The new Avalon Atlas delivers functionality in three areas, including a customizable process model, online documentation for business processes and Avalon applications and online support and training tools.
Designed for systems analysts, business analysts and end users, the Avalon Atlas features a GUI to help companies visualize their business processes and better understand how Avalon's underlying functionality supports those processes.
Avalon Atlas includes a predefined process model that can be tailored for any manufacturing or distribution environment. Using a graphical point-and-click flowchart to plan and reconfigure processes such as materials movement, shop floor control and distribution, a business analyst or MIS professional can visually "link" different components of the manufacturing enterprise together.
The Atlas process model features "drill down" links to documentation of the process, and also can incorporate documentation from Avalon or other business systems. This enables full documentation of the business process, including how decisions are made, who makes them and how they impact the organization. It also gives MIS and the end user access to specifics on how each transaction is executed.
The Avalon Atlas offers an interactive, online training tool for teaching MIS and end users about the Avalon applications. Every job title and responsibility is identified by an icon within the process model.
BBN Software Products Corp., a subsidiary of Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., introduced Cornerstone Release 2.0, the first software package in the industry to provide flexible, interactive statistical quality control (SQC) to enable manufacturers to monitor and improve their processes.
This new release of BBN's exploratory data analysis software allows users to proactively monitor and improve their processes by drilling down through their data to uncover underlying problems.
Cornerstone 2.0 includes two new SQC modules with a graphical, point-and-click interface. The new version also enhances Cornerstone's programming language and reporting capabilities.
Cornerstone 2.0 provides a complete environment for exploratory data analysis and statistical quality control with features such as point-and-click data access, dynamically linked interactive graphs, robust statistical capabilities and automated reporting.
Cornerstone 2.0 features an icon-based Workmap that creates a workflow diagram of steps performed during an analysis session. The Workmap can be reused or shared with colleagues to promote standardization and collaboration. Cornerstone 2.0 consists of the base software and modular components and runs on SunOS.
Dazel Corp. unveiled Dazel for Unix, a new generation of its client-server output management system with support for standard ONC/NIS networks.
Dazel is a distributed client-server application that loads on a Unix server, where it becomes the universal output service for all the printing, faxing and paging in an enterprise, converting formats, logging and accounting for usage and guaranteeing delivery of information throughout the enterprise. Dazel maintains a central repository of output devices and provides a full complement of system administration tools, giving MIS a central point for managing and accounting for all the use of printers and modems.
Dazel for Unix's output services can be accessed in a variety of ways:
The product runs on SunOS, Solaris, HP-UX and AIX.
Software Emancipation Technology Inc. introduced the Discover Development Information System (DIS), a client-server solution for managing large, complex software development projects. SET also unveiled the Discover Information Server, the central piece of its Development Information System.
Discover consists of the Information Server and a series of client-based software development tools. The Discover Information Server consolidates all of the information about a company's software and related components into a database for access by management and developers. The server also includes a set of development decision support tools, including Admin/set, Re-engineer/set and Report/set.
SET's client-based software development tools help evaluate and direct the development process, and include Program/sw, Debug/sw, Design/sw, Doc/sw and CM/sw.
The basis of Discover is SET's software Information Model. The Information Model resides on the Discover Information Server, which is accessible to every person in the development organization. Discover scans and identifies all of the elements in a company's code and then builds the Information Model, a data representation of the entire software system.
Discover also offers impact analysis and change propagation capabilities that automate change management. Impact analysis allows developers to analyze the systemwide effect of any change proposed, and notifies them of all the rippling effects that the change will produce. Change propagation will implement the systemwide change, in every place affected.
MapInfo Corp. announced MapMarker, an address-matching product that will drive a new class of geographically-enhanced or "spatially enabled" enterprisewide applications, company officials said.
MapMarker combines address-matching capabilities with an application programming interface (API), enabling users to embed the product within any application. With MapMarker, available for both Windows and Unix, users can add location to corporate data at any instance, regardless of the data source, for use across enterprisewide applications.
MapInfo also announced access to corporate data through its newly enhanced client-server data connectivity product, SQL DataLink for Windows.
Now, in addition to Sybase and Oracle, SQL DataLink directly accesses DB2, Informix, Ingres, SQL Server, Gupta, SQL Base and Microsoft Access. Pricing for SQL DataLink is $399.
MapMarker and SQL DataLink let users access data where it resides for use in business-critical applications. MapMarker's client-server architecture allows address matching, or "geocoding," of data stored on Unix servers without having to download to a PC.
MapMarker consists of geocoding software, an address dictionary of geocoding data and built-in StreetWorks street maps for display. The address dictionary, updated semi-annually, and matching software even permit place name matches (e.g., Sears Tower), P.O. box and rural route matches. Users can geocode at the level that meets their needs, including street-level, 5-digit ZIP code and ZIP +4 Centroids. The user interface provides batch or interactive geocoding.
MapMarker is available on Windows (includes API), Sun and HP Unix platforms.
Summit Design introduced Visual Test, a new Verilog testbench tool that aids designers in the development of specification-based simulation testbenches for verification and test of complex integrated circuits.
Visual Test links Summit's TDS graphical timing specification tool with its Visual HDL graphical hardware description language (HDL) specification tool to create Verilog testbenches that check conformance of circuit timing to design specifications from early conceptualization through to production test. Visual Test uses standard databook formats to describe timing requirements and integrates timing templates with test pattern data in the resulting Verilog testbench.
For creation of Verilog testbenches with Visual Test, designers first use Summit's WaveMaker tool to capture circuit timing requirements in databook format. They describe timing relationships graphically with waveform templates and spreadsheet equations. Designers then use Visual HDL to generate the initial Verilog testbench and sequence the databook timing templates to produce functional test vectors for the testbench.
Visual Test provides the interface between the two tools, accessing the timing information from WaveMaker's database and assembling the final testbench. It supports asynchronous port behavior for creation of multiple data streams and conforms to Summit's waveform generation language format making it compatible with most automatic test pattern generation tools on the market.
Hitachi announced its SyncWare product offering -- a Universal Agent that synchronizes the directories of any e-mail system with those of any other e-mail application.
These systems include LAN-based systems such as Microsoft Mail, Lotus Notes and Novell GroupWise; legacy systems such as DEC All-in-1, HP OpenMail and Banyan StreetTalk; host-based systems such as Verimation Memo and Fischer International Emc2; in-house, proprietary systems; and any other directory or database that can import and export SCII files.
The Universal Agent is especially beneficial to enterprises with proprietary e-mail applications or e-mail environments that are too complex to synchronize with conventional products.
SyncWare is a software product based on a server/agent model. SyncWare agents are installed on each e-mail system; the SyncWare Server is installed on a Unix workstation. Each agent monitors address changes in the local e-mail directory. At a predetermined time -- usually during off-hours -- the agents send address changes to the SyncWare Server. The server then propagates these changes to all the agents on the network, thereby updating each e-mail system's directory with the most current user information.
Hitachi provides SyncWare agents for cc:Mail, Novell GroupWise, Lotus Notes, MHS, Microsoft Mail, OfficeVision for VM, OfficeVision for MVS, QuickMail, SMTP, and Universal Agent. The SyncWare Server and the Agent SMTP are available on SunOS, Solaris and HP-UX platforms.
LAN-based agents are priced at $1,995. Servers begin at $4,995.
Accordance Corp. introduced an enhanced version of its client-server electronic messaging engine, Intermail 1.1.
Intermail 1.1 is an open, standards-based messaging technology that can satisfy the scalability demands of online service bureaus that provide Internet and X.400 access.
Intermail 1.1 includes the following feature enhancements:
The new modules are the Ethernet/FDDI Switching Module (EFSM) and Token Ring Switching Module (TRSM). 3Com is incorporating next-generation application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) technology -- the company's Intelligent Switching Engine (ISE) chip -- into a module for the LANplex 6000 switch.
