RDI Introduces UltraBook, Redefining Price And Performance For UNIX Portability

Business Wire, Sept 16, 1997

CARLSBAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 16, 1997--

200 MHz Ultra SPARC-based UltraBook is a 7.5-pound desktop portable

RDI Computer Corp. Tuesday introduced UltraBook, an Ultra SPARC-based portable workstation whose industry-leading performance, desktop-equivalent features and low portable-to-desktop price premium herald a new era of portable workstations.

For the first time ever, mid-range Sun workstation performance is available in a portable format. UltraBook's exceptional performance and features - including a 200-MHz Ultra SPARC 1 processor, 14.1-inch high resolution display, up to 9.0 GB of storage, 512 MB memory and optional Creator Graphics - make it the first UNIX portable that can operate on the desktop as a primary computing system.

UltraBook is also designed to be competitively priced, with a minimal price premium over comparable desktop systems, delivering true portability and 100 percent Sun workstation compatibility. Available now from RDI and their network of commercial and government resellers, UltraBook is listed starting at $11,995 in single-unit quantities.

Appeals to mainstream workstation users

RDI's UltraBook is the first system in a new category of portable workstations, called MobileStations. With performance comparable to a mid-range workstation, rather than the traditional entry-level workstation performance of portables, and a price point lower than previous generations, MobileStations target adoption by mainstream workstation users.

UltraBook is comparable to Sun's mid-range Ultra 1 workstation, with a 30 percent to 50 percent price premium over the desktop, significantly lowering the price premium of previous generations. The combination of unprecedented performance and better value enables UltraBook to appeal not merely to traditional markets for portable workstations, but to the overall technical workstation market.

"UltraBook breaks through long-standing barriers to workstation portability by providing unprecedented performance, equivalent to the desktop, in a portable format," said Carl Baldini, vice president of engineering at RDI. "UltraBook is ten to twelve times lighter and smaller in size than the desktop workstation equivalent and it can be used as either a principal platform or a mobile system."

Multiple applications

UltraBook is designed to fully support any of the most demanding commercial, government and military applications traditionally performed in a UNIX environment. Among these are:

Software development and demonstration

MCAD engineering and analysis/drafting and design

Electronic design automation

Network management and troubleshooting

Financial modeling and analysis

Military command and control operations

Intelligence gathering

Geoscience/geoengineering

High performance and superior features

UltraBook's unprecedented array of features and capabilities include:

High performance processor. For compute and graphic intensive applications, UltraBook incorporates either the 200 MHz or 167 MHz UltraSPARC 1 processor, with performance ratings of 7.54-SPECint95 and 10.4-SPECfp95 or 5.56 SPECint95 and 9.06 SPECfp95 respectively; almost four times the floating point and two and a half times the integer performance of previous versions of SPARC portables.

Large, high-resolution display. Users requiring superior clarity and visualization can take advantage of UltraBook's 14.1 or 12.1-inch, 1024x768 color active matrix liquid crystal display (LCD). The 14.1-inch display is the largest of any SPARC-based portable workstation, equivalent in usability to a 17-inch CRT.

Multi-gigabyte removable on-board storage. With three bays available for storage, UltraBook can accommodate up to 9.0 GB of removable hard disk storage.

Expandable memory. From a standard 32 MB, UltraBook is expandable up to 512 MB of memory, plus 16 KB instruction, 16 KB data cache and 512 KB secondary cache.

Intelligent power management and battery technology. UltraBook supports Lithium-Ion batteries with QuikCheck, RDI's LED read-out of the charge status. An integrated power management system prolongs the battery life. 100 percent compatibility. Running unmodified operating systems Solaris 2.5.1 or 2.6, UltraBook is 100 percent compatible with Sun workstations.

True portability. Only 7.5 pounds (3.4 kg) in its standard configuration, UltraBook is a notebook sized 2.3-in. x 12.4-in. x 11.66-in. (height/width/length), or 58mm x 326mm x 296mm. Complete specifications are available on the RDI Web site, www.rdi.com .

Expansion dock. RDI provides an expansion dock for the UltraBook which has three slots for additional removable disk drives, battery packs, internal CD-ROM drive or floppy drive. The expansion dock replicates the I/O ports for connecting monitors and keyboards on the desktop and can charge battery packs. Expected delivery of the expansion dock is in 60 days.

Superior graphics capability

For the creation and manipulation of the most complex 2D and 3D images, UltraBook is available with a choice of three levels of graphics performance, beginning with the PCI based ATI RAGE LT controller. Alternately, Sun Creator 2D offers 24-bit, single buffered 2-D graphics and imaging, allowing quick execution of pan, zoom and rotate commands. Sun Creator 3D provides accelerated 24-bit, double- and Z-buffered 3-D rendering, ideal for visualization, MCAD and medical imaging. Sun's 3D-RAM technology combines the best features of DRAM, SRAM, and VRAM onto one chip - delivering up to 600 million pixel operations per second.