sunflash-Distributed to mailing list sun/NC/north-carolina sunflash-Send requests, problems to owner-sunflash@suntri.east.sun.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash Third Party Announcements SunFLASH Vol 58 #2 October 1993 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Abstracts 59.02.A GigaStak interlocking 'lego-style' SCSI enclosures Artecon announces a completely new family of mass storage subsystems based on innovative enclosure technology. 59.02.B Artecon Unveils Rackmount Options For Desktop SPARCs The "Sphinx" enclosures enable the use of standard desktop SPARCstations in 19" racks 59.02.C Cray Attached Parallel Processor (APP) brief Cray Research Superservers, Inc is marketing a parallel computer system called the Cray APP. It is design to provide intensive compute support for parallel applications in the standard network environment. The APP provides over 6,700 MFLOPS of performance per module. It provides an easy-to-use user interface in a SPARC compliant front-end running Solaris. The SPARC front end provides network, user and file system interfaces. 59.02.D SPRY Internet applications (AIR Navigator) AIR Navigator is a suite of easy-to-use Internet access applications. These applications will run over any TCP/IP transport which is made possible by SPRY's Application to Socket (APP2SOCK) public interface. 59.02.E SPRY LAUNCHES AIR SERIES 2.0 SPRY announces its next generation release of Windows TCP/IP connectivity applications. The new release, AIRSeries 2.0, is the first suite of transport-independent Windows connectivity applications that ensure future compatibility and interoperability with all TCP/IP transports. The AIR Series ships with the industry standard TCP/IP transports from Novell and Microsoft providing native ODI and NDIS support. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Details ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 59.02.A Subject: GigaStak interlocking 'lego-style' SCSI enclosures From: Gerry.MacDonald@artecon.com (Gerry MacDonald) Artecon Revolutionizes Peripherals Market with New Enclosure Technology San Diego, CA -- September 24, 1993 -- Artecon announces at UNIX EXPO today a completely new family of mass storage subsystems based on innovative enclosure technology that has been under development for almost a year. The GigaStakTM family of 3.5" disk and tape subsystems represents the latest in peripheral enclosure advancements. Features such as interlocking 'lego-style' stackability, LCD and keypad status I/O, elimination of internal and external cabling, optional hot plug removable devices, and front removable power supplies are among the features that make the GigaStak family the most reliable, serviceable, and powerful subsystems available on the market today. "Peripheral enclosure technology has not changed significantly in the last five years," stated Dana Kammersgard, vice president marketing and sales. "Meanwhile, PC and workstation performance has exploded and disk and tape capacities are doubling nearly every year. Enclosures have just not kept pace. We've changed that with GigaStak." GigaStak subsystems are designed to be highly reliable, and serviceable, especially under the performance loads of fast SCSI devices. All GigaStak models use printed circuit cards for internal SCSI and power distribution rather than cables, thereby eliminating reliability problems associated with cable length, shielding and connectors. For the same reasons, external AC and SCSI cables are replaced with modular jumper blocks. Typical SCSI lengths can be measured in inches rather than feet as in existing enclosures. "Cables create most of the electrical problems in SCSI chains," explained Alan Wettig, electrical design engineer on the GigaStak project." One of our design goals was to eliminate all internal and external cables, effectively eliminating the problem source." Each GigaStak module includes its own 40 watt (20 watt for tape devices) autosensing power supply, cooling fan and filter. In addition, every Gigatek subsystem can be modularly stacked either horizontally or vertically using a unique interlocking mechanism. "Compact stackability was important to us in this product," commented Steve Cook mechanical design engineer. "We invented an interlock mechanism that binds these units together, yet is easily disengaged. We also specified zero draft tolerance so you can stack as many as 10 units together either vertically or horizontally." Typical dimensions of each subsystem are a very compact 