Both the EFSM and TRSM allow users to scale bandwidth in shared and dedicated Ethernet or Token Ring segments of various sizes.
With the new EFSM, the LANplex 6000 switch offers as many as 176 switched Ethernet ports and as many as 12 switched FDDI ports. The LANplex 6000 switch supports as many as 11 EFSMs or TRSMs in the 12-slot chassis and as many as 3 EFSMs or TRSMs in the 4-slot chassis.
The EFSM features:
The TRSM also features:
Infonet Software Solutions Inc. has introduced Messenger 400 1992, an X.400 message handling system for Unix servers that supports the 1992 X.400 standard while maintaining backward compatibility to allow message exchange between 1984, 1988 and other 1992 X.400 messaging systems.
Messenger 400 and its accompanying set of gateway and API products allow a company to build a messaging backbone using X.400 as the common protocol to consolidate an environment with diverse e-mail systems and networks.
A new feature in 1992 X.400 is the File Transfer Body Part, which allows a variety of file attachments and data to be mailed with an encoded "tag" for proper identification.
Another new feature of Messenger 400 1992 involves enhancements to the Message Store to allow storage and retrieval of both electronic data interchange (EDI) messages and e-mail messages from the same user mailbox. Using filters, remote e-mail users can selectively download only EDI messages, only e-mail messages, or both.
Messenger 400 1992 also allows users to address messages using an X.500 directory name as an alternative to the full X.400 address. Messenger 400 1992 will query an X.500 database to look up the recipient's X.400 address and send the message accordingly.
This direct interface allows Sbus-based computer systems from Sun Microsystems Inc. to be integrated with the 150-Mbit/sec performance of SCRAMNet+. The Sbus interface enables designers of realtime systems to develop distributed computing systems for applications such as simulation, telemetry, data acquisition, instrumentation and control and virtual reality.
SCRAMNet+ features include:
Systran Corp. and Systran's I/O Solutions announced the availability of its new SCRAMNet+ interface for EISA-based computers. Features include a custom ASIC chip that reduces the package to a single slot, 16.7 Mb/sec of data throughput, 250-nSec/node transport delay, field/user-upgradable memory modules up to 8mB, separate interrupts for status and memory events, event counter/timer, auto-initialization configurable via EEPROM and coax or fiber optic media options.
SCRAMNet+ support is also available for VME (3U, 6U, 9U), Sbus and a rehostable node for special requirements.
Other features include data filtering to reduce network traffic, byte swapping for reformatting of variables, interrupt passing for synchronization and a fiber optic ring that handles 150-Mbit/sec line transmission rates for distances up to 3,500 meters between computers.
Adobe Systems Inc. announced the availability of Type On Call Version 4.0.2, which gives Sun users a way to purchase high-quality fonts. The Type On Call CD-ROM includes the entire Adobe Type Library of more than 2,000 fonts, type management software, and documentation for four key platforms: Silicon Graphics, Sun, Macintosh and Windows. Customers can purchase, unlock and install single typefaces, typeface packages, or specialty packages by phone or fax.
Every customer who purchases Type On Call receives 30 typefaces from the Adobe Type Library and two free type packages chosen from a preselected list.
For Sun workstation users, Type On Call includes:
System requirements include Sparcstation 2, IPX or faster processor, Solaris 2.3 or 2.4, CD-ROM drive and 20Mb of hard disk space.
This enables companies to centralize all of their network servers. Laboratories can consolidate computers for more efficient hardware and software testing. It eliminates the need for a monitor, keyboard and mouse on each computer.
Network managers and help desk operators are also able to more quickly provide support because they themselves do not have to physically switch to a particular set of peripherals for a desired platform.
Additional features include:
AutoBoot supports the full range of monitor types (VGA, SVGA, XGA, Mac and Sun) and simultaneously accommodates computers with different video types.
The Mega Drive Enterprise offers two independent channels that provide as much as 40Mb/second throughput using Fast and Wide scsi-2 interface. Enterprise is suited for networking, full-motion digital video, multimedia, graphics, and color publishing applications.
The Mega Drive Enterprise is available in tower or rack-mount configurations (2 or 8 slots). The system features hot-swappable redundant fans, power supplies and hot-swappable drives on RAID configurations; support for hardware and software-based RAID (levels 0, 1 and 5); automatic scsi ID selection and termination; audible alarm for failure notification; and field-upgradable I/O panels for future interfaces.
The 8-slot system can accommodate any combination of the following fully sealed and removable storage modules: One to four 5.25-inch removable drive modules as much as 9Gb/module); One to eight 3.5-inch removable drive modules as much as 4.2Gb/module); One to eight 3.5-inch removable optical drive modules; and One to eight 3.5-inch removable DAT drive modules. Multiple systems can be connected together to provide as much as 1Tb of storage.
The Mega Drive Enterprise is compatible with most scsi host systems including PC, Macintosh, SGI and SUN.
The Computer Safety bioLightsystem uses full spectrum light therapy to counteract the ailments common to computer users. This product features two cathode-shielded 20-watt full spectrum bioLightubes and one cathode-shielded 6-watt UV tube in a 2-foot tall-by-1-foot wide-by-3.75-inch deep radiation-shielded-and-grounded steel casing. By placing this light system beside the computer, a phototherapeutic application of full spectrum light counteracts the electric and magnetic radiation generated by the computer monitor, company officials said.
Using hardware-based support for RAID levels 0, 3 and 5, Fast and Wide scsi-2 interface, 5,400 RPM removable 5.25-inch hard drives, and as much as 128Mb of cache, the MX/500 delivers 20-Mb/sec throughput. The MX/500 is designed to use a master and slave configuration, allowing users to grow their storage systems to more than 2Tb with a demonstrated sustained throughput of 50Mb/sec. The master and as many as six slaves use a 5-channel, Risc-based RAID controller to provide from 27Gb to 315Gb on a single scsi ID and as much as 2.2Tb on a single bus.
The MX/500 RAID features redundant and hot swappable power supplies, fans and drives, individual drive locks, a touch-button LCD control center, as well as an optional pager notification module, hot spare and redundant controllers. The MX/500 RAID is plug-and-play compatible with all major PC, Macintosh and Workstation platforms, including Sun and SGI. Software platforms supported include Novell, Windows, NT, Unix, Mac/OS, A/UX, Sun OS, and A/IX.
Technological innovations of the Proxima Ovation+ 920 include its "Fit-to-View" capability, which enables it to display high-resolution images (1,280 x 1,024). It also includes the ability to pan freely around the entire screen area to display full pixel resolution, as well as a zoom capability that enables a 640-by-480 image to be blown up to fill the entire screen.
In addition, the Proxima Ovation+ 920 incorporates LightBoard feature that lets users highlight information directly on the projected image, regardless of application. It also offers complete remote control of software through Proxima's Cyclops cordless mouse.
The Proxima Ovation+ 920 projects 16.7 million true colors. It incorporates a 10.4-inch LCD panel, along with Proxima's proprietary Active Color Enhancement technology for image quality. A digital video controller projects all three international video standards, as well as S-VHS. Also, the panel's 24-bit video processor provides true-color matching. It features a data rate of 35MHz.
The Proxima Ovation+ 920 is compatible with all popular workstation and PC platforms, including Sun, HP, Silicon Graphics, DEC and IBM, as well as other platforms like PCs and Macs.
The High C/C++ Cross Toolset provides host support for DOS and Extended DOS on Intel X86 and Pentium; AIX 3.2 on RS/6000; SunOS 4.1 or Solaris on Sparcstation or equivalent; and HP-UX on HP-PA.
