---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash SunNews: SPARCengines: ACCESS: IPX Price Down SunFLASH Vol 47 #23 November 1992 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To keep the number of articles that I post to SunFlash in the 25 to 35 per month range, I will be grouping some Sun Press Releases in the same way that I group third party product announcements. Each article within a digest begins with the word "Subject:" at the start of the line. I will add a few keywords after the "SunNews" heading to help distinguish one SunNews article from another. The keyword should also give you a hint about the articles. I hope that you find this format to be useful. -johnj ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SUN MICROSYSTEMS COMPUTER CORPORATION INTRODUCES TWO LOW-COST, SINGLE-BOARD COMPUTERS ACCESS TO OFFER SUN SPARCENGINE BOARDS SMCC REDUCES PRICES ON THE POPULAR SPARCSTATION IPX -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: SUN MICROSYSTEMS COMPUTER CORPORATION INTRODUCES TWO LOW-COST, SINGLE-BOARD COMPUTERS Powerful, Highly Integrated SPARCengine(TM) Boards Reduce Time-to-Market for Board-Level OEMs MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- November 16, 1992 -- Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation (SMCC) today announced an expansion of its SPARCengine family of single-board computers with the new low-cost, high-performance SPARCclassic(TM) engine and the SPARCengine(TM) LX. The new SPARCclassic engine offers twice the performance at less than half the price of SMCC's lowest-cost SPARCengine board to date. These new SPARCengine boards are compact, highly integrated units designed for reliability, low power usage and flexibility. Both boards take full advantage of the real-time, multitasking capabilities of the Solaris(R) 2.1 operating environment. The SPARCclassic engine, currently used in the SPARCclassic workstation, gives original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) a powerful, affordable board for applications ranging from laptops and military workstations to telecommunications switches, medical imaging instruments and factory floor controllers. The new boards are also backed by a one-year warranty, a substantial extension of the standard SPARCengine 90-day warranty plan. "In addition to the low price and new one-year warranty, the compact design of the new SPARCclassic engine will provide customers with solutions to a whole new set of cost-sensitive and time-critical applications," said Peter Palm, SMCC manager of board marketing. "With the combination of the SPARCclassic engine and the Solaris 2.1 operating environment, OEMs can concentrate on developing applications for the board, rather than spending time and money on board and software design and debugging." At 59.1 MIPS, the SPARCclassic engine offers OEMs a number of significant advantages over '386- and '486-based boards, including a new highly integrated, 50-MHz microprocessor based on Sun's microSPARC(TM) technology, which offers higher performance at a dramatically lower price. The SPARCclassic engine supports, on board, up to 96 megabytes of memory, Ethernet and 10-megabyte/second SCSI. It provides greater overall performance than comparable high-end '386- and '486-based boards within a compact, single-board size of only 8.9 by 9 inches. The SPARCengine LX, which is also based on microSPARC technology, includes 16-bit, CD-quality audio, ISDN connectivity, and accelerated GX/GXplus 2-D/3-D wireframe graphics. The SPARCengine LX is the board used in the new SPARCstation(TM) LX. Low-Cost Power Platforms for Embedded Applications Specific features of the SPARCclassic engine and the SPARCengine LX include: * Multiple I/O options: The SPARCclassic engine and SPARCengine LX provide a range of standard interfaces, including Ethernet, SCSI-2 and parallel connections. These interfaces are right on the board, eliminating the need for cumbersome add-on interface cards. As a result, the SPARCclassic engine takes up less room than equivalent '386- and '486-based solutions. * Real-time software: Both products fully support the Solaris 2.1 distributed computing environment, including the OPEN LOOK(R) 3.0 graphical user interface. Solaris 2.1 includes a fixed priority scheduler, providing a guaranteed real-time response. * Flexibility: The I/O connectors for the SPARCclassic engine and the SPARCengine LX are sold on a separate I/O connector board, giving OEMs the option of using the Sun I/O connector board or developing their own to suit the requirements of specific applications. * Reliability: TAB packaging and a small number of highly integrated ASICs reduce power consumption and increase reliability. Availability and Distribution The SPARCclassic engine and the SPARCengine LX will be available in December 1992. The SPARCclassic engine and the SPARCengine LX can be purchased through Sun direct sales, priced at $3,100 and $4,250, respectively. The SPARCclassic engine, along with other SPARCengines, will be available through Sun's reseller channels, including Sun master resellers Access Graphics, Arrow and GTSI. For reader inquiries, telephone 1-800-821-4643. For more information, please contact: Deanna Franklin at (415) 336-7226 