2 1/2" x 6 3/4" x 10 3/4" with a weight (including device) of only 5.9 lbs. The GigaStak family is comprised of disk and tape subsystems in three price/performance ranges. The GigaStak GS1100s enclosure offers fixed disk and tape at very low cost yet includes all of the advanced features described above. The GigaStak GS1400s adds an LCD and keypad for display and setting of various subsystem parameters such as SCSI target ID, power sequencing, power up/down, and preventive maintenance reminders. The LCD module is easily snapped out and rotated for proper orientation in both horizontal and vertical stacks. At the top of the line in price/performance is the GS1500s which features hot plug removable disk and tape drives for high availability, enhanced portability, serviceability and security applications. The GS1500s adds a front removable power supply as well. Designed to support both fast, narrow and fast, wide SCSI, the GigaStak enclosure family supports virtually any 3.5" device including fast SCSI disk from 200MB to 2.1GB, DDS-1, and DDS-2 4mm, optical and miniature QIC. Prices vary depending on configuration with delivery starting in late October. Founded in 1984 Artecon is a leading UNIX systems integrator and manufacturer of value-added hardware and software products for Sun, HP and IBM workstations. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 59.02.B Subject: Artecon Unveils Rackmount Options For Desktop SPARCs From: Gerry.MacDonald@artecon.com (Gerry MacDonald) San Diego, CA -- September 16,1993 -- Artecon today announced that at UNIX Expo, Booth #761, a new family of compact, high capacity enclosures that enable the use of standard desktop SPARCstations in 19" racks will be on display. Code named, "Sphinx", the new enclosures occupy a slim 5.25" (3u RETMA) of vertical rack space while enclosing a completely unmodified SPARC 10 and up to 16GB of fixed and removable, hot plug, fast SCSI-2 disk. Major markets targeted by Artecon include government, call center, financial and telecommunications environments where desktop space is at a premium or remote, embedded or fault tolerant operations are required. "Sphinx is the result of a design award for a government customer of ours," explained Dana Kammersgard, vice president marketing and sales. "From the beginning, we felt that an approach that utilized an unmodified desktop workstation was essential. This preserves all of the benefits of buying a stock system from Sun, such as upgrades, service, compatibility and of course, price. This is not a board level rackmount system built by Artecon, but a uniquely innovative encapsulation of a desktop SPARC. With a SPARC 10 Model 40, 51, 512 or Model 514 and 6GB-16GB of fast SCSI-2 disk, you end up with an extremely powerful, compact server for about the price of a desktop workstation." Artecon's SPARC Rackmount Unit (SRU) provides a front panel switch to power on/off all devices, including the workstation, housed in the enclosure. Front panel DIN and RS-232 connectors support rackmount keyboards and diagnostic terminals or modems. At the rear of each unit, unobstructed access to the SPARCstation backplane provides connection to every available SPARC port. Locking slide rails and side-mounted handles afford easy installation and transportation. Rackmount SPARC configurations are based on two different SRU models: The SRU-2400F houses any SPARCstation Model 10 and up to two 3.5" or half-height 5.25" fixed disk or removable media devices (1/4", 4mm, 8mm, CD-ROM, optical). Maximum capacity of the l7.25"(w) x 16"(d) x 5.25"(h) enclosure is 6GB including disk housed inside the SPARCstation itself. The SRU-2600R adds a second enclosure in the same 5.25" vertical rack space supporting 6 removable, hot plug 3.5" disk or tape devices with up to 12GB of disk storage for a maximum enclosure capacity of 16GB. Diminsions of the SRU-2600F are a very slim 17.25"(w) x 24"(d) x 5.25"(h). "Modularity was also a key design consideration," continued Dana Kammersgard. "We developed two modules; one to house the SPARC 10 and fixed disk and another to support hot plug, removable 3.5" disk and tape. They can be used standalone, stacked separately within the rack or even as an integral unit in the same 5.25" vertical space." Both units are designed to support multiple SCSI controllers and fast SCSI-2 disks. "We developed this product under severe dimensional constraints," stated Jonathan Tate, Artecon's engineering manager. "Rack space is always at a premium, so we packed as much