The toolset includes big- and little-endian addressing, optional ANSI-standard conformance, scalable error/warning messages, a variety of compiler features available through toggles and pragmas, floating-point code generation, C or C++ compiler invoked based on user-definable source-file extension, lint-like checking, source-annotated assembly listings, inline functions across compilation units, no restriction on complexity of inlined functions, four user-selectable levels of warning messages and supports ELF and DWARF.
Users can, among other options, adjust the code size/execution speed trade-off in generated code, adjust external naming conventions to agree with linkers and operating systems and place code or data in specific locations for embedded applications.
ViewKit ObjectPak's framework and design paradigm for C++ development, along with an extensive set of C++ classes, provides developers with an improved overall applications development process. Serving as the base for wide-scale software reuse, ViewKit enables organizations to produce consistent, high-quality Motif and CDE applications. ViewKit ObjectPak is based on Silicon Graphics' IRIS ViewKit.
ViewKit ObjectPak provides a variety of ready-to-use components, and can be extended by creating new component classes. With high-level components, ViewKit ensures consistency throughout a family of applications, and promotes enterprisewide reuse. In addition, ViewKit supports communication between applications by using ToolTalk, the CDE standard for inter-application messaging.
ViewKit ObjectPak is available in binary and source form. Binaries are currently available for Digital Unix; HP-UX; IBM AIX; SCO OpenDeskTop; SunOS and Sun Solaris. ViewKit requires C++ and Motif 1.2.x development libraries.
DataTools Inc. released SQL-BackTrack for Oracle, a backup and recovery tool for Oracle databases. SQL-BackTrack for Oracle supports Oracle version 6.x and above, including Oracle 7.
SQL-BackTrack for Oracle is a Database-Aware tool that integrates all aspects of Oracle backup and recovery by automating backup and providing data security. SQL-BackTrack for Oracle's features include fast physical backup, smart recovery, a menu-driven interface, parallel backup streams, block-level incrementals, compression and encryption.
SQL-BackTrack for Oracle, which shares a common back-end interface with the SQL-BackTrack for Sybase product, can be used to back up directly to disk or tape, or to any file system partner that integrates with DataTools' Open Backup Stream Interface (OBSI). These OBSI modules include AT&T CommVault's AT&T Backup, EMC's EpochBackup, IBM's Adstar Distributed Storage Manager and Legato's NetWorker.
SQL-BackTrack for Oracle runs on SunOS, Solaris, HP/UX and IBM AIX.
BudTool Live can be integrated with PDC's BudTool, an automated network backup management system that uses standard Unix commands to drive backups and restores. BudTool Live is also compatible with competitive backup utilities and installs on each network client and server.
This Unix version of CDR Publisher has true three-level hybrid (HyCD) platform capability, supporting PC (ISO 9660), Unix (ISO 9960 with Rock Ridge Extension) and Macintosh (HFS) file formats integrated on a single CD-ROM. This single HyCD CD-ROM can be read on PC, Unix and Macintosh computer systems, eliminating the need to create separate CD-ROMS for each file format.
Features of CDR Publisher include:
The Designer Series 3.0 toolset features a GUI and object-oriented database that lessens the learning curve for complex FPGA designs while maximizing performance.
Through its DirectTime option, the Designer Series 3.0 series offers the ability to develop fully deterministic FPGA designs. DirectTime ensures that preroute specified timing delays are accurately represented in the final design.
Developed in C++, Designer Series 3.0 is written to the Win32 application programming interface (API) to run with Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups, Windows NT and the upcoming Windows 95.
To simplify the design process, a graphical design flow manager steps the user through the design. With it, designers can access tools like PinEdit, a utility that provides the designer with a graphical representation of the FPGA package and allows a drag and drop placement of signals on to the selected pins.
Through a suite of tools, the DirectTime option in the Designer Series 3.0 gives designers more control over FPGA performance. Timing requirements are entered via DirectTime Edit, a tool that captures the user's timing specifications for the design. The user specifies overall operating frequency and duty cycle or individual path delays.
Once the timing requirements are set, DirectTime Layout, a timing-driven place-and-route tool, implements the design. DirectTime Layout is designed to assure that post-route results will meet the design's timing constraints. The tool supports both standard and incremental mode, allowing for quick design iterations.
Finally, DirectTime Analyzer compares the achieved timing results with those specified using DirectTime Edit. DirectTime Analyzer may also be used to measure any specific path in the design for worst or best case performance across any combination of operating temperature and voltage.
Falcon Systems Inc., a systems integrator, has released its backup and restore software, FalconFastback.
Typical performance for FalconFastback is 17Mb/min on a 500-MB cartridge tape and 29Mb/min on 8-mm DAT tapes.
FalconFastback can be accessed locally or remotely. It can backup multiple file systems concurrently and the backup is portable to any Unix system.
FalconFastback performs multivolume, multicapacity backups. It can read and write cpio and tar formats. FalconFastback synchronizes shrinking and growing files and relocates absolute path names.
FalconFastback can also restore "crashed" drives with its drive reconfiguration (fdisk/Divvy), drive recovery, boot diskette set construction, snapshot of drive geometry and hands-free recovery after crash/drive replacement.
A full-featured GIS extension to MicroStation, Mapper serves as both an end-user CAD/GIS tool and as a development platform for new CAD/GIS products. Mapper offers an integrated system that manages a project's CAD-related geometry and GIS-related information.
Mapper offers users the ability to input, validate, manage, analyze and visualize geographical information. Specific GIS features include data-driven thematic mapping and annotation, spatial analysis, feature-based design and geometry clean-up. It contains built-in database tools as well as ODBC-links to databases such as Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle and Informix. Also, Mapper has the ability to manage vector data, raster data, and non-spatial attributes.
As an open development platform for other GIS tools, Mapper inherits MicroStation's fully programmable MDL environment for creating custom tools and applications. Mapper also provides full programmatic access to all major GIS functions through a MDL-based GIS library.
Mapper runs on Sun Sparc machines.
The Mechanical Systems Pack includes capabilities for motion analysis of 2-D and 3-D rigid body systems, object-oriented modeling, system motion animation, user-programmable parameterization and static and dynamic load analysis.
With the Mechanical Systems Pack, users can develop and modify complex models and then visualize and analyze design changes instantly. Calling upon the pack's large library of kinematic constraints, models can be created and then displayed in both 2-D and 3-D. Mechanical Systems Pack capabilities include: planar and spatial modeling; open, closed, and multiloop mechanisms; velocity and acceleration analysis; built-in and user-programmable constraint objects; user-programmable forces and moments; nonlinear and nonconservative loading; damping and friction modeling; static and dynamic reaction analysis; tolerance sensitivity analysis; and mechanism motion animation.
The Mechanical Systems Pack is available for all platforms that support versions of Mathematica with the notebook front end. These include: Microsoft Windows, Windows NT, Sun Sparc, Solaris, Silicon Graphics and Hewlett-Packard 700 Series. The Mechanical Systems Pack requires Mathematica 2.2.
Silverrun provides high performance team modeling tools that enable companies to model business processes as well as build the foundation for a data infrastructure. There are four Silverrun modules that can be integrated or used separately for the analysis of application development. The modules include Entity Relationship Expert (ERX), Relational Data Modeler (RDM), Business Process Modeler (BPM) and Workgroup Repository Manager (WRM).
Silverrun-ERX offers an embedded expert system that helps novices and experienced modelers create correct normalized data models from data structures, existing file definitions and business rules, and can be used as a re-engineering tool to rebuild existing systems.
Silverrun-RDM includes many automated functions that help ensure the production of accurate, high quality database designs and generated schema for 15 RDBMS and application development tools. Object-oriented extensions are available to define actions or tables and specifications on columns. The latest version provides subschema support, enabling multiple users to work on different parts of a large data model at the same time.
Silverrun-BPM is an aid to process design, with functions to ensure diagramming and documentation capabilities, as well as production of process flows.
