Issue No. 61
A. AUSPEX SYSTEMS BECOMES A GENERAL MEMBER OF SPARC INTERNATIONAL
B. SPARC INTERNATIONAL TESTING OF SYSTEMS FOR SCD GOES OVER THE 800 MARK!!
C. FORCE COMPUTERS EXTENDS VMEBUS LINE WITH INDUSTRY’S FASTEST SPARC-BASED HIGH AVAILABILITY SERVER
D. U S SOFTWARE’S USNET ADDS SUPPORT FOR CS8900 CRYSTALLAN ETHERNET CONTROLLER FROM CIRRUS LOGIC
E. FORCE ANNOUNCED THE CENTELLIS CT 16523, THE INDUSTRY’S FIRST COMPACTPCI-BASED SPARC SYSTEM
F. INSIGNIA SOLUTIONS POISED TO DELIVER EMBEDDED VIRTUAL MACHINE TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE JAVA PLATFORM
H. TADPOLE TECHNOLOGY ACQUIRES RDI COMPUTER CORPORATION OF CALIFORNIA
I. SUN DELIVERS CORNERSTONE OF SOFTWARE STRATEGY – SOLARIS 7 UNVEILED
II. TESTING ADDITIONS, DELETIONS AND PRODUCTS IN PROCESS
I. A. – AUSPEX SYSTEMS BECOMES A GENERAL MEMBER OF SPARC INTERNATIONAL
Santa Clara, CA–October 22, 1998–Auspex Systems, a world leader in the Network File Server market, has re-joined SPARC International as a General Member. Auspex Functional Multiprocessing(R) architecture is unique in its ability to meet the requirements of today’s enterprise data environment, scaling independently to acommodate additional need for information storage, network bandwidth, and network connectivity.
I. B. – SPARC INTERNATIONAL TESTING OF SYSTEMS FOR SCD GOES OVER THE 800 MARK!!
During the month of October, SPARC International completed a test for SPARC Compliant Definition (SCD) on the Sun Microsystems Ultra 2-2300 Creator, which was the 800th system tested for SCD compliancy. It was also one of the first systems tested utilizing the new Solaris 7 release. Anyone want to guess when we test our 1,000th system?
I. C. FORCE COMPUTERS EXTENDS VMEBUS LINE WITH INDUSTRY’S FASTEST SPARC-BASED HIGH AVAILABILITY SERVER
San Jose, CA–October 1, 1998–Raising the performance bar for high availability VMEbus systems, Force Computers, a Solectron subsidiary (NYSE: SLR), today introduced its dual UltraSPARC IIi single board computer-based teleforce-50 server. A fully redundant system in a single chassis, the teleforce-50 provides intelligent network (IN) equipment manufacturers with a high performance platform for use in such critical telco central office applications as service nodes, service control points, adjunct processors and intelligent peripherals.
Designed to meet stringent Bellcore NEBS criteria for disaster-resistant central office applications, the teleforce-50 features two rugged, independent VMEbus subsystems in a fault-resilient, 19″ rack-mount chassis. Each subsystem is powered by a 333MHz UltraSPARC IIi single board computer, marrying availability protection with the computing power required by advanced telephony processing and database applications. Dual UltraSCSI and dual 100Mbits/sec Ethernet interfaces in each subsystem; hot-swappable power supplies, disk drives and fanmodules; and system surveillance mechanisms round out the high availability package.
I. D. – U S SOFTWARE’S USNET ADDS SUPPORT FOR CS8900 CRYSTALLAN ETHERNET CONTROLLER FROM CIRRUS LOGIC
Hillsboro, OR–October 1, 1998–U S Software today announced that support for CS8900 CrystalLAN(TM) 10 Mbps Embedded Ethernet Controller from Cirrus Logic has been added to its USNET(R) Embedded TCP/IP Protocol Suite.
“The CS8900 is rapidly becoming the industry standard in 10Mbps Ethernet applications, especially in embedded systems where board space is at a premium. Only a transformer is required to implement Ethernet in 1.5 inches of board space. US Software is taking advantage of the CS8900’s strong position in the embedded marketplace by adding a driver to USNET. Now CS8900 users have access to a leading TCP/IP protocol suite that enables fast development of embedded systems. We see this type of cooperation as important, since it enhances the ability of our customers to get to market quickly,” said Mike Press, marketing manager at Cirrus Logic.
“Crystal thought quite a bit about how this device would be programmed and used. Initialization is straightforward and data transfer is efficient. Our device driver takes advantage of the flexibility offered by the chip by providing a selection for operation in I/O mode or Memory mode,” commented Elizabeth Schneider, software engineering manager at U S Software.
