CPU Shack - DEC 21064A

DIGITAL WORKSTATIONS SET NEW MARK FOR SPEED,
PRICE/PERFORMANCE IN OPEN CLIENT/SERVER COMPUTING

. . . New Multiprocessor Clustered Server, Workstation Pricing
Push Alpha AXP Power and Affordability . . .

MAYNARD, Mass. -- July 21, 1994 -- Digital Equipment Corporation today continued its workstation leadership in open client/server computing with two new models boasting the industry's best performance and price/performance. Digital's latest desktop and deskside workstations combine the world's fastest single-chip microprocessors with new graphics accelerator cards to provide the industry's best 2D graphics performance and superior 3D performance.

Digital also reduced the price of the DEC 3000 Model 600 AXP, the industry's most powerful workstation under $20,000. Further, it introduced the AdvantageCluster Compute Server 5000 system, offering high-performance UNIX clustering capability with symmetric multi- processing (SMP) support.

Power-Hungry Applications

The new workstations, DEC 3000 Models 700 and 900 AXP, are based on Digital's newest Alpha AXP microprocessors that incorporate CMOS-5, the industry's most advanced semiconductor technology. Both workstations run DEC OSF/1, Digital's standards-compliant UNIX, and powerful OpenVMS operating systems. This capability gives users access to a huge portfolio of nearly five thousand Alpha AXP applications.

"We're seeing sharp growth in the number of customers with power-hungry applications that require true 64-bit computing and full 64-bit UNIX. Unlike some vendors who are telling customers they will have to wait until the end of the century to get this power, Digital is providing it now with its complete workstation lineup," said Willy Shih, Digital vice president, UNIX and Windows NT Systems.

"The business implications for this advanced technology are enormous. Users can run complex technical, business, and scientific applications right from their workstations with quicker response and faster turnaround, leaving them more time to develop new designs, run more simulations or improve existing models," Shih added.

"The software versatility inherent in the Alpha AXP architecture is the basis of our operating system neutral strategy. It ensures protection of our customers' software investments," noted Jesse Lipcon, vice president, OpenVMS Systems and Servers. "These hot new workstations provide an excellent growth path for the hundreds of thousands of OpenVMS workstation users, with complete operating system and application compatibility," he said.

World's Fastest Desktop

The DEC 3000 Model 700 AXP workstation, powered by the Alpha AXP 21064A-225MHz microprocessor, is the industry's fastest desktop system. It offers customers the best combination of performance, price/performance, and 2D and 3D desktop graphics performance. The workstation delivers SPECint92 of 162.6 (SPECbase_int92 of 153.4) and SPECfp92 of 230.6 (SPECbase_fp92 of 213.3). The Model 700's processing capabilities enable it to handle large applications such as 2D, 3D MCAD (mechanical computer-aided design) and EDA (electronic design automation), scientific visualization, and high-end financial modeling.

World's Fastest Deskside

The DEC 3000 Model 900 AXP workstation easily handles the range of applications supported by the Model 700 and, in addition, excels at complex applications in structural engineering, computational fluid dynamics, structural biology, and condensed matter physics. In most applications, that means faster and more vivid image processing and faster time-to-market. The Model 900 features more expandability than comparable workstations from Hewlett-Packard. It provides six I/O slots, one for the graphics accelerator and the others available for customer requirements.

The new high-end deskside workstation is based on the Alpha AXP 21064A-275MHz microprocessor, the world's fastest and most powerful single-chip microprocessor. The DEC 3000 Model 900 AXP workstation offers a 40% performance increase over the Model 800 which it replaces, and has double the disk capacity. It delivers SPECint92 of 189.3 (SPECbase_int92 of 178.4) and SPECfp92 of 264.1 (SPECbase_fp92 of 244.6).

Pricing, Availability and Upgrades

Prices begin at $27,698 for the DEC 3000 Model 700 AXP workstation and $43,373 for the Model 900. Board-swap upgrades from existing DEC 3000 Models 600 and 800 AXP workstations are available for $5,995 and $8,995, respectively. Shipments of the new workstations begin next month.

Most Powerful Under $20,000

The DEC 3000 Model 600 AXP workstation price has been reduced to $17,495 from $19,995. Based on the Alpha AXP 21064 micro- processor running at 175MHz, the Model 600 is the fastest, most powerful workstation available in the popular, under-$20,000 price range.

High Performance Graphics Accelerator Cards

Both DEC 3000 Models 700 and 900 AXP workstations use the new 2D ZLX-E2 and 2D/3D ZLX-E3 graphics accelerator cards for high-speed image rendering in graphics-intensive applications. The ZLX-E3 and the Model 700 yield the world's top performance in the Xmark93 2D benchmark -- 14.89 Xmarks, and the best desktop graphics performance -- 80.2 PLBwire93. In addition, the ZLX-E1 yields Xmarks of 16.82 on the Model 900, much faster than competitive offerings; the ZLX-E3 delivers superior PLBwire93 3D performance of 83.0.

The ZLX-E2, priced at $1,995, accelerates 24-bit pixel, true color image display. The ZLX- E3, delivering high-end 2D and 3D graphics capabilities, offers superior 3D price/performance. Priced at only $2,995, the ZLX-E3 provides users with better 3D performance than any competitive 3D graphics options, which typically cost up to eight times more. Both accelerators provide the industry's best 2D graphics performance.

The ZLX-E family is one part of Digital's overall graphics portfolio which includes the ZLX-M mid-range 3D graphics options and the Denali line of high-end 3D graphics.

Cost-Effective Supercomputer Replacement

Featuring high-performance UNIX clustering capability with SMP support, the new AdvantageCluster Compute Server 5000 system excels as an economical solution for such applications as complex process simulation, computational fluid dynamics, and financial modeling. It consists of four Digital 2100 Model A500MP rackmount systems packaged in a single enclosure to create a cost-effective, high-powered alternative to costly supercomputing systems in networked UNIX environments.

The new server houses up to 16 Alpha AXP 21064 microprocessors and is expandable to 400 processors. It is preloaded with Digital's multiprocessor-optimized High Performance FORTRAN (HPF) and Load Sharing Facility (LSF) software for dynamic load balancing.

The processors in the AdvantageCluster Compute Server 5000 system are two to five times more powerful than processors in traditional massively parallel processor (MPP) systems such as those from Intel and Thinking Machines Corporation. Four- to 16-processor AdvantageCluster Compute Server 5000 systems range in price from $200,000 to less than $300,000. The 16-processor system has power equivalent to 32- to 80-node systems from traditional MPP vendors which typically are priced from $1 to $5 million.

"Digital is the only computer manufacturer with truly clustered systems that dramatically boost reliability and throughput," Shih said. "By combining clustering and multiprocessing techniques, the AdvantageCluster Compute Server 5000 equals or surpasses the performance of systems costing many times more."

Digital Equipment Corporation is the world's leader in open client/server solutions from personal computing to integrated worldwide information systems. Digital's scalable Alpha AXP platforms, storage, networking, software and services, together with industry-focused solutions from business partners, help organizations compete and win in today's global marketplace.