performance and capacity as we could into a 3u RETMA form factor. This is essentially the same footprint as the desktop SPARC 10 itself. Of course, air flow was a critical consideration, so we engineered a forced air flow system through a pressurized enclosure to ensure adequate cooling. We are actually pushing considerably more air through a rackmounted SPARC 10 than a standard desktop workstation." All SRU configurations are UL, FCC, CSA and TUV certified and include Artecon's standard one year onsite warranty. In addition, SRU enclosures are immediately eligible for the SunService Manager's customer support program from Sun. List price configurations based on the SRU-2400F start at $2,195 while SRU-2600R configurations start at $4,295. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 59.02.C Subject: Cray Attached Parallel Processor (APP) brief From: hecht@cray.com Contact: Pat Hecht Org: CRAY Research Superservers Inc. Address: P.O. Box 12746 Research Triangle Park, NC 27613 phone : 919-544-6267 The Cray APP Abstract ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The Cray Attached Parallel Processor (APP) is an extraordinary parallel computer designed for compute intensive algorithms. It is a true shared memory design which uses standard programming techniques and languages without the use of non-portable code to achieve parallelism. The APP uses a SPARC compliant computer as a I/O subsystem, providing the file system, user interface (Solaris) and network connectivity. Pricing on the APP varies by configuration but ranges about $100 per rated MFLOPS. The APP rated MFLOPS are 6,700 MFLOPS in 32 bit and 3,400 in 64 bit. Cray APP Overview: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The Cray APP is a parallel computer for SPARC networks. It justly deserves the description as the one of the most efficient and highest performing parallel computers in the world. An APP "module" is composed of a maximum of 84 Processing Elements (PE). A PE is an i860. True shared memory is connected with a 8x8 crossbar that has a peak bandwidth of 1,280 MB/s. I/O is provided by VME interconnect and ANSI HIPPI. Parallel overheads are the lowest of any parallel system short of the Cray YMP C90. Such low overhead allows for effective parallelization of fine grained algorithms. 84 PE APP Module Parallel overheads: Max. memory latency 0.15 microseconds Max. critical section 53 microseconds Max. parallel region set-up 37 microseconds Max barrier synchronization 29 microseconds These overheads compare favorably against other shared memory parallel systems. For example the SGI Challenge memory latency is 0.85 microseconds. Comparing against distributed memory systems, the APP is 2-5 orders of magnitude superior. For example, the KSR multi-ring system memory latency is 25 microseconds with 5 MB/s bandwidth vs. the APP's 0.15 microsecond with 1,280 MB/s bandwidth. Sample SUSTAINED performance on various customer applications: Sonar Processing 2,300 MFLOPS Image Processing 1,200 MFLOPS 3-D Kirchoff migration 1,100 MFLOPS Options evaluation 2,000 MFLOPS Sample algorithm kernels: 2-D convolution 2,100 MFLOPS (32 bit) 2-D complex FFT 1,100 MFLOPS (32 bit) Matrix Solve 1,300 MFLOPS (64 bit) Vector Sine 1,100 MFLOPS (64 bit) The APP can be clustered to achieve even greater performance. Recently a 3 APP module cluster achieved 8,700 MFLOPS processing a 70K x 70K radar cross-section 64 bit, complex matrix. Cray APP Software: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The APP runs a UNIX microkernel design to cleanly interface to Solaris 1.0 OS on a SPARC compliant machine. This allows the APP to use the SPARC machine's file system and network without the programmer explicitly recognizing the interface. The ANSI FORTRAN 77 and ANSI C compiler system is considered one of the best vectorizing and parallelizing compilers of its type. Automatic parallelism detection and standard microtasking directives are provided. A complete set of profiling and debugging tools are included. No machine specific language is required (or available) making portability a hallmark of this machine. The math library support is exceptional, covering all the basic BLAS1,2,3 libraries, matrix algorithms, FFTs and convolutions in both 32- and 64-bit versions. Cray APP Architecture: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ An APP is a shared memory MIMD architecture using up to 84 i860s. The best description is that the APP is a Single Process/Multiple Data (SPMD) system using a shared