---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash SMCC Unveils Next-Generation Workstation SunFLASH Vol 41 #26 May 1992 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- May 19, 1992 -- Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation (SMCC) today introduced the world's fastest desktop workstation: the SPARCstation(TM) 10. With this new computer, SMCC has completely redesigned the SPARCstation architecture, taking an innovative new approach to the memory, bus, disk and networking subsystems that significantly boosts application performance. Built around the fast new superscalar SuperSPARC(TM) chip from Texas Instruments, the SPARCstation 10 achieves a multiprocessing performance rating of up to 218 (SPECthruput89) and more than 400 MIPS in its four-microprocessor configuration. It employs a modular design that makes possible the industry's easiest, most cost-effective upgrade path to higher-performance -- and multiple -- microprocessors. All SPARCstations are binary compatible, meaning that they can run the same software. The SPARCstation 10 sets the standard for the next generation of desktop computers by being the first RISC workstation from a major vendor to include multiprocessing capabilities, which greatly improve performance, upgrade-ability and scalability. The SPARCstation 10 is also the first workstation with built-in Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) capabilities, which give users a new way to use the telephone by merging computer and phone functions into a single system. The standard for global digital telephone and networking services, ISDN is expected to enable a wealth of new applications for integrated computing and telephony to provide global wide-area networking and multimedia solutions. Reinforcing its commitment to open systems, SMCC also announced today that it has licensed for resale the logic chips for the SPARCstation 10. The five SPARCstation 10 ASICs are all available immediately from LSI Logic. SPARCstation 10: Leading Application Performance The design of the SPARCstation 10 has been tuned to maximize application performance even when the system is running under the most demanding conditions. The new SuperSPARC CPU delivers two to four times the performance of previous SPARC(R) microprocessors. SMCC has quadrupled the speed at which data can be processed through the memory on the SPARCstation 10 and has more than doubled the rate at which the system can retrieve data from disks. Bus speed -- the rate at which the system can send and receive information from peripherals -- has been doubled over previous SPARCstation systems. The SPARCstation 10 is also the first RISC workstation with a 1-megabyte external memory cache, called SuperCache(TM), which gives an added boost to application performance. By offering multiple processors on its new systems, SMCC addresses users' desire for ever-greater performance on the desktop. Multiprocessing systems can achieve high performance because they use more than one processor to execute multiple applications -- or parts of single applications -- simultaneously. Multiprocessing also provides the power and throughput needed for multithreading, object-oriented software and multimedia applications. SMCC is aiming the new workstation at "power users": professionals in both commercial and technical markets who need fast application performance for such areas as computer-aided software engineering (CASE), financial modelling and simulation, electronic design automation (EDA) and mechanical computer-aided design (MCAD). It comes in four versions: Model 30 Model 41 Model 52 Model 54 No. of Processors 1 1 2 4 MHz 36 40 45 45 SPECint92* 44.2 52.6 - - SPECfp92* 52.9 64.7 - -- SPECthruput89** (est.) - - 109 218 MIPS 86.1 96.2 200+ 400+ * SPEC 92 ratings are measured on a different scale than SPEC 89 ratings and thus are not comparable. ** SPECthruput ratings are a measurement of computing speed for multiprocessor systems. The new workstation rounds out the high end of the best-selling SPARCstation desktop product line, which already includes the entry-level SPARCstation ELC(TM), the low-cost color SPARCstation IPC (TM) and SPARCstation IPX(TM), and the SPARCstation 2. Ready for Future Innovation The SPARCstation 10 gives users a clear path to the future, ensuring that they will be able to take advantage of new technologies as they evolve while preserving their current investment in hardware and software. For example, anticipating the integration of telephones and computers, the SPARCstation 10 is the first RISC workstation to provide an ISDN chip on the motherboard as a built-in feature at no additional cost. Already widely available in Europe and Japan, ISDN has the high bandwidth needed for sending multimedia information such as video, images, audio and data across digital phone lines. To facilitate this, SMCC is also providing CD-quality (16-bit) audio and a microphone as standard features on the new systems. In effect, ISDN allows users to extend their networks to include anyone who can be reached over a digital phone line, including telecommuters and employees working at remote sites. By building ISDN into the SPARCstation system -- the highest-volume RISC/UNIX(R) workstation on the market -- SMCC ensures that its customers will be able to take advantage of a new generation of ISDN applications from third-party vendors. With