Silverrun-WRM is designed to coordinate the Silverrun toolset and to support the consolidation and sharing of dictionary information in project repositories during the system development process. With Silverrun-WRM, a development team can view and share information. In addition to import and export functions and reverse engineering functions in the Silverrun toolset, this module provides merge and extract functions so that part of or the whole repository can be selected to be checked in or out.
The IGS brings the Internet to each PC, Unix and Macintosh user on a LAN, enabling global communications and research via e-mail, World Wide Web access and newsfeed retrieval capabilities. The IGS includes Eudora (from Qualcomm), allowing each user to send and receive e-mail from their desktop. It is also a Post-Office Protocol (POP) server -- collecting and distributing mail addressed to the gateway as well. Built-in firewall security software makes the IGS a secure host for World Wide Web home pages, gopher and anonymous ftp.
Capable of supporting 10 to 50 users, the IGS5 has an 85-MHz microSparc II processor and offers as much as 256Mb of internal RAM and 4GB of internal disk capacity. Five SBus slots provide room for additional expansion.
The IGS20E has a 75-MHz SuperSparc or HyperSparc processor, with room for as many as four CPUs. It offers up to 512Mb of internal RAM, 4GB of internal disk capacity and a built-in ISDN interface. Four SBus slots offer further expansion capabilities, making the IGS20E capable of handling from 20 to 300 users.
Both IGS models include SLIP and PPP dial-up services. Other connectivity options include ISDN, 56K and T1 leased-lines.
Mosaic, is included in the bundle, allows the user to view information available on the World Wide Web and Gopher and is configured with a generic home page that has built-in links to points of interest on the Web. Netscape 1.1, Netscape Communications Corp's commercial version of Mosaic, is optional.
Firewall security software, tested on Satan, a software diagnostic tool, is bundled with the IGS to provide protection from outside intruders. Servers and client configuration scripts provide IGS set up and activation.
Marner International is shipping a new CheetahTower deskside workstation and CheetahRack, the company's scalable, rack-mounted servers for mission-critical network environments in small, medium and enterprisewide business information systems.
CheetahTower and CheetahRack may be configured with single, double or quad CPUs to provide network managers with a range of performance options.
"Marner designed CheetahTower and CheetahRack around original Sun Sparc-based motherboards," said Martin Fenner, Marner founder and CEO. "We then add interchangeable shuttle support for Sun Sparc 5 or Sparc 20 motherboards.
CheetahTower and CheetahRack can be equipped with 10 Sbus expansion slots. Both systems have ruggedized enclosures and 400W power supplies.
CheetahRack devices are accessible from the front of the box, easy-clean system intake air filters are standard, and the units feature interchangeable motherboard and optional Sbus expansion shuttles. The systems also include high temperature operation and fault tolerant power supply options.
Workstation Technologies is offering the impro5 series based on technology from DTK Computer Inc. The impro5/85, the first system board upgrade of the impro5 series, is an 85-MHz configuration.
The impro5 series provides Sparcstation 1, 1+ and 2 users with the performance levels equal to a Sparcstation 5. The impro5 provides Sparcstation 5 performance by employing 60-nsec memory -- the same speed memory of the Sparcstation 5 itself.
The impro5 series is 100 percent Sparc compliant and was specifically engineered to be compatible with all Sparcstation options.
Other impro5/85 features include upgradeable CPU chip; supports up to 192Mb of JEDEC memory; Sparc SCD 1.1, SCD 2.1 compliant; and user installable in 30 minutes.
Operating system requirements are Solaris 1.1 1b (SunOS 4.1.3_U1b) or Solaris 2.3 hardware: 5/94 or later.
For connections to any type of system, the interfaces supported include networking connectivity through 10BaseT, 10Base5 or 10Base2 for Novell Netware, Microsoft LAN Manager, IBM LAN Server, Unix systems and Windows for Workgroups. Also, IPDS is supported for the coax and twinax environments and coax or twinax ports are resident with the standard RS232C serial and Centronics parallel ports.
For additional connectivity, the CI-500e and CI-1000e support the multiuser environment through emulation and interface switching. The printer selects IBM Proprinter XL, C.Itoh line printer or Printronix P-Series emulations and the proper interface before the job is printed. This allows users to share a common printer without having to standardize on the applications they use.
The CI-500e and CI-1000e also control the impact force of the printhead for multipart forms. Additional features include top-of-form adjustment while printing for uninterrupted operation and as many as four menu setups can be stored for multiple user access.
The control panel features a ribbon counter display to monitor ribbon life, a lockout command to prohibit unauthorized changes and multilingual display in English, German, French, Spanish or Italian. Fourteen bar codes including Postnet and forms generation are built in, and QMS Magnum Code V and Printronix IGP are optional.
Options for the CI-500e and CI-1000e are: CI-NET for networking connectivity, coax or twinax interfaces, zero-tear for demanding document environments and either a floor cabinet or pedestal stand.
RDI Computer Corp. introduced the PowerLite 110, adding more performance and memory options to its line of Sparc-based portable workstations.
The PowerLite 110 gives users 110-MHz processing power and as much as 128 memory capacity, making it the first portable workstation with equivalent processing power to Sun Microsystems' 110-MHz Sparcstation 5.
Powered by the 110-MHz microSparc II microprocessor, the PowerLite 110 integrates as much as 2.4Gb of internal hard disk storage capacity (6.4Gb with external options), TGX graphics acceleration, an internal floppy drive, fax modem and a 10.4-inch, 1024-by-768 high resolution flat panel color display, in an 8.5-pound, 2.2-inch-by-12.75-inch-by-11.18-inch package.
The portable workstation is designed to allow mobile users to take full advantage of software engineering, electronic design automation, computer-aided design, geoengineering and other graphics-based, system-intensive applications traditionally bound to the desktop.
Using enabling hardware and operating-system technology from Sun STB and SunSoft, respectively, the PowerLite 110 provides 100 percent compatibility with Solaris and SunOS applications. It comes with an unmodified Solaris 1.1.2 and optional 2.4 operating system, and is compatible with networking standards and protocols ONC, NFS, TCP/IP, SunNet, OSI and MHS.
With performance ratings of 77-SPECint92 and 65.3-SPECfp92, the PowerLite 110 is built to support any data- or graphics-intensive applications.
The PowerLite 110's configurable options provide portable users with four memory configurations: 32Mb (standard), 64Mb, 96Mb and 128Mb; two display options: the flat panel color display or the Colorplus 640-by-480 active matrix LCD; and a number of standard customized storage configurations from 810Mb to as much as 6.4Mb, with an optional PowerLite Peripheral Expansion Unit.
The SWS5/110 incorporates the new 110-MHz microSparc II processor from Sparc Technology Business and offers users a 20 percent increase in computing power over the 85-MHz version of the SWS5.
The system comes complete with five 32-bit master/slave SBus slots (capable of supporting double- or triple-width SBus cards), a 64-bit high-speed AFX graphics bus, up to 256Mb of internal RAM and is binary compatible with the Sun Sparcstation 5. Storage options include one 644-Mb double-speed internal Photo CD ready CD-ROM, two internal hard disk drives and one internal 3.5-inch 1.44-Mb floppy drive.
A 150-watt power supply, enclosed in the zero footprint "pizza box" design of the chassis, provides substantial power for all of the internal options available.
With the 64-bit AFX bus expansion option, users can add a true color graphics card, which includes 1152-by-900 24-bit color graphics with an 8-bit overlay. Because the bus is directly linked to system memory, many of the performance bottlenecks associated with 24-bit graphics are eliminated.
The SWS5/110 is shipped with a 110-MHz processor and provides 145 Mips, 20 Flops, 1893 SPECrate_int92, 78.6 SPECint 92 and 65.3 SPECfp92, using a 24-Kb cache.