USNET is a ROMable and reentrant TCP/IP protocol suite that provides drop-in support, full source code, and a suite of applications and test programs for most popular microprocessors. USNET is also processor independent and includes: clients/servers (BOOTP, DHCP, TELNET, FTP, TFTP), and protocols (TCP, UDP, IP, ICMP, ARP, RARP). SNMP and an Internet Access Package (IAP), which includes an embedded HTTP Web Server, are optionally available for USNET. U S Software’s USNET including the CS8900 driver is available immediately. For on-line information about USNET, look at U S Software’s web site at www.ussw.com.
I. E. – FORCE ANNOUNCED THE CENTELLIS CT 16523, THE INDUSTRY’S FIRST COMPACTPCI-BASED SPARC SYSTEM
San Jose, CA–October 1, 1998–Taking aim at the high-performance embedded systems and computer telephony markets, Force Computers, a Solectron subsidiary (NYSE: SLR) today introduced the industry’s first CompactPCI-based UltraSPARC system platform — the Centellis CT 16523. The Centellis CT (for Computer Telephony) 16523 is an entry-level UltraSPARC IIi system designed and priced for large-scale deployment in a broad range of Customer Premise Equipment applications, or for such compute- and I/O-intensive applications as an Intelligent Peripheral (IP) Switching Host. The newest member to the award-wining Centellis 16000 product line, the Centellis CT 16523 delivers outstanding performance through the use of a 300MHz UltraSPARC IIi processor. This high performance is complimented by the stability of Sun’s Solaris operating system, and the durability and easy maintainability of the CompactPCI bus architecture. The CompactPCI architecture provides hot swappable boards for minimal downtime, a rugged Eurocard form factor, and superior cooling characteristic for high reliability.
The CompactPCI architecture positions the Centellis CT 16523 to handle critical applications that would sorely tax traditional industrial workstations, yet it remains competitively priced for all its robust features,” said Chris Williams, vice president of marketing at Force Computers.
The Centellis CT 16523 also supports a PCI bandwidth of 132 Mbytes per second per CompactPCI bus segment, enabling it to deliver the high-speed throughput required by computer telephony applications. In addition, its main memory is expandable up to a full gigabyte.
For more information visit Force Computers at www.forcecomputers.com. Force’s corporate headquarters is located in San Jose, California. Force’s European headquarters is located in Munich, Germany, and the company’s Japanese headquarters is located in Tokyo, Japan. Force Computers is a subsidiary of Solectron Corporation of Milpitas, California.
I. F. – INSIGNIA SOLUTIONS POISED TO DELIVER EMBEDDED VIRTUAL MACHINE TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE JAVA PLATFORM
Fremont, CA–October 13, 1998–Insignia Solutions(R) ), a leading provider of virtual machine/emulation technology, today announced it will formally introduce JENE(TM), Insignia’s implementation of Java(TM) specifically designed for embedded systems, at the Embedded Systems Conference in San Jose, California on November 3, 1998. As its cornerstone technology, JENE includes the highly efficient Embedded Virtual Machine(TM) (EVM(TM)), and qualified developers can sign up to receive beta shipment of this and other key technologies later this quarter. JENE (pronounced “gene”) is scheduled to ship in the first quarter of 1999. Insignia will hold a press conference to reveal technical details and features to press and analysts on November 3. In addition, financial analysts and press are invited to participate in the company’s earnings release conference call on October 22, 1998 in which more detail will be provided. Analysts can call 719/457-2625 at 2:00 PM Pacific Time.
Insignia Solutions is a leading provider of virtual machine/emulation technology that dynamically optimizes the use of available system resources. JENE, Insignia’s implementation of Java specifically designed for embedded systems, allows developers to create reliable, efficient and predictable embedded devices that are enabled by the company’s Embedded Virtual Machine. The company’s PC emulation products, SoftWindows™ and RealPC™, enable Windows® and DOS applications to run on UNIX(R) desktops. The publicly held company’s US headquarters are in Fremont, California, and its main R&D facilities are in High Wycombe, England. For additional information on Insignia and its products, call 800/848-7677 or visit the company’s Web site at www.insignia.com.
I. G. – ANDATACO AND GADZOOX(R) NETWORKS SIGN STRATEGIC SALES AND MARKETING AGREEMENT FOR BEST-OF-BREED STORAGE AREA NETWORKING (SAN) SOLUTION
San Diego and San Jose, CA–October 14, 1998–ANDATACO, a leading manufacturer and integrator of RAID and RAID-ready storage solutions for UNIX and Windows NT customers, and Gadzoox Networks, Inc., the industry leader in Gigabit- speed Fibre Channel SAN products, today announced the signing of a strategic sales and marketing agreement. This agreement allows customers to access SAN solutions leverag-ing both ANDATACO’s Application-Specific Architecture approach for implementing flexible high performance storage solutions, and Gadzoox’ industry-leading SAN infra- structure products. Terms of the agreement allow ANDATACO to resell Gadzoox’ full line of managed Fibre Channel SAN hubs and the Denali switch.