memory. Built around a 8x8 crossbar, there are 8 SRAM memory banks opposing 7 computational nodes and 1 I/O node. A "node" is a i860 bus. A "computational node" is 12 i860s bussed together. An "I/O node" is a VME interconnect and 2 HIPPI ports. The crossbar is rated at 1,280 MB/s and sustains 1,180 MB/s (92% of rating). This high efficiency allows the Processing Elements (i860s) to operate at a high percentage of their rating. The general matrix multiply library kernel sustains 2900 MFLOPS on 64 bit matrixes greater than 1Kx1K. This architecture is both simple and clever, resulting in a robust machine which is relatively easy to program. It uses a SPARC machine as a I/O subsystem and network interface. The APP-SPARC connection is largely transparent to the user and program, making this parallel system about the easiest to use of its type. Note: Product specifications and availability are subject to change without notice. For the latest information make the above contact. CRAY and Cray Y-MP are federally registered trademarks and Cray APP are trademarks of Cray Research, Inc. SPARC is a trademark of SPARC International, Inc. Solaris and Sun are trademarks of Sun Microsystems. UNIX is a trademark UNIX Systems Laboratories. SGI Challenge is a trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc. KSR is a trademark of Kendall Square, Inc. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 59.02.D Subject: SPRY Internet applications (AIR Navigator) From: paul@spry.com (Paul Johnson) Org: SPRY, Inc Address: 316 Occidental Ave S Seattle, WA 98104 Phone: (206) 447-0300 FAX: (206) 447-9008 Email: info@spry.com SPRY SHIPS AIR NAVIGATOR EASY-TO-USE WINDOWS-BASED INTERNET ACCESS APPLICATIONS THAT WILL WORK OVER ANY TCP/IP TRANSPORT September 27, 1993 -- Seattle, WA -- To meet the needs of the rapidly growing number of users looking to reachresources on the Internet, SPRY, Incorporated will begin shipping, AIR Navigator*, a suite of easy-to-use Internet access applications. These applications will run over any TCP/IP transport which is made possible by SPRY's Application to Socket (APP2SOCK) public interface. Traditionally, the Internet has been used by educational and research institutions. Today, companies with PC LANs are now connecting to the Internet to access resources and services such as public domain files, information databases and news services. With AIR Navigator's familiar Windows-based interface, these applications will allow businesses to use the Internet for a wide range of purposes that include technical support, marketing demonstrations and software updates. "SPRY's offering is great news for those millions of computer users who want to use the Internet but do not want to learn all the details of the nuts and bolts of Internet command languages", said Dan Lynch, chairman and founder of the Interop Company in Mountain View, California. "What SPRY has done to help users access the Internet with their AIR Navigator applications is very similar to the advantages that Windows has provided for MS-DOS users. SPRY is enabling Windows users easy access to the millions of Internet users and facilities and they are helping increase the size and value of the worldwide knowledge that it represents." AIR Navigator Applications AIR Mail is an easy-to-use Windows implementation of Internet mail that includes multiplemail windows, an intuitive toolbar to provide shortcuts for commonly used functions such as cut and paste, compose, read and delete messages; a status bar for help and status messages and an address book that provides access to users who correspond frequently. In addition, users can easily customize screen settings and send binary and ASCII files over the Internet. With AIRMAIL, companies will not only be able to send mail between individuals but they can also support announcements and discussions among the mailing lists of specified groups of individuals. AIR News is an Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) news reader which provides easy access to special interest news groups and industry headlines. AIR News enables users to subscribe to and post specific news groups on pertinent topics of interest. In addition, news articles can be saved to files and printed or copied to other applications. Businesses now have the capability to access up-to-the-minute news information to stay informed of time-sensitive industry issues. SPRY's AIR Gopher is the first commercially supported Windows Gopher client. AIR Gopher is aInternet search and retrieval