The SWS5/110 base-configured workstation includes system board, chassis, keyboard, mouse and power supply. A complete system includes a 110-MHz microSparc II CPU, 32Mb memory, 1Gb hard disk, Turbo GX graphics card and 17-inch color monitor.
The microCOMPstation 5/11 is available in several different configurations. A full-featured system is configured with a 1-Gb hard drive, 32Mb of RAM, Turbo GX graphics and a 20-inch color monitor. Five peripheral ports -- including two serial, one parallel, an AUI or 10BaseT Ethernet and a scsi 2 port -- are standard offerings allowing for direct peripheral connections. In addition, the system comes standard with three SBus expansion slots.
The microCOMPstation 5/11 features a slide-in motherboard cabinet design. The design allows the system to be equipped with standard features such as built-in CD quality, 16-bit audio capabilities and components such as internal speakers and audio ports.
Options on the microCOMPstation 5/11 include 15- or 17-inch color monitors, up to 256Mb of RAM and up to 4Gb or more of hard disk storage. TSTI's advanced Turbo GX+ graphics accelerators are also available, and the system supports 24-bit, true color S24-compatible graphics. All new TSTI systems come complete with a one-year warranty and Solaris 1.x or 2.x pre-installed.
Xinet released FullPress, an Open Prepress Interface (OPI) server integrated with a set of Xinet network applications.
FullPress provides a networking environment that will increase speed and efficiency in image manipulation and layout, file sharing and print spooling for Macintosh users in the prepress industry, the vendor said.
FullPress harnesses the strength of multitasking Unix platforms. Macintosh users involved in image scanning, photo retouching, page design and layout, signature setups, trapping and color separating can share files over a network quickly, without leaving their familiar Macintosh environment.
FullPress's OPI server reduces network traffic and increases print spooling speed by automatically providing low-resolution "For Placement Only" (FPO) versions of high-resolution images for use during production and proofing. High-resolution originals can come from any source-scanner, Unix workstation, or Macintosh.
MediaLogic ADL announced that its line of Scalable Library Architecture(SLA) products will be supported on the Sun Microsystems platform under an arrangement with HIARC Inc. of Orange, Calif.
HIARC is in the process of qualifying three SLA product families -- the 4mm-based SLA-4, the SLA-8 line of 8mm libraries and the high-end line of Digital Linear Tape-powered SLA-D libraries -- on its Sparcus Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM) software running on Sun and compatible systems.
HIARC's SPARCUS HSM software runs resident on Sun Microsystems and compatible hardware under the Sun OS and Solaris operating systems. Additionally, NFS clients are supported through TCP/IP, allowing any authorized NFS-mountable client to access files on the MediaLogic ADL library via the Sparcus software.
The SLA library storage, operating under Sparcus, appears to users as a single infinite disk and responds to disk-based commands such as LS to provide a directory listing of available files.
BlueLine Software Inc. released Vital Signs VisionNet 4.0, a performance management system aimed at growing client-server networks. The product is a successor to BlueLine's SNA network performance monitor, Vital Signs for VTAM.
Vital Signs VisionNet is part of BlueLine's suite of centralized network management products.
It uses software agents to collect key performance metrics, such as response time, traffic, errors and availability, from Unix machines, SNMP devices and SNA. The performance data is used for realtime performance monitoring, historical reporting and trend analysis. A performance data base and report writer are included with the product. VisionNet's alert facility can be triggered on any performance metric and sent to Sun Net Manager or any SNMP management console.
It includes a new user interface that allows network analysts to display multiple windows of variable sizes. Additional new capabilities include an end-to-end response time monitor for LANs, day-of-week scheduling, response time frequencies and wildcarding.
Vital Signs VisionNet supports all SNA networks and host operating systems.
Adobe Systems Inc. is shipping its Adobe Illustrator Version 5.5 for Sun, a new release of its illustration and page design program.
Its features and enhancements are designed to match Adobe Illustrator 5.5 for the Macintosh and it is designed to let Sun networked environment users access large collections of files.
Adobe Illustrator 5.5 is designed to complement popular image-editing products such as Adobe Photoshop, and text-focused publishing applications such as FrameMaker, Interleaf and WordPerfect. It provides full PostScript capability, allowing users to place and view EPS files from any source in their illustrations. Additionally, Adobe Illustrator software on Macintosh, Sun, Silicon Graphics and Windows platforms use the same file format.
Adobe Illustrator 5.5 for Sun software includes 200 Type 1 fonts; clip art library; tools to view, distribute, print and save documents in portable document format (PDF) regardless of the computer and operating system; a viewing application that lets users see on the screen PostScript language documents created in applications such as Adobe Photoshop, FrameMaker, Interleaf or WordPerfect; a graphical application for installing and managing Type 1 fonts on Unix workstations.
AutoGraph International (AGI) announced Version 4.0 of its EasyCopy/X printing utility software, which allows the printing of color screens or raster image files to most raster or Postscript printers.
The new software can be used with standalone workstations or heterogeneous networks, either as a separate printing utility or integrated into a larger application such as a medical imaging or a process control system. Applications range from geographic information systems and CAD systems to seismic printouts and image databases.
The product was developed because Unix systems, unlike PCs, don't generally include the printer drivers required for sophisticated printing to a variety of printers. AGI's EasyCopy/X bridges this gap. Currently, there are more than 50,000 users worldwide.
The product allows the user to set up and control all printer functions, allowing users to take full advantage of the printer's capability. It also includes AGI's proprietary EasyColor function, which stores printer characteristics and helps optimize color matching.
Version 4.0 has many added features, including:
IRI Software announced Express 4.8, a new version of its On-line Analytical Processing (OLAP) multidimensional software that supports the Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) standard and extends its application programming interface (API) access.
With ODBC support available to all Express 4.8 applications under Windows, users can now perform extensive data analysis and data mining on an even wider variety of database management systems.
Express 4.8 also includes the new Structured N-dimensional Application Programming Interface (SNAPI) that enables users to seamlessly integrate Express' OLAP functionality into a range of application development environments and programming tools such as Powersoft's Powerbuilder and Gupta's SQL Windows. SNAPI allows Windows clients to access Express via direct Dynamic Link Library (DLL) calls, and complements Express' existing Visual Basic custom control capability and Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) support.
Additionally, Express 4.8 now supports calls to external DLLs. This enables the Express 4GL to pass parameters to and receive data from other Windows applications. Using this functionality, developers can use existing libraries of code.
Express version 4.8 is available on Sun OS & Solaris.
Microtec Research Inc., a supplier of software development tools and operating systems for embedded applications, announced advanced C++ support for its 680x0 software development toolkit. The toolkit consists of the industry-standard Xray Debugger, a C++ compiler, an assembler, a new optimizing linker and the XRAY MasterWorks productivity tools.
Microtec's new C++ technology incorporates powerful linker optimizations and new C++ language features such as templates and exception handling. New linker optimizations dramatically reduce final absolute object file size by eliminating duplicate copies of functions and data. Templates improve programmer productivity by allowing developers to reuse their source code. Exception handling provides an efficient method of recovering from synchronous errors, resulting in programs that are easier to read and maintain. The compiler also includes support for earlier versions of the C++ language for easy code migration.
The new Microtec compiler directly compiles C++ into object code. Since C++ is often used in the debugging of very large applications, faster compilation link times improve programmer productivity.
Microtec's Xray Debugger has been enhanced to support debugging of C++ applications using templates and exception handling. Standard Xray Debugger features include a windows-oriented interface that allows the user to step through and simultaneously view source code, continuously monitor variables and expressions, trace function calls and set simple and complex breakpoints. Versions of the Xray Debugger include Xray Simulator for debugging software before for the target hardware is ready and Xray monitor for cross-development.
Microtec's Xray MasterWorks integrated development environment is available for Unix-based development and speeds up the edit-compile-debug cycle. It includes the Xray MasterWorks productivity tools: Source Explorer, a graphical program analyzer; Xray Make, a graphical build tool; Xray Source Code Management Interface, a graphical interface to source code manager.
