Stratus Doubles Performance of Continuum Server Family; Six New Fault-Tolerant Models are Based on PA-8500 Processor - Product Announcement

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, Feb 7, 2000

Stratus Computer, provider of the world's most reliable servers, Tuesday announced a new family of Stratus Continuum servers that delivers twice the performance on average of predecessor models. The new family represents a significant improvement in price/performance for fault-tolerant computing in support of business-critical applications.

The six models comprising the Continuum 400, 600, 1200 Series of continuously available servers are based on Hewlett-Packard Company's 360MHz PA-8500 RISC processor. Depending on the model, these servers support the HP-UX UNIX operating system or the Stratus VOS operating system. Actual comparative performance improvements of individual models may be less or greater than 100%, depending on the application.

Customers throughout the world who require the highest levels of system availability use Stratus Continuum systems. Principal industries served include banking, securities and options exchanges, retail, transportation, e-commerce, and gaming.

"The impressive benchmark scores achieved by Stratus' new systems mean improved performance of our online wagering application," said Pierre Antoine Carrus, administrator at PMC, a beta site customer for a new PA-8500 processor-based system. "Our patrons place online wagers for horse and dog races at more than 300 racecourses throughout Europe and Africa, and they demand absolute reliability, speed and accuracy. Constant uptime is critical to our success, as lost bets could not only have dramatic financial implications, but result in lost customers as well."

A Range of Fault-Tolerant Solutions

The Continuum 419 uni-processor and 429 twin-processor servers support the HP-UX Release 11.00.01 operating system. Positioned as entry-level fault-tolerant servers, the 400 Series will support up to 4GB of logical memory, 126GB of internal disk storage, and a range of communication protocols. The 400 Series will also use a new disk storage enclosure capable of accommodating today's high-performance disk drives, as well as future disk drives with higher capacities and rotational speeds.

The Continuum Models 619, 629, 1219, and 1229 uni- and twin-processor servers support Stratus' robust and field-proven VOS 14.2.0 operating system for fault-tolerant computing. These systems also feature increased memory capacity of up to 4GB as well as up to 88% more data storage with higher capacity disk drives. Furthermore, VOS remains the premier operating system for fault-tolerant computing, having been continually enhanced and improved over two decades.

The 600 Series uses the same 6-slot cabinet of predecessor models with HP PA-8000 processors, making current Continuum 618 and 628 systems board-upgradeable to PA-8500 based systems. With its 28 user-configurable I/O adapter slots the Continuum 600 models offer customers ample connectivity and flexibility in a cost-effective package.

The new 1219 and 1229 systems present customers with high-performance requirements a compelling opportunity for migration from Stratus' current high-end 1200 models. These models provide for a maximum duplexed disk capacity of up to 45GB in the main cabinet, increasing to as much as 3.23TB in the expansion cabinets. The 12-slot logic cabinet gives users up to 84 configurable communications I/O adapter slots.

"Fault-tolerant computing provides the ultimate in system availability and reliability for a growing number of mission-critical applications. Our new Stratus Continuum family delivers the best value and performance ever available to the market, from entry-level models to fully-featured systems providing peak performance and capacity," said Stephen Kiely, president and CEO of Stratus Computer. "Stratus' new family of Continuum systems demonstrates our commitment to the PA-RISC family processor roadmap. We are ensuring that our customers can expect future price/performance benefits from their investment in Stratus fault-tolerant servers."

Pricing and Availability

Base list price for minimum system configurations of the new Stratus Continuum family of PA-8500 based systems is:

* Model 419 (1.5MB cache, 0.5GB memory, 8-user HP-UX license) $140,000

* Model 429 (Twin CPU, 1.5MB cache, 0.5GB memory, 8-user HP-UX license) $170,000

* Model 619 (0.5GB memory, VOS) $274,000

* Model 629 (twin-CPU, 0.5GB memory, VOS) $449,000

* Model 1219 (0.5GB memory, VOS) $499,000

* Model 1229 (twin-CPU, 0.5GB memory, VOS) $699,000

General availability of all models is February 2000.

Based in Maynard, MA, Stratus Computer offers the world's most proven range of continuously available computer platforms, application solutions, and professional services for mission-critical business operations. Stratus currently serves more than 700 customers worldwide focusing primarily on financial services, retail, travel, electronic commerce, healthcare, public safety and gaming industries. Many of Stratus' customers are highly visible industry leaders such as prominent U.S. securities firms, major credit card companies, the largest stock exchange in Asia, the largest options exchange in the world, and 27 out of the world's 30 largest banks.