-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sun Introduces Three RISC-Based SPARCengine Boards SunFLASH Vol 13 #18 January 1990 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Strengthens Sun's Board-Level Computer Business RISC/UNIX Boards Aimed at System OEMs and Integrators MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--January 29, 1990--Sun Microsystems, Inc., today launched its new SPARCengine(TM) line with three microprocessor board products designed for OEMs and system integrators. With these powerful, competitively priced boards, customers can quickly bring to market many different RISC/UNIX(R) products. These range from systems to embedded controllers, cell controllers, manufacturing test stations, medical instrumentation, ruggedized products, computer peripherals, communication gateways and routers, and custom products using an OEM's value-added packaging and peripherals. With the addition of the new SPARCengine products to its line of board-level computers, Sun becomes an important supplier in this market. Concurrent with this release, the company has significantly expanded its documentation, service and support programs for its board business. Sun's sales already rank it as the third largest supplier of VME board products, based on statistics compiled by the VMEbus International Trade Association. The new SPARCengine boards also add to Sun's popular, fast-growing line of SPARC(TM) products, which include a full range of workstations, servers and SPARC development tools, along with compatible graphics accelerators, software, networking and windowing products. OEMs and system integrators using SPARCengines can take advantage of emerging open standards such as the SPARC RISC microprocessor, SunOS(TM), Sun's UNIX-based operating system, and the intuitive OPEN LOOK(TM) graphical user interface. In addition, their products can benefit from more than 1,500 SPARCware applications available from leading independent software vendors. SPARCengines are based on open, standard bus interfaces that give users immediate access to the latest peripherals, graphics, networking and other devices. SPARCengine Models The SPARCengine 1E is a RISC/UNIX Eurocard for industry-standard double-high (6U) VMEbus and rugged applications. It features 12.5 MIPS and 1.4 MFLOPS performance, 4-megabyte parity memory on-board and off-board expansion up to 68 megabytes. It also includes one SBus(TM) expansion slot, SCSI and Ethernet ports and two serial I/O ports. The SPARCengine 1E is priced at $9,200 (U.S.) in single unit quantities. While all SPARCengines include a floating point unit, a version of the 1E without floating point is offered, priced at $8,400 (U.S.) First customer shipments begin in April 1990. The SPARCengine 1 is the industry's lowest-cost single-board RISC/UNIX engine, with SBus graphics and I/O expansion. The board does not require a backplane, making it well suited for embedded applications. It features 12.5 MIPS and 1.4 MFLOPS performance, 8-megabyte parity memory on board that is expandable to 16 megabytes with sets of four 1-megabyte SIMMS. It also includes three SBus expansion slots, SCSI and Ethernet ports and two serial I/O ports. The SPARCengine 1 is priced at $8,100 (U.S.) in single unit quantities and is available immediately. The SPARCengine 300 is a triple-high 9U VMEbus board that can be configured with high-performance 3-D graphics, imaging and I/O devices such as graphics accelerators and IPI and SMD disk controllers. It features 16 MIPS and 2.6 MFLOPS of performance and 8 megabytes of on-board memory that is expandable off-board to 56 megabytes. It also includes SCSI and Ethernet ports and four serial I/O ports. The SPARCengine 300 is priced at $18,000 (U.S.) in single unit quantities and is available immediately. Documentation, Service and Support Service and support for SPARCengine 1E Eurocard customers have been strengthened with extensive product documentation, including schematics and timing diagrams. An engineering change order subscription and reporting service are also available. Field SPARC ambassadors and factory SPARCengine application engineers provide these customers with improved board-level technical support. New customer service programs also include overnight spare parts availability and hotline support for both hardware and software troubleshooting. Sun Microsystems, Inc., headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., is a leading worldwide supplier of network-based distributed computing systems, including professional workstations, servers and UNIX operating system and productivity software. ### SPARCengine, SPARC, SBus and SunOS are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. OPEN LOOK is a trademark and UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T. All other products or services mentioned in this document are identified by the trademarks or service marks of their respective companies or organizations. For reader inquiries, telephone 1-800-821-4643 outside California. Inside California, call 1-800-821-4642. Press Contact: Cindee Mock (415) 336-3563 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Sunflash is an electronic mail news service from Sun Microsystems, Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Please address comments to John McLaughlin (sun!sunvice!johnj or johnj@sunvice.sun.COM). (305) 776-7770.