Pentium systems emerge from behind Intel gate

Electronic News, May 17, 1993 by Adam Greenberg, J. Robert Lineback

NEW YORK -- Intel's Pentium embargo will loosen this week, permitting system vendors to discuss shipment schedules, full specs and some pricing. While a full slate of offerings is scheduled for formal introduction, however, the issue of supply versus demand continues to be sidestepped by those eager to maintain their positions as top-tier customers of the monopoly Pentium source. Among the anticipated disclosures are:

NCR, Dayton, Ohio, is using Pentium in its System 3000 SMP workstations and servers. The line begins with the entry-level 3360 single-or dual-processor workstation, aimed at Windows NT development or Unix client applications and scheduled for June availability. It is priced between $18,000 and $20,000 for a two-processor model with 32MB of RAM, a 535MB hard drive, a 600MB CD-ROM, an Ethernet or Token Ring adapter, a 19-inch color display and Windows NT.

NCR will have four servers: the high-end 3555, expandable to 16 processors and ranging from $150,000 to $1 million; the up to eight-processor 3525 ranging from $90,000-$750,000; the 3455, which scales up to six processors and is priced from $45,000-$400,000; and the single- or dual-processor 3430, priced from $25,000-$75,000. Pentium upgrade boards also will be offered for the existing 3450 and 3550; NCR expects to add Pentium capabilities to 3600 and 3700-class systems next year and move the architecture into lower-end systems in late 1994.

The company views its tight relationship with Intel and the 3000 series' scalability as its key value adds. "We are fully involved in all of Intel's R&D," said Dr. Michael Trask of NCR's multiprocessor systems business unit. "We're going to help P6 go SMP."

Asked about Pentium availabilty, Dr. Trask said, "We'd like to have a billion of them. We expect to sell all we can put out, but Intel is giving us what we need." He would not disclose NCR's shipment forecasts, saying only that the company is "comfortable with our plans." Dr. Trask characterized Pentium's performance in internal tests as "everything we expected out of it and then some."

Servers are expected to be the focus at Zenith Data Systems (ZDS), Buffalo Grove, Ill., which will include two Pentium offerings in a new six-model line. The Z-Server LT P60E Model 1000 features a 60MHz Pentium with 256K cache, 16MB of RAM and a 1GB Fast SCSI-II hard drive, while the EX P66E Model 1000 offers a 66MHz Pentium. Both models are scheduled for Q3 availability and are priced at $7,699 and $8,999, respectively.

Other new ZDS servers use 486 MPUs ranging from 3366MHz and priced between $4,699-$6,149. The LT models are designed as file and print servers or as entry-level workgroup servers, while the EX series will be offered as departmental servers for mission-critical applications or as multi-user Unix hosts.

In Europe, Siemens Nixdorf Informationssystem AG (SNI) this week is expected to offer a network server initially disclosed in February (EN, Feb. 8). The PCE-5S will be available this summer in 60 and 66MHz versions, with an entry-level configuration featuring 16MB of main memory expandable to 512MB, a 512MB hard disk, 256K of zero-wait cache memory, an Ethernet controller, two fast SCSI-II channels and eight expansion slots meeting the extended ESIA bus spec. Prices vary by geography and start at DM 20,000 (US$12,500) in the German market. A key aspect of the PCE-5S is its design for future Pentium iterations, such as 100MHz processors planned for next year and future 3.3V flavors.

Another European vendor International Computers Ltd. (ICL), is readying the TeamServer F5, an EISA-based machine with 16K of internal cache and 4GB of internal hard disk storage. Scheduled for Q3 availability, an entry-level configuration will be priced below $10,000.

Unisys, Blue Bell, Pa, designed Pentium into its PW2 Advantage Plus 5606 and 5608 PCs and U6000/300 Unix departmental servers scheduled for Q3 availability. The systems will feature up to 192MB of memory and 2.1GB of disk storage, with the PCs focused on DOS, Windows and Novell Netware applications. Also slated for Q3 are Pentium upgrade kits for PW Advantage Plus PCs and U6000/100 servers, with a new Unix server chassis designed specifically for Pentium and the successor P6 MPU slated for Q493.

On the high-end multiprocessing front, Unisys said it intends to offer Pentium-based servers designed and built by Sequent Computer Systems, Beaverton, Ore. Upgrades for existing Sequent-built U6000 /75 and U6000/85 systems are slated for Q4. Unisys also revealed its intention to incorporate Pentium in its CTOS workstations and its A7 mainframes at an unspecified later date. The A7 currently employs an Intel 486 to host Unix and OS/2 applications with those running on the system's CMOS-based Single Chip A Series Mainframe Processor (SCAMP).

Pricing was not revealed, with a spokesman saying, "Our pricing actions are driven by market factors that now don't allow us to set prices, especially in the PC area because that market is so volatile." On supply, the spokesman said, "We believe we will receive and are receiving sufficient quantities to meet our delivery objectives for the year." Those goals were not detailed.