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: ACCESS TO OFFER SUN SPARCENGINE BOARDS Master Reseller to Distribute Full Range of Sun SPARCengine Boards MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- November 16, 1992 -- Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation (SMCC) and ACCESS Graphics, Inc., jointly announced that ACCESS has added SMCC's entire line of SPARCengine(TM) board products, including the new SPARCclassic(TM) engine, to the list of products it now distributes through Sun authorized resellers in the United States. ACCESS already carries SMCC's complete line of workstations and servers which run on the Solaris(R) operating environment. ACCESS will distribute the full range of board products, from the powerful, low-cost SPARCclassic engine to the SPARCengine 10, the highest-performance single-board computer currently on the market. With the addition of the SPARCengine board products, ACCESS can now service the growing embedded board market, which includes telecommunications, medical, computer-integrated manufacturing and laptop systems. The SPARCengine boards provide flexibility, expandability and innovative features that allow original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and system integrators to deliver new products to market quickly. The entire SPARCengine line takes advantage of the real time, multitasking capabilities of the Solaris operating environment. The SPARCengine boards are the same boards used in SMCC's SPARCstation(TM) systems. They use powerful application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and advanced graphics technology to compress all critical workstation functions such as a SPARC(R) RISC microprocessor, on-board graphics and multiprocessing capabilities, memory, SCSI, audio and Ethernet networking onto a single compact board. ACCESS distributes five versions: SPARCclassic IPX 2 10/Model 30 10/Model 41 MHz 50 40 40 36 40 SPECint92 26.4 21.8 21.8 *44.2 *52.6 SPECfp92 21.0 21.5 22.8 *52.9 *64.7 MIPS 59.1 28.5 28.5 101.6 109.5 MFLOPS 4.6 4.2 4.3 20.5 22.4 * Apogee compilers with Kuck & Associates preprocessor Offers Valuable Support for Resellers ACCESS delivers Sun(TM) products, services and support to resellers who specialize in technical computing environments and also to resellers who focus on commercial computing customers. As a master reseller, ACCESS provides resellers efficient distribution and integration support via an 800 number. ACCESS is recognized for it's effective order processing and same-day shipment with guranteed two-day delivery, responsive technical support and flexible financing options. ACCESS offers reseller training programs for both technical and sales staff. The SPARCclassic Engine, SPARCengine IPX(TM), SPARCengine 2 and SPARCengine 10/Model 30 are available now. The SPARCengine 10/Model 41 will be available in the fourth quarter of 1992. Already trained for the SMCC product line, ACCESS personnel have completed additional sales and technical education for the SPARCengine boards. ACCESS Graphics has 22 offices in the United States and Canada and is headquartered in Boulder, Colo. Press Contact: ACCESS Graphics, Inc. Laurie Carlson (303) 545-1190 Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation Lisa Ganier (415) 336-5637 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: SMCC REDUCES PRICES ON THE POPULAR SPARCSTATION IPX MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- November 12, 1992 -- Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation (SMCC) has reduced prices on its popular SPARCstation(TM) IPX(TM) color workstation by as much as 13 percent. A model configured with a 424-megabyte internal disk and 16 megabytes of memory and a 16-inch mid-range color monitor, previously priced at $10,295, is now $8,995. Additional versions of the same configuration have also been reduced. A 16-inch premium color monitor version is now priced at $9,995. The 19-inch color monitor version and the 19-inch monochrome monitor version have been reduced to $10,995 and $8,995 respectively. The SPARCstation IPX system delivers 21.8 SPECint92 and SPECfp92 21.5 of processing power and features accelerated GX graphics. The SPARCstation IPX was introduced in July 1991. In addition to the SPARCstation IPX, Sun's desktop computer family includes the SPARCstation 2, SPARCstation IPC(TM), SPARCstation ELC(TM) and just-introduced SPARCclassic(TM) and SPARCstation LX. PR contact: Carrie Dillon (415) 336-6424 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ For information send mail to info-sunflash@Sun.COM. Subscription requests should be sent to sunflash-request@Sun.COM. Archives are on solar.nova.edu, paris.cs.miami.edu, uunet.uu.net, src.doc.ic.ac.uk and ftp.adelaide.edu.au All prices, availability, and other statements relating to Sun or third party products are valid in the U.S. only. Please contact your local Sales Representative for details of pricing and product availability in your region. Descriptions of, or references to products or publications within SunFlash does not imply an endorsement of that product or publication by Sun Microsystems. John McLaughlin, SunFlash editor, flash@Sun.COM. (305) 776-7770. TRACE: To: sunflash@suntri Errors-to: owner-sunflash@suntri.east.sun.com