ESKER, a developer of Windows to Unix connectivity software, announced the third module in its Tun Plus product suite: Tun MAIL, an Internet messaging package.
Tun Mail is an electronic messaging package that enables users to create, send, receive and archive electronic messages from a TCP/IP network to the Internet. Tun MAIL can handle the complete range of documents, from a simple ASCII file to complex messages.
Tun MAIL uses the Windows graphical interface by letting users create and receive messages containing graphics, accents and OLE objects.
In addition to offering advanced Internet messaging capabilities to Windows users over a TCP/IP LAN, Tun Mail also provides a remote mailer module. By integrating the support of UUCP over a modem (PPP or SLIP connection), Tun Mail gives nomadic computers the ability to send and receive e-mail messages from any remote location. Also included with Tun Mail is ESKER's TCP/IP stack -- a prerequisite for companies integrating PCs into their client/server architecture.
Some of the Tun Mails features are listed:
Support of Mime and UuenCode protocols
Mime enables users to encode messages and attach OLE objects to messages. Uuencode enables file attachments and ensures compound message exchange for users with a mail package that does not support Mime.
Allows users to create, send and receive compound documents containing objects generated by any Windows application (word-processing, spreadsheet, images, sound, etc.). By double-clicking on the embedded object in the message, the Windows application linked to the object is opened, and the object is displayed automatically.
Implementation of standard UUCP file transfer provides remote users with an easy method of exchanging messages with Unix hosts over serial lines and TCP/IP.
Enables remote users to save online connection fees by allowing them to create a message offline and then dialup and connect to the mail server once they are ready to send the message.
New versions of object-oriented design and development tools from IntelliCorp facilitate team-based development of applications with a business-process focus. The company has begun shipment of Object Management Workbench (OMW) 1.3 and Kappa 3.1.
OMW 1.3, IntelliCorp's object-oriented analysis and design tool, provides multideveloper support, facilitating administration of team development and enabling large groups to create logic-intensive applications.
Kappa 3.1, IntelliCorp's visual development environment, features improvements in the Interface Workbench, Kappa GUI component classes and C++ integration. Kappa 3.1 supports symbolic debugging of object code in the development environment.
The new IntelliCorp tools provide the administrator with a framework for merging different versions of a domain into a single version; versions may be created by more than one developer modifying the same domain, or by one developer modifying the same domain in multiple ways.
All OMW diagrams and models are active and executable at every stage of the development process and support incremental modification to those models.
Both OMW 1.3 and Kappa 3.1 are available for the Solaris and HP/UX operating systems.
Spectrum Associates announced the availability of Point.Man, Release 2.0. This system, comprised of 19 software modules, uses a "clean sheet of paper" design approach. Point.Man, classified as an Enterprise Resource Planning system, integrates the functional areas of an organization including manufacturing, finance, sales, marketing and customer service.
Point.Man was specifically written for client-server processing and includes a redesigned normalized database, an embedded Microsoft (MS) Windows GUI and fourth-generation object-oriented programming.
Highlights of Release 2.0 include international finance capabilities for companies with multiple businesses domestically and abroad; a GUI-based Product Configurator module and enhanced material traceability with the introduction of a Lot Control module.
Point.Man supports the Sun Sparc platform.
Paradigm Plus 3.0 introduced Enterprise Component Modeling (ECM) to the market. Using ECM, companies can identify business requirements, model reusable application components and manage systems over the long-term.
Paradigm Plus 3.0 is designed for organizations re-engineering their businesses or developing object-oriented applications. In release 3.0, ProtoSoft has integrated an object repository based on ObjectStore object-oriented database management system (ODBMS) from Object Design Inc.
This object repository facilitates team development on a large scale by providing object level access rights, configuration management and object reuse in multiuser environments.
Paradigm Plus 3.0's approach to iterative development delivers automatic synchronization of models, source code and documentation and also provides for reverse engineering of C++, Smalltalk, PowerBuilder, Forte and other 4GL-GUI applications.
A/Soft Development Inc. is now shipping nu/TPU v4.1, an update to its text editor for Unix.
Version 4.1 interfaces have been redesigned and includes a new find dialog. A new system attributes dialog shows users the attributes and their settings, and allows them to be controlled from within the dialog from the mouse or keyboard. The Motif version can now handle multi-processing; users can create one or more sub-processes simultaneously and communicate with them.
Systech Corp. announced the PM/Series family of Ethernet-based communications print servers for Novell, Unix, NT and Apple client-server applications.
PM/Series servers span a wide range of industry applications for single protocol, dual-protocol and multiprotocol environments.
PM/Series print servers connect to any Ethernet network using 10BaseT or 10Base2 connections. Systech's QuickSet software utility provides set-up and management of PM/Series servers from any administrator's workstation. PM/Series servers can accept print jobs from as many as eight file servers simultaneously and service as many as 48 print queues networkwide.
Armon Networking has introduced the EyeNet internetwork monitor. This new application represents an advance in implementation of the RMON standard (RFC 1271, 1513) for enterprise-level network monitoring by graphically mapping end-to-end network traffic. EyeNet provides empirical information to help network managers arrive at informed network planning and configuration decisions.
An enterprisewide view of network-layer conversations is accomplished by consolidating information from multiple RMON probes into a single, map display. This functionality allows users to monitor overall traffic flow across the network. The map display provides a graphic indication of traffic volume by selected types (IP, Novell and others), as well as annotation for easy identification of segments and hosts.
EyeNet allows the user to specify host sets that may include machines on a single segment or any aggregation of individual hosts across segments. The user may also apply a variety of filters to create a specialized view of network traffic. Several such views may coexist to allow comparison of traffic information filtered by various criteria.
OnSite EyeNet gives users the ability to view aggregate information for the enterprise monitored at both network and application layers. This enables the network manager to discover who is talking to whom and which applications and sessions are producing the traffic.
Heroix announced RoboMon Unix for automating computing facilities in multiplatform environments. This client-server, automated system administration solution supports most Unix operating system, including AIX, Digital Unix, HP-UX, Solaris and SunOS. RoboMon is designed with an open architecture enabling integration with network managers, such as OpenView and NetView, as well as help desk applications and other software.
Because RoboMon uses rule-based automation and follows a reasoned thought path, it detects and solves problems proactively with more than 80 built-in sensors. Its analysis capabilities enable users to automate system, network, application or database tasks.
RoboMon collects more than 1,000 Unix statistics that are then analyzed by the rule engine in realtime in order to access the health of the Unix system. If problems are discovered, RoboMon can take actions to correct the problem and/or notify appropriate system personnel through a variety of notification mechanisms, including realtime event display, e-mail, paging and network managers. In addition, RoboMon's built-in escalation capability continuously evaluates the results and, in turn, tries new actions until the problem is solved. RoboMon collects Unix data in the following areas: configuration information, files, file systems, users, groups, processes, system performance, disk performance, network performance, network interfaces, NFS and TCP/IP.
By collecting and analyzing data from these Unix domains, RoboMon can detect a variety of Unix operational and performance problems, including: missing daemons, stalled daemons, runaway processes, missing files, overly large files, fast-growing files, secure files being unexpectedly modified, directories with too many files, file system space depletion, swap space depletion, system performance problems, remote host reachability problems and network performance problems.
Sky Computers Inc. announced that its Skystation II multiprocessor desktop accelerator is now available for Sparc-based workstations.
Skystation II delivers 640 Mflops of processing performance for floating point intensive application development. Using a scsi-2 connection, Skystation II plugs directly into workstations running the Sun Solaris operating system.
The Skystation II desktop accelerator comes in a finished package as a plug-in accelerator external to the workstation. Skystation II can be used as a development station for deployable VME-based products, or as a desktop solution paired with the workstation.