application used to search for specific information available on the Internet. This provides a single interface into the hundreds of disparate services and databases on the Internet that shields users from having to memorize computer names, port numbers or directory structures. Serial Line Interface Protocol (SLIP) and Point to Point Protocol (PPP) support is included in SPRY's AIR Navigator for remote access which means each application can be used from the office,home or on the road. "Information should not be difficult to access, regardless of where it resides. SPRY's AIR Navigator addresses that issue and removes the complexities of using the Internet," said Joe Noel, director/principal analyst for the Telecommunications Department at Dataquest in San Jose, California. "With AIR Mail, AIR News and AIR Gopher, Internet resources can now be accessed by all Windows users regardless of their experience with the Internet." Pricing and Availability AIR Navigator, which will ship on October 1, 1993, is available at a suggested retail price of $149.00 per single user and will run over any TCP/IP transport. It is bundled with AIR NFS for $399.00 per single user. AIR NFS also includes Telnet, tn3270, NetWare Virtual Terminal, Network File Manager (ftp), NFS, FTP/RCP Server, LPR, Microsoft and Novell TCP/IP transports with WinSock, SLIP/PPP, TI-RPC for WinSock, DNS, BootP and APP2SOCK. SPRY, Incorporated, founded in 1987, is a leading provider of network independent internetworking applications and services that enable users of multi-vendor LANs to easily integrate with theenterprise. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 59.02.E Subject: SPRY LAUNCHES AIR SERIES 2.0 From: paul@spry.com (Paul Johnson) Org: SPRY, Inc Address: 316 Occidental Ave S Seattle, WA 98104 Phone: (206) 447-0300 FAX: (206) 447-9008 Email: info@spry.com SPRY LAUNCHES AIR SERIES* 2.0 FIRST SUITE OF WINDOWS TCP/IP CONNECTIVITY APPLICATIONS FOR WINDOWS THAT WILL WORK OVER ANY TCP/IP TRANSPORT September 27, 1993 -- Seattle, WA -- In response to the growing need for PC to UNIX and PC to Mainframe connectivity, SPRY, Incorporated announced today its next generation release of Windows TCP/IP connectivity applications. The new release, AIRSeries 2.0, is the first suite of transport-independent Windows connectivity applications that ensure future compatibility and interoperability with all TCP/IP transports. The AIR Series ships with the industry standard TCP/IP transports from Novell and Microsoft providing native ODI and NDIS support. This gives the customer seamless compatibility with their existing multi-vendor LANs. Each application suite ships with the Application to Socket (APP2SOCK) interface which is SPRY's unique technology enabling the AIR Series to work over any TCP/IP transport. SPRY has made usability enhancements to existing applications including Telnet, Network File Manager* (ftp) and AIR Mail*. The AIR Series 2.0 also features new applications that include tn3270, X-Windows Server and new Internet access applications called AIR Navigator* that include AIR Mail *, AIR News* and AIR Gopher*. The applications are packaged in modules in order to provide customers the flexibility to purchase just those applications and services they need. APP2SOCK - Transport Independent Architecture SPRY's Application to Socket (APP2SOCK) interface is a public specification that provides developers a high-layer Application Programming Interface (API) that bridges the AIR Series and third-party Windows applications for TCP/IP networks to multiple TCP/IP transports. Previously, customers requiring connectivity applications have been forced to use the proprietary TCP/IP transport provided by the application vendor. As a result,customers choosing a new transport are also forced to invest in new connectivity applications that support the transport. APP2SOCK supports Windows Sockets, Novell's WLIBSOCK and Sun Select's TKLIB socket libraries. The APP2SOCK specification will help customers transition from multiple APIs existing within their organization to the emerging WinSock standard, which will allow applications to work with a conformant protocol implementation from any network transport vendor. "SPRY's expertise andknowledge in integrating multiple API's on the desktop allows us to focus on implementing easy-to-use applications in our network instead of wrestling with underlying compatibility issues," said Chuck Myers, automated systems manager for the Primary Products Division at Kaiser Aluminum