architecture with its own advanced technology to give the CPU-20VT speed, I/O flexibility, scalability and the ability to run standard operating systems."

Scalability

The CPU-20VT is 100 percent compatible with the SPARCstation 20 family and offers developers scalable, stable multi-processing using ROSS Technology's hyperSPARC modular processors. ROSS' hyperSPARC processors are the industry's most advanced SPARC Version 8 microprocessors. Available in single, dual or quad configurations, the CPU-20VT offers a wide range of price and performance. Symmetric multiprocessing under Solaris and SunOS, where all CPUs have equal access to the operating system kernel, enables scalable throughput for both compute and I/O intensive applications.

"This product is another example of FORCE COMPUTER'S and ROSS Technology's combined commitment to provide customers with the highest-performance, leading-edge technology for embedded applications," said Trevor S. Smith, vice president of product development at ROSS Technology, Inc. "Our hyperSPARC architecture, with 150MHz MBus performance, and FORCE COMPUTER'S VME expertise provides the right solution for high-performance embedded applications."

The CPU-20VT features field upgradable ECC mezzanine memory. These modules are available in 64 or 128 Mbyte versions for up to 512 Mbytes of on-board DRAM. In addition to the 2MBus slots, this board also offers 2 SBus slots for graphics and flexible I/O expansion.

High-availability I/O Features

Dual, independent SCSI-2 and Ethernet channels provide data protection from drive and network failures. The dual SCSI-2 interfaces allow for independent connection to storage devices. Automatic fail-over and recovery configurations can be realized using standard software such as Solstice DiskSuite from SunSoft. The two independent Ethernet interfaces also allow for more efficient network routing to improve reliability while reducing performance bottlenecks.

Direct 64-bit SBus VME Interface

The CPU-20VT offers a full 64-bit VMEbus interface with direct SBus interconnection based on FORCE COMPUTERS' FGA-5000 ASIC. This interface allows VMEbus data speeds of up to 40 Mbytes/sec. The design of the FGA-5000 enhances system performance by enabling direct SBus utilization by the on-board dual SCSI and Ethernet drivers. This all occurs as the FGA-5000 integrated DMA controller off-loads data transfer operations from the SPARC processor.

Software Compatibility

The CPU-20VT is fully compatible with shrink-wrapped Solaris operating systems, including 1.x, 2.x, and real-time operating systems, such as VxWorks. This standard OS support makes thousands of off-the-shelf software packages available to embedded system designers. This reduces time-to-market and protects software investments by providing familiar operating system environments for developers.

Pricing and Availability

The SPARC CPU-20VT is priced starting at $19,995 per unit and is available in July for customer shipments. Numerous product configurations and options are also available.

Committed to Quality and VME-based System Solutions

FORCE COMPUTERS, Inc. is the leading independent designer and manufacturer of systems for embedded VMEbus applications. The company is ISO 9001 certified with over 14 years of experience delivering embedded solutions based on SPARC, PowerPC and 680x0 technology for UNIX and real-time operating systems to customers throughout the world. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., FORCE has both U.S. and European manufacturing and design centers. Sales, service and support are provided on a worldwide basis via direct offices and through a network of distributors and representatives. -0-

Please refer all reader inquiries to: FORCE COMPUTERS, INC. 2001 Logic Drive San Jose, CA 95124 (408) 369-6000 or (800) FORCE-99 (U.S. and Canada) 49.89.608-14-0 (Europe and Asia) (214) 774-1888 (South and Central America) http:\\www.forcecomputers.com

CONTACT: FORCE COMPUTERS Inc.

Janet Freeman Baker, 408/369-6191 (Editorial)

Val King, 408/369-6160 (Product)

or

ROSS Technology

John Rasco, 512/436-2527 (Editorial)

Matt Gutierrez, 512/436-2522 (Product)