Compaq, releasing Version 7.2, signals support for OpenVMS
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OpenVMS users can expect Compaq Computer Corp. to support their applications for the foreseeable future, company officials promised this month. Compaq brought out Version 7.2 of the OpenVMS operating system and a single-processor, $19,000 AlphaServer DS20. The server comes loaded with either OpenVMS 7.2 or Tru64 Unix, the renamed Digital Unix that Compaq acquired along with Digital Equipment Corp. a year ago.
OpenVMS users can expect Compaq Computer Corp. to support their
applications for the foreseeable future, company officials promised this month.
Compaq brought out Version 7.2 of the OpenVMS operating system and a single-processor,
$19,000 AlphaServer DS20. The server comes loaded with either OpenVMS 7.2 or Tru64 Unix,
the renamed Digital Unix that Compaq acquired along with Digital Equipment Corp. a year
ago.
The $19,000 AlphaServer has a 500-MHz Alpha 21264 processor, 128M of RAM and a 4G hard
drive.
Its internal switch architecture supports a CPU-to-memory bandwidth of 5.2
gigabytes/sec over dual 256-bit buses.
The basic model has seven hot-swap drives, error-correcting code memory, redundant
power supplies and a remote management console.
After acquiring OpenVMS, Compaq had expressed commitment to the 20-year-old VMS
operating system, but not until this month has it disclosed ongoing plans. OpenVMS is an
OS workhorse for the Postal Service, Veterans Health Administration, Air Force and other
agencies.
OpenVMS 7.2 can run over large-scale symmetrical multiprocessing systems and integrates
well with Microsoft Windows NT.
The OpenVMS road map outlines future support for Fibre Channel storage and cluster
interconnect technology, as well as for TCP/IP Version 6, the Microsoft Component Object
Model Plus and Java.
Digitals OpenVMS organization at the time of the Compaq acquisition employed 500
people and spent more than $50 million annually on OS development, according to Richard
Marcello, vice president of the OpenVMS Software Group.
In addition to the AlphaServer DS20, Compaq this month introduced the Professional
Workstation XP1000 with the Alpha 21264 processor and Compaqs PowerStorm graphics,
priced from $7,152. AlphaServer users can order Alpha 21264 processor upgrades for their
systems.
A new Tru64 Unix 4.0 release will be available in March, starting at $1,200 for
AlphaServer models 800, 1200 and DS20. Tru64 Unix 5.0, due in June, is supposed to handle
tens of thousands of concurrent users, dynamic resource partitioning, multiterabyte file
system expansion and memory up to 28G, Compaq officials said.
Compaq will make available for download an Enterprise Toolkit for Microsoft Visual
Studio 1.2 to debug and tune C, C++ and Fortran applications for the new Tru64 Unix.