“ANDATACO is the only storage provider ready to offer a fully integrated SAN solution today. We are aggressively testing and integrating industry-leading components offering our customers best-of-breed solutions for a SAN environment” said W. David Sykes, president of ANDATACO. “Combining our GigaRAID storage series with quality components from companies like Gadzoox, allows us to design more robust and full featured SANs.”
About ANDATACO
ANDATACO designs, manufacturers and distributes storage solutions based on its Application-Specific Architecture for UNIX environments. The company’s products include SCSI and Fibre Channel RAID and RAID-ready disk storage, tape backup and restore products and storage management software. World-class technical support and service back the company’s products and customized professional services programs. The company distributes internally developed products, and selected products from other manufacturers through a network of nationwide sales offices and through business affiliates in Europe, Asia, Latin America, Canada and Australia. Access ANDATACO information at www.andataco.com.
I. H. TADPOLE TECHNOLOGY ACQUIRES RDI COMPUTER CORPORATION OF CALIFORNIA
Cambridge, UK–October 16, 1998–Computing innovator Tadpole Technology Plc today named the management team of its new flagship subsidiary Tadpole-RDI, now global leader in the design and manufacture of portable UNIX workstations and servers for Sun and Hewlett-Packard professionals. The subsidiary has been created following Tadpole’s acquisition of its main competitor, RDI Computer Corporation of California, and the subsequent merging of the two vendors UNIX operations.
Appointed President of Tadpole-RDI is Carl Baldini, previously Chief Operating Officer of RDI Computer Corporation. Other key management appointments comprise Philip Gioia as Senior Vice-President of Operations, Martin Greasley as Vice-President of Finance, Una Richens as Vice-President Marketing and Business Development, Frank Smaldino as Vice-President of Sales and Paul Sweere as Vice-President of Product Development.
With headquarters plus ISO-9001 certified manufacturing and engineering operations in Carlsbad, California and European operations in Cambridge, England, Tadpole-RDI is now the global leader in portable workstations for Sun and Hewlett-Packard professionals. Prominent lines are the UltraBook, SPARCbook and PrecisionBook offering remarkable processor power and optimised performance, up to 15GB removable disk capacity, 3D graphics and connectivity, large LCD screens and an impressive array of hot-networking features.
Also included in the vendor’s product portfolio is the much-acclaimed UltraSPARC-IIi based VoyagerIIi system for the Sun/Solaris environment, which brings notebook technology to the UNIX server market for the first time. The unique VoyagerIIi system offers the equivalent performance of Sun’s 44-lbs Ultra 10S static system, but in a rugged, easily-portable aluminum frame the size of a business directory and weighing about a fifth of its bulky cousin.
About Tadpole
Tadpole Technology Plc is the global leader in portable UNIX workstations and systems for Sun and Hewlett-Packard professionals and pioneer of mobile Java solutions called Cartesia for the world’s utilities and related industries. Leveraging developments in Java and intranet technology, Cartesia brings the full advantages of integrated corporate workflow to the mobile environment allowing utilities to deploy the first set of truly location-independent, platform-neutral business tools to generate reductions in IT costs and gains in mobile workforce productivity.
For further information, please contact: Bernard Hulme, Chief Executive Tel: +44 1223 278200 Tadpole Technology Plc.
I. I. – SUN DELIVERS CORNERSTONE OF SOFTWARE STRATEGY – SOLARIS 7 UNVEILED
New York, NY–October 27, 1998–Emerging as a software powerhouse, Sun Microsystems, Inc. further distinguished itself by announcing its next-generation flagship software product line: the new Solaris(TM) 7 software environment for SPARC(TM) and Intel computers. Unlike competitors, Sun is delivering today the highly scalable and reliable, 64-bit environment based on Internet standards that companies like Microsoft are promising its customers in the future. Sun also announced that it is extending its Solaris 7 software with specific new features to address the needs of departmental and data center environments, as well as Internet Service Providers (ISPs). The combination of today’s announcement, along with Sun’s Jini(TM) and Java(TM) software technologies and recent acquisitions of NetDynamics, Chorus, Redcape Policy Software and i-Planet, uniquely position Sun to deliver an architecture of the caliber necessary to meet the demands of its anywhere, anytime vision of computing.