ISDN, users will soon be able to access all of the functions of today's phones -- including dialing, answering, transferring and possibly identifying calls as well as sending faxes and receiving voice mail messages -- from their workstations. Optimum Expandability; Easy Upgrade Path The SPARCstation 10 features a modular design that helps minimize user costs and enables an easy upgrade to multiple CPUs and future microprocessor technologies. Users can simply pull out the SPARC module -- containing one or two processors -- that plugs into the motherboard via the MBus interconnect and replace it with one containing new, faster CPUs, including the 50-MHz SuperSPARC chip when it is available in volume later this year from Texas Instruments. This modular design also allows users to expand the system with up to 26 gigabytes of disk capacity, up to 512 megabytes of highly reliable ECC memory and other options such as more powerful graphics. Peripherals can be added through four SBus expansion slots, two serial ports and a parallel port. For current Sun customers, upgrading to the new SPARCstation 10 is easy. SPARCstation 1, 1+, 2 and IPX users can simply exchange the CPU system cabinet for a new one, retaining their existing investments in monitors, keyboards, SCSI disk drives and SBus boards. Upgrades from the SPARCstation IPX and SPARCstation 2 are "no penalty": in other words, customers pay no more to upgrade from these systems than if they had purchased a new SPARCstation 10. Owners of previous-generation (Sun-3(TM) and Sun386i(TM)) workstations can upgrade their entire computer to a SPARCstation 10 system. Once customers have upgraded, achieving even higher levels of performance will be as simple as swapping SPARC modules. Existing applications among the more than 4,000 SPARC hardware and software solutions will run on the new workstations without modification. The SPARCstation 10 runs SunSoft's Solaris(R) 1.1 operating environment (which includes the SunOS(TM) operating system, the OpenWindows(TM) graphical windowing environment, the ONC(TM) networking standard and DeskSet(TM) productivity applications) and is being submitted for SCD compliance. Later this year, the SPARCstation 10 will run Solaris 2.0, which provides support for symmetrical multiprocessing and which will feature a multithreaded kernel. The Solaris 2.0 environment is based on UNIX System V Release 4 (SVR4) and is source compatible with Solaris 1.1 so that applications that adhere to Sun's Solaris 2.0 migration guidelines will only need to be recompiled to run under Solaris 2.0. SPARCengine 10: Power for Embedded Applications Also unveiled today by SMCC was the SPARCengine(R) 10. Available in two models, the new board-level version of the SPARCstation 10 extends the company's lead as the world's largest vendor of RISC-based, single-board computers for embedded applications such as factory automation, medical instrumentation, telecommunications, laptop computers and ruggedized command and control systems for the military. Pricing, Availability The uniprocessor models of the SPARCstation 10 will be available with Solaris 1.1 in the third quarter of 1992. The SPARCstation 10/Model 30 is priced at $18,495 (U.S. list); the SPARCstation 10/Model 41 is priced at $24,995 (U.S. list). The SPARCstation 10/Model 52 is priced at $39,995 (U.S. list) and will be available in the fourth quarter of 1992. These workstations will be shipped with a future version of Solaris 2.0 in the fourth quarter of 1992. The SPARCstation 10/Model 54 is priced at $57,995 (U.S. list) and will be available in the first quarter of 1993. The SPARCengine 10/Model 30 and SPARCengine 10/Model 41 will be available with Solaris 1.1 in the third quarter of 1992. The SPARCengine 10/Model 30 is priced at $11,500 (U.S. list). The SPARCengine 10/Model 41 is priced at $18,000 (U.S. list). A server version of the SPARCstation 10, with prices beginning at $16,995 (U.S. list), is also available. (See separate press release.) The new products will be available through all Sun distribution channels worldwide. Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation, a subsidiary of Sun Microsystems, Inc., is the world's leading supplier of client-server computing solutions, which feature networked workstations and servers that store, process and distribute information. Sun Microsystems, Inc., founded in 1982 and headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., is a multibillion-dollar corporation doing business worldwide. ### Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, SuperCache, Sun-3, Sun386i, SunSoft, Solaris, ELC, IPC, IPX, SunOS, OpenWindows, ONC and DeskSet are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. All SPARC trademarks, including the SCD Compliant logo, are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. SPARCstation, SPARCengine and SPARCserver are licensed exclusively to Sun Microsystems, Inc. SuperSPARC is licensed to Texas Instruments, Inc. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based on an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark of UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. All other products or service names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners. For reader inquiries, telephone 1-800-821-4643. PR contact: Sun Microsystems Computer Corp. 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