in Mead, Washington. "Until the WinSock API standard is consistently implemented and fully adopted, SPRY's APP2SOCK gives our organization a way to continue to support existing TCP/IP API's." Applications New Windows TCP/IP Connectivity Applications The new quick-to-install, Windows TCP/IP connectivity applications now available with the AIR Series 2.0* include AIR tn3270* and AIR X* and AIR NVT*. AIR tn3270 allows PC users to communicate with IBM mainframes through terminal emulation in Windows. Key features include custom tool bars and button bars, definable screen hotspots and keyboard maps. Customizing individual 3270 sessions, will enable users to work in a more productive manner. SPRY's AIR X is a high performance X-Server running in Windows which allows a PC to display X applications running on remote multi-user systems. With AIR X, customers can cut and paste both text and graphics between X Clients and Windows applications and initiate remote X client sessions using preconfigured icons in Microsoft Windows Program Manager. AIR NVT provides UNIX users the option for terminal emulation services over Novell's IPX/SPX transport protocol. This native IPX/SPX emulation provides users with transparent integration of their host environment and Novell LAN. New Internet Access Applications SPRY's AIR Navigator* isa series of easy-to-use Internet access applications which include AIR Mail*, AIR News* and AIR Gopher*. AIR Navigator will enable customers to access the Internet for business applications thatinclude electronic mail for technical support, order status inquiries, newsletters and file transfer for posting documents. These applications will allow novice PC users simple access to the Internet, traditionally used by experienced UNIX users. AIR Series 2.0 Enhancements With AIR Series 2.0, SPRY has enhanced their Telnet, Network File Manager * (ftp) and AIRMAIL applications with the addition of an intuitive toolbar for frequently used commands and an improved graphical interface. The most significant enhancement is SPRY's Network File Manager (ftp), which is the first ftp application that seamlessly integrates into the Windows File Manager. Users can drag and drop files between their local PC and remote hosts using Windows File Manager, allowing them to work in a more familiar and productive way. In addition to providing file transfer capabilities, SPRY's Network File Manager allows users to perform file and directory maintenance on their remote hosts. Transports The AIR Series 2.0 is the first and only suite of Windows connectivity applications to ship with industry standard TCP/IP transports from Novelland Microsoft. The Novell and Microsoft TCP/IP transports are included free to the customer. These kernels will provide native ODI and NDIS support for any network used with the AIR Series 2.0. New features provided by these kernels will include WinSock v1.1 Dynamic Link Library (DLL) support, an SNMP agent that enables polling from network management agents, Point to Point Protocol/Serial Line Interface Protocol (PPP/SLIP) support for remote dial-up access to hosts, BOOTP and Reverse Address Resolution Protocol (RARP) to obtain configuration information from a server and Domain Name System (DNS). Pricing and Availability AIR Series 2.0 single user pricing ranges from $129 to $399 depending on the solution chosen by the customer. The module structure is as follow: #1 - AIR NFS ($399.00) APP2SOCK Enabled, Telnet, tn3270, NetWare Virtual Terminal, Network File Manager (ftp), NFS, Internet Navigation Applications (Mail, News and Gopher) FTP/RCP Server, LPR, Microsoft and Novell TCP/IP transports with WinSock, SLIP/PPP, TI-RPC for WinSock, DNS and BootP. #2 - AIR ($299.00) APP2SOCK Enabled, Telnet, tn3270, NetWare Virtual Terminal, Network File Manager (ftp), FTP/RCP Server, LPR, Microsoft and Novell TCP/IP transports with WinSock, SLIP/PPP, TI-RPC for WinSock, DNS and BootP. #3 - AIR CORE ($239.00) APP2SOCK Enabled, Telnet, Network File Manager (ftp), FTP/RCP Server, LPR and Microsoft and Novell TCP/IP transports with WinSock. #4 - AIR X ($199.00) A X-Windows Server for Microsoft Windows. #5 - AIR SQL ($149.00) APP2SOCK Enabled, Telnet, DNS, BootP and the Microsoft and Novell TCP/IP transports with WinSock. #6 - AIR Navigator ($149.00) APP2SOCK Enabled Internet Navigation Applications: AIR Mail, AIR News and AIR Gopher. #7 - NFS ($99.00) A Windowsand DOS version of NFS for file sharing on a remote host. AIR Series 2.0 will begin shipping on October 1, 1993.