Sun believes that, with Solaris 7, it continues to outdistance itself from those in the UNIX operating system camp, and has established a huge lead by establishing what a network computing software environment should be. Combining attributes common in mainframe-class systems with ease-of-use found on PCs, Sun will now move Solaris both “up” into the data center and “deeper” into departments, gaining new market share at the expense of the MVS mainframe, UNIX and Microsoft Windows NT operating environments.
Highlights of the Solaris 7 product line include: (1) an enormous increase in capacity which removes limitations in handling extremely large data sets and complex computation, and opens the door for a new class of applications; (2) mainframe-class reliability features to minimize planned and unplanned downtime; (3) complete PC interoperability, so that customers can connect and manage their Windows NT environments with Solaris; and, (4) new PC-style ease-of-administration features for dramatically simplified installation and administration.
Sun also revealed an aggressive road map for the future versions of Solaris 8 and Solaris 9 that will accelerate the technology gap between Solaris and other operating systems. With each new release, Sun will redefine the state-of-the-art and incorporate more and more technologies, e.g., advanced clustering and Java technologies, into the base operating system – elevating customers’ expectations of what an operating system should deliver.
About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision, “The Network Is The ComputerTM,” has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNW), to its position as a leading provider of high quality hardware, software and services for establishing enterprise-wide intranets and expanding the power of the Internet. With more than $10 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 150 countries and on the World Wide Web at www.sun.com.
I. J. – WORLD CLASS SUN SUPPORT WITH THE ON-LINE DETECTIVE
Waterford, MI–October 28, 1998–World Class Sun Support: Servicing and providing solutions for Sun equipment is made easy by accessing the On-Line! Detective for Sun. The Detective provides “World Class support for Sun workstations and servers. Users of the tool enhance their ability to detect and resolve O/S and hardware related problems and issues.
The On-Line! Detective also allows Sun Microsystems, Inc. to outdistance other UNIX providers by improving system service and support. “The Detective provides a competitive edge for Sun in the service industry, states Paul Violassi, CEO of SoftTech Solutions. “It allows end-users to reduce the cost of ownership, mitigate system downtime and reduce the time and costs associated with O/S and hardware problems. The Detective complements any Sun or third-party maintenance agreement. The suite of the On-Line! Detective covers the spectrum of Sun systems. This includes the Enterprise 450, Enterprise servers (3000-6000), SPARC(R)1000 and SPARC2000, SPARC Ultras (1, 2, 30, 5, 10, and 60) and most of the older SPARC architecture.
The Detective is updated three times per year with interim updates available from the web. These updates include new systems, added modules and mission critical information. Current customers of the On-Line! Detective include DEC/Compaq, HP, GTE, GE, Lockheed Martin, Lucent Technologies, AT&T and many government agencies. The format is very intuitive and pictographic allowing even first time users to successfully navigate the tool and locate pertinent information.
The software covers a wide range of topics including part numbers (Sun and third-party), configuration rules and requirements, and the most advanced troubleshooting and problem resolution techniques. The Detective runs on most Sun systems. It will load on Sun desktops or servers, as well as PCs and laptops. The Detective now has a demo available that is downloadable from the web. To view the demo or for more information, visit SoftTech Solutions” website at www.stsolutions.com or call SoftTech direct at (888) 786-4393.
II. TESTING ADDITIONS, DELETIONS AND PRODUCTS IN PROCESS
To view the master list, please access our web site at www.sparc.org or send email to info@sparc.org.
ADDITIONS (System Products):
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DELETIONS: None at this time SYSTEMS IN PROCESS: Company Product Name None at this time ADDITIONS (Semiconductor Products): None at this time. DELETIONS: None at this time. SEMI-CONDUCTOR IN PROCESS: NOTE: At times, unannounced systems (“in process” or “certified”) may not be included in this report at the request of the vendor.
SPARC-related documents are available through SPARC International’s bookstore, SPARCSHOP. Access to SPARCSHOP is available several ways,
- email sparcshop@sparc.org
- phone us at 1-408-748-9111 x240
Currently available
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– Managing Editor –
Cheryl Hostetler
Direct Inquiries To – sparc-flash-request@sparc.org
SPARC International promotes the design, development and application of SPARC to computer and peripheral products; establishes hardware and software standards; enables compatibility across SPARC-branded products; and provides, promotes and protects SPARC and SPARC-related brand names.
SPARC International has verified to the best of its ability all of the product information contained in this newsletter. Information in this newsletter has been provided by the vendors. SPARC International has not reviewed claims made about product features or functions, and is not responsible for the accuracy of such claims. Users may want to obtain references, documentation, and/or demonstrations before purchasing any products or services. No vendor is authorized to act as an agent of SPARC International, or to make any representations or warranties on SPARC International’s behalf.
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Other Trademarks that are in use or Pending Registration include:
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