The Skychannel Packet Bus transfers data at 320Mb/sec between processors, bulk memory and I/O. Using two Sky Shamrock II multiprocessor daughtercards, each with four i860 compute processors, Skystation II delivers 640 Mflops of compute power. Two built-in Skyburst parallel I/O interfaces provide light speed I/O at up to 80Mb/sec concurrent with processing.
Asta Inc. announced the availability of TCMON and TBGEN, two new software analysis and test systems for designing programs written in the Ada programming language.
TCMON and TBGEN are used to identify performance bottlenecks, test coverage and automatically test Ada programs.
TCMON is used to measure test coverage and identify performance bottlenecks in Ada programs. It conducts an assessment of the program being analyzed including Ada constructs, generics and tasking.
TBGEN is used to automate unit and integration testing for Ada programs including generating a test environment, executing tests and recording results. TBGEN reads specification files of Ada programs to generate a test environment including test drivers and stubs.
This software goes beyond the basics of conducting an automated orderly shutdown when power fails; it now provides remote monitoring over simple network management protocol (all in software, with no additional hardware required), enhanced display features and direct configuration communications with the UPS. CheckUPS II for HP-UX and SCO Unix is available now. CheckUPS II packages for RS/6000 and SunOS are beiong developed now for release by summer.
CheckUPS II works over an available RS-232 port connection to a Best Power Fortress, FerrUPS or Unity/I UPS. It periodically monitors, reports and logs the UPS status, power status and power anomalies. A realtime UPS data display is available from any terminal session. UPS parameter monitoring and reconfiguration is also available this way.
Storage Concepts Inc. has introduced 40-Gb system that provides 20-Mb/sec. storage and retrieval performance.
By using its secondary 16-bit Differential Fast Bus (DFB), data transfers over 20-Mb/sec. are sustained.
The Concept 812-SW is a rack-mount package and requires 5.25-inches in a standard Retma rack. The Concept 812-SW is also available in other OEM and VAR configurations for unique system designs.
ADIC's new DS9200 and DS9400 single tape systems are built around the Digital Linear Tape (DLT) technology from Quantum Corp and have capacities of up to 40Gb per tape and transfer rates of up to 180Mb/min.
The DS9000 series of products was designed in response to customer demands for desktop tape storage solutions that could keep pace with the ever-increasing levels of network data and the limited time available for system backup.
The DS9200 provides native capacity of up to 10Gb/cartridge, while the DS9400 is based on the new 20-Gb DLT drives and Atomm media technology. Onboard data compression doubles the capacity of the DS9200 and DS9400 to 20Gb and 40Gb. As a customer's storage requirements increase, a second DS unit can be daisy-chained to the scsi connector for an upgrade.
With compression mode enabled, the DS9200 can back up and restore data at a sustained rate of 150Mb/ min.; the DS9400 increases that speed to 180Mb/min.
The drives carry a mean time between failure rating of 80,000 hours at 100 percent duty cycle. The CompacTape III DLT tape cartridge is rated at 500,000 start/stop passes and approximately 10,000 uses per cartridge. A multilevel error detection and correction scheme produces data integrity of less than one error in 10(17) bits of data.
Andataco announced the availability of GigaRAID FT fault tolerant disk arrays for business-critical and mission-critical Unix applications.
The high-performance GigaRAID family adds new features, including support for redundant active RAID controllers. Other features include up to 64Mb of mirrored, battery-backed, write-cache memory faster user response time and global sparing.
In addition, Andataco supports automatic failover at the application level, at the server level and at the RAID controller level.
GigaRAID/FT provides the fault tolerance needed in environments that process a high volume of transactions consisting of critical data. GigaRAID/FT extends the model for Unix fault tolerance beyond redundant power supplies and hot swapping drives.
Olympus Image Systems Inc. announced an enhancement to the Deltis family of non-impact network printers. Known as the PagePlex 18 Plus, this high-volume printer offers 600 x 600 resolution. Designed for multiuser workgroup environments, the PagePlex 18 Plus produces 18 ppm and offers superior paper handling capabilities.
The PagePlex 18 Plus uses a fixed, self-cleaning print drum that comes standard with a disposable, user-replaceable toner/drum cartridge. Using embedded ceramic particles, the toner continuously cleans, polishes and reconditions the print drum while providing high-quality output.
Featuring LED-based image enhancement technology, the new 600 x 600 dpi resolution results in sharp, clean output. In addition, the PagePlex 18 Plus can produce sophisticated text and graphics, as well as 42 different types of bar codes including Postnet for various direct-mail applications.
With its high-speed bi-directional parallel port and 25-MHz processor, the PagePlex 18 Plus delivers fast first page output. The 45 scalable and 79 bit-mapped built-in fonts offer flexibility and compatibility to create enhanced documentation. The PagePlex 18 Plus also has 2Mb of RAM expandable to 66Mb; HP LaserJet PCL 5e, HP-GL/2, Diablo 630, IBM Proprinter, Epson LQ 850 and Line Printer emulations; and Centronics parallel/RS-232 serial interfaces.
A PostScript-compatible interpreter providing 47 outline fonts is available as an option. Network operating system connectivity options include Novell NetWare, AppleTalk, Banyan Vines, DEC LAT, TCP/IP and DLC/LLC.
For paper handling, the PagePlex 18 Plus printer has a standard multipurpose cassette which holds 250 sheets of letter, legal, A5 or A4 paper. Two 500-sheet feeders provide a total input capacity of 1,250 sheets. Standard output is a 250-sheet face-down tray and a 250-sheet face-up tray.
Quantum Corp. announced the Quantum Empire II (5,400 RPM) and Quantum Atlas II (7,200 RPM) 3.5-inch drive families.
Both families include 10-disk, 9.1-Gb drives and one-inch-high 4.3-Gb and 2.1-Gb drives. These drives incorporate advanced technologies required to meet the expanding storage needs of disk-intensive applications, including those that are fueling the information revolution.
The Quantum Empire II series, designed for the midrange market, combines the areal density and performance benefits of a Partial Response Maximum Likelihood (PRML) read channel and magnetoresistive (MR) heads.
The Quantum Atlas II series for high-end systems takes advantage of the company's extensive ASIC and firmware design capabilities to provide industry-leading random and sequential performance. The Quantum Atlas II drives incorporate MR heads and the industry's highest performance interfaces: Ultra SCSI and the new Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL) interface.
The technology-rich Quantum Empire II and Quantum Atlas II drives match performance to the requirements of their respective target segments within the high-capacity, high-performance marketplace.
The company's third-generation PRML read channel provides fast internal data rates of 90 Mbit/sec. The single-chip PRML channel draws less power and has a lower cost structure than Quantum's previous two-chip implementations.
The Quantum Atlas II drives deliver reliability for the mission-critical data managed by high-end servers (video, database, super), high-end RAID subsystems, technical workstations and other multiuser systems. The drives offer the lowest seek times in the industry -- fewer than 7.9 (ms) -- and one of the fastest read channels operating at 110 Mbit/sec.
Andataco announced a new tape technology called Rapid Tape.
Andataco's Redundant Array of Parallel Independent Device (RAPID) technology provides up to four times the capacity and data transfer rate of a single tape drive. A new product line called Rapid-Tape Arrays incorporates this new technology and supports multiple tape technologies including 4mm, 8mm and DLT arrays for Unix workstations and servers.
Rapid-Tape Arrays include up to five tape drives and an Andataco tape array controller packaged in desktop, deskside or rackmount enclosures. Arrays appear to a host or network as a single tape drive. Rapid-Tape DLT features capacities of up to 80Gb and a sustained data transfer rate of up to 10Mb/sec.
Up to five parallel array channels provide the parallelism behind the high data throughput. Andataco's tape array controller also lets the Rapid-Tape Array mirror data to as many as five drives simultaneously, cascade data to a single logical volume consisting of five drives, or pass-thru data to individual drives within the array.
