---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SUN AND FPS SIGN JOINT MARKETING AGREEMENT SunFLASH Vol 18 #22 June 1990 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- New FPS Supercomputer Extends Performance Range of SPARC Systems MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. --June 19, 1990-- Sun Microsystems and FPS Computing announced today that they have signed a joint marketing agreement that covers their respective SPARC(TM) systems. The two companies will make joint sales calls and engage in other activities to promote customer solutions that include SPARC workstations and servers from Sun and a new SPARC supercomputer to be introduced by FPS. The company has signed an agreement to license Sun's SPARC RISC architecture and Sun's UNIX(R) operating system, SunOS(TM), for use in the modular supercomputer, called the Model 500EA. Aimed at specific high-performance computing applications, the system will contain up to eight SPARC chips and will be unveiled by the end of the year. The addition of a SPARC supercomputer to the selection of SPARC systems now available from Sun and other SPARC-compatibles vendors will enable Sun and FPS to penetrate markets now dominated by large computer manufacturers offering a range of systems, from laptops to mainframes. "One of SPARC's advantages over the diverse systems of large vendors is that SPARC systems are binary compatible, which means they can run the same applications," said Scott McNealy, president and CEO of Sun. Applications for the Sun/FPS solution include oil exploration, computational chemistry, signal processing and high-end design engineering, such as finite element analysis. For example, a typical user site would contain a Model 500EA and six to 10 SPARCstation(TM) graphics workstations from Sun; all systems would be connected in a network. The supercomputer would perform computationally intensive tasks, while the Sun workstations would do pre- and post-processing, visually display the supercomputer's output and run parameter checking and other tasks. In many sites, a SPARCserver(TM) from Sun would also be added to the network to contain central files. By joining with FPS, Sun extends its SPARC systems offering at the high end. "Now we can leverage SPARC's strengths, such as price/performance, superior networking and the industry's widest range of RISC software, in promising new markets," McNealy said. The joint marketing agreement will affect potential customers worldwide. 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. FPS Computing designs, manufactures and markets high-performance computing solutions for scientific, engineering and technical applications throughout the world. The company has one of the largest installed bases of high-performance computing equipment in the industry. Its product line includes UNIX supercomputers and array processors. ### SPARC, SPARCstation, SPARCserver and SunOS are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. 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. Press Contact: Marty Coleman (415) 336-6543 FPS COMPUTING ANNOUNCES FIRST SPARC SUPERCOMPUTER Signs Agreements with Sun Microsystems BEAVERTON, Ore. --June 19, 1990-- FPS Computing today announced it will use SPARC processor technology in FPS' new-generation supercomputer, the Model 500EA. This will result in the world's first SPARC supercomputer and provide access to supercomputing performance for Sun's broad network of users. FPS and Sun have signed an agreement in principal to license the SPARC RISC architecture and SunOS (UNIX(R)) systems software for use in the modular FPS supercomputer. FPS Computing and Sun Microsystems also announced that they have signed a joint marketing agreement that covers their respective SPARC systems. The two companies will make joint sales calls and engage in other activities to promote customer solutions that include SPARC workstations and servers from Sun and the new FPS SPARC supercomputer. "The integration of SPARC/RISC processor technology in place of proprietary scalar technology in the FPS Model 500EA places unprecedented flexibility and power in the hands of high-end system users working in a network-dominated environment", stated Howard Thrailkill, FPS president and CEO. "Supercomputer users gain easy access to the scientific and engineering workstation environment and tap into the power and advantages of the Model 500EA open-standard supercomputer. The Model 500EA is easily upgradable and constantly evolving in sheer performance as well as price/performance value to the user. Instant access to the SunOS software-development environment, and access to over 2,000 SPARCware solutions, makes the combined power available from this marriage of technologies unique. "The implications of this agreement are very significant," Thrailkill continued. "The FPS Model 500EA Scalable Interconnect Architecture (SIA) is itself a departure in supercomputing technology. SIA has the ability to accomodate multiple, heterogeneous processing technologies, including scalar, vector and future parallel processing elements, within a single, standalone computer. The FPS Model 500EA is an important addition to the broad performance spectrum currently being offered or under development by many systems vendors in the SPARC market. Scott McNealy, Sun president and CEO added, "the vision of SPARC-based systems from laptop to supercomputer has become a reality. Last month Toshiba's SPARC laptop became available. Also, Sun introduced an under-$5,000 desktop -- the SPARCstation SLC. We are very happy to see FPS, a long-standing, reputable company will be providing impressive high-performance computing solutions for the SPARC market. Because of binary compatibility, FPS, Toshiba, Sun and other vendors building systems based on SPARC/UNIX/OPEN LOOK/ONC will be able to run SPARCware applications unchanged." FPS Computing has been providing cost-effective, high-performance computing solutions for two decades. The FPS SPARC supercomputer follows in this tradition and will utilize the highest performance SPARC semiconductor technology available. "BIT SPARC is the only implementation of the SPARC architecture able to supply the performance required for high-end computing applications," stated Fred Hanson, president and CEO of Bipolar Integrated Technology. "We've worked closely with FPS Computing and see this announcement as both a strong endorsement of BIT technology and ELC SPARC itself." To ensure that FPS SPARC systems are binary compatible with SPARC systems from all other UNIX systems vendors, the company also announced plans to join SPARC International, to submit its system to compliance testing, and to participate in comittee work that is defining a standard SPARC systems operating environment. "SPARC International is an important catalyst for growth of the binary compatible SPARC systems market, and key to proliferation of the SPARC brand," said Thrailkill. "We intend to be active participants in SPARC International's cooperative technical and marketing programs." The FPS Model 500EA platform for SPARC supercomputing is a highly innovative and technically advanced supercomputer that features the Scalable Interconnect Architecture. This architecture features a high bandwidth interconnect structure and includes advanced address translation caches. The systems can be scaled to accommodate additional processor modules that represent the current as well as future parallel processing technologies. With SIA functionality, scalar processors, vector coprocessors, and new applications coprocessors are integrated with system memory and I/O. This combination of SPARC technology and heterogeneous processors is seen as a major advance in supercomputing technology. Since the user environment has long recognized that processing speeds for different algorithms can be substantially accelerated through the use of different processing elements, the heterogeneous integration capabilities of the FPS platform provide an unprecedented performance solution, all from a single company. Concurrent with its announcement of the Sun SPARC licensing agreement, FPS is also announcing the industry's first integrated matrix processor. In an average configuration of 28 processing elements (PEs) used in parallel, the matrix coprocessor delivers 1 GFLOP performance for the matrix algorithms that dominate high-end engineering, image-processing, seismic and scientific applications. A maximum configuration has 84 PEs and yields a peak performance of 6.7 GFLOPS. This level of performance exceeds that of any currently available supercomputer including the Cray Y-MP supercomputer. These announcements follow a series of other recent announcements from FPS. These include the signing of Canon Sales Company, Inc., a major Japanese corporation, to distribute FPS products in the growing Japanese supercomputer market. In another announcement it was disclosed that a major institutional investor has agreed to invest $14.5 million in FPS Computing in support of FPS' new product and market development efforts. Founded in 1970 as Floating Point Systems, Inc., FPS Computing designs, manufactures and markets high-performance computing solutions for scientific, engineering and technical applications throughout the world. The company has one of the largest installed bases of high-performance computing equipment in the industry. Its products line includes UNIX supercomputers, matrix supercomputers and array processors. The company is headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon. For more information on FPS Computing, contact FPS Computing, 3601 S.W. Murray Blvd., Beaverton, OR 97005. Telephone: (503) 641-3151 or 1-800-635-0938. 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. ### 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. Press Contact: Marty Coleman (415) 336-6543 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Sunflash is an electronic mail news service from Sun Microsystems, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA. It is targeted at Sun Users and Customers. As a field sales and support office, we try to keep SunFlash useful and interesting to you. If you have any comments or suggestions for enhancing SunFlash, please send them to us. SunFlash is ditributed via a hierarchy of aliases. 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