A data exchange port allows conversion of striped or striped array data to standard single tape format and vice versa so that data may be exchanged with traditional tape backup systems. Offline operations may be initiated from the front panel or via scsi commands from the host.
Rapid-Tape is available in 3 models: The Model 4000 DDS2 4mm Tape Array, Model 8000 8mm Tape Array and Model 6000 DLT Tape Array.
Rapid-Tape systems support wide cross-platform compatibility without device drivers. A scsi-1 and scsi-2 compliant (wide/narrow) interface provides plug compatibility with a wide range of Unix servers and workstations from Sun, HP, IBM and SGI.
Legent Corp. unveiled a new family of storage management products called Reliance/XP. The family provides corporations with storage technology for distributed, networked environments.
Reliance/XP integrates and automates aspects of storage management, such as data management and placement, backup, recovery and archiving for Unix, PC-based and legacy environments.
The two new Reliance/XP products include Reliance/XP - Open Storage Manager (OSM) and Reliance/XP - Network Backup & Restore (NBR).
Reliance/XP - OSM is an HSM product designed to eliminate unplanned downtime caused by overloaded server and workstation disk drives. OSM frees up server disk space and automates storage in distributed computing environments.
NBR allows companies to control backup procedures, for an entire enterprise, from a central workstation.
Solsource Computers RemotPoint software now enables the GyroPoint free-space, cordless pointing device to operate with Sun workstations, the Tadpole Sparcbook and Sparc compatibles. Using GyroPoint with Unix workstations enables users to manage their computer applications and projected computer presentations from anywhere in the room.
Storage Technology Corp. announced the TimberLine 9490 Cartridge Subsystem, a 36-track tape subsystem.
The TimberLine subsystem allows for simultaneous reads and writes with all controller transport units (CTUs).
The subsystem uses 17Mb/sec native ESCON fiber-optic channel technology. Support for the 20Mb/sec scsi-2 Fast/Wide channel is targeted for mid-1995.
Bullseye Software has announced C-Cover Version 3.0, branch coverage analyzer for C and C++. C-Cover identifies untested control structures, functions, C++ classes, source files and sub-systems. This tool measures true branch coverage.
A new feature allows forcing execution flow through specified branches. This allows testing error conditions that are otherwise too difficult to reproduce. C-Cover can analyze multithreaded code, dynamic link libraries, device drivers and system-level code. C-Cover is designed to analyze very large projects and includes a capability for sorting, filtering and summarizing large amounts of coverage information. C++ is fully supported, including inline functions, templates and exception handling. Runtime source and utility programs are included.
UniPress Software Inc. and K2 Software Developments Limited announce the availability of George, an automatic documentation tool for software engineers developing in C and C++.
George provides creation of internals documentation from users' source code into FrameMaker, Interleaf and other common desktop publishing formats. Documents created by George are hypertext integrated, allowing direct online access to documentation and source code with navigation across the code base. George's output can be supplemented by user text, graphic and table information. In addition, George merges prior user additions into new documents, reporting any differences or problems to the user.
George is available on Sun computers running SunOS and Solaris.
Visual Edge Software Ltd. announced UIM/X 2.9, an update to the company's GUI builder.
A new feature of UIM/X 2.9 is Novice Mode, which provides UIM/X users with a seamless growth path from first prototype to production-quality user interface. Using Novice Mode, both non-programmers and new UIM/X users can build Motif interfaces with almost no learning curve.
UIM/X 2.9 includes enhancements in the area of C++ development capabilities. It provides a visual metaphor for creating reusable interface classes in either C or C++, with a mechanism for building class hierarchies with multiple inheritance, encapsulation and polymorphism.
UIM/X 2.9 provides new techniques to enable the integration of external C++ object files and C or C++ libraries into UIM/X, as well as new options for code generation that enable developers to use generated C++ classes with existing C language programs.
Leading Market Technologies (LMT) announced the realtime programming language XPL. XPL is a high-level, workspace-oriented language for quantitative analysis of market data and the construction of advanced decision support applications. XPL can operate on a standalone basis, or be used to build add-ins to an EXPO worksheet.
With XPL, users can perform high-level computational operations on time series data, matrices and arrays using a C-like language syntax. The XPL language workspace manages numerical data at a high level as unlimited-length virtual arrays. XPL operates on these data with complete sensitivity toward their respective time dimension, time span, units (eg. Dollars vs. Deutsche Marks) and conformability to other data.
With XPL, users can declare or "activate" any number of realtime, time-series or scalar variables in their XPL workspace, such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average, for example. From then on, DOW is available to XPL as a continuously growing series of values. Any number of these realtime variables can be turned on within XPL.
XPL supports a feature called "hot variable," which are "dependent" variables that are recalculated every time a data item on which they depend changes. Hot variables can be arrays, time series, matrices or scalars.
XPL handles most variable types, including: integer, string, real, series, complex and array. XPL also supports both global and local variables.
Excalibur Technologies Corp. announced Excalibur EFS 3.6 client-server document management and retrieval software. Based on Excalibur's Adaptive Pattern Recognition Processing, Excalibur EFS 3.6 is designed for users who need to manage large volumes of both computer-generated and paper-based office documents, as well for the company's existing installed base of large, imaging-oriented applications.
Excalibur EFS 3.6 can retrieve and display information created in more than 125 word-processing, spreadsheet, database, graphic and compound document formats found on Unix, DOS, Windows and Macintosh computers.
Excalibur EFS 3.6 will ship with a customized module that will provide a connection to Kofax's new Ascent Capture product. Ascent Capture is a production-level document capture application that integrates high-performance batch scanning, image processing, OCR and document indexing into a single package.
New functionality like color image support, tighter database integration and annotation has all been added to Excalibur EFS 3.6 via the application programmer interface (API). The new API allows users to view multipage color documents onscreen.
Excalibur EFS 3.6 supports Digital Unix (DEC OSF/1) and Sun Solaris 2.4, as well as Sparcstations.
DBStar Inc. announced the availability of the DBStar Migration Architect V3 Release 3.5, the newest version of its automated data tool engineering toolset.
New features include a four-fold increase in automated inference speed, the key function of the toolset that automates the recovery of the business rules for data from any legacy system.
Knowledge of this set of business rules is necessary to convert any set of heterogeneous databases into a reliable relational data model or database design that preserves the data integrity previously maintained by program mechanisms in the legacy system.
DBStar Migration Architect can be used for consolidating diverse databases into a relational database; migrating a legacy application or system to client-server; and designing a reliable, maintainable data warehouse of any size or scale.
Other new features include improvements to the advanced GUI, SQL and log browsing facilities, and a CDIF export facility that links the DBStar Migration Architect V3 with CASE Entity-relationship Diagramming (ERD) tools supporting the CDIF standard.
The DBStar Migration Architect V3 runs on Sun Microsystems' workstations and servers supporting Sun OS or Solaris 2.x.
Frame Technology Corp. has announced FrameMaker+SGML, an integrated authoring tool that allows users to create, edit and publish structured and SGML documents in a WYSIWYG environment.
FrameMaker+SGML includes page composition, text editing, graphics, interactive structure validation, and SGML support. It also includes support for native SGML, including arbitrary document type definitions; support for structured table handling, including CALS and content-tagged table import and export; direct support for SGML attributes, consistent with the ISO 8879 standard; hierarchical style definition, allowing document elements to inherit styles or formatting information from their ancestors; automatic generation of ID attributes when referencing from one element to another; and support for ISO public entity sets.
Cosmic's graphics oriented GO program provides an interactive, graphical interface for producing input to HARP (Hybrid Automated Reliability Predictor). With GO, a user can interactively describe a reliability system in two notations, directly as a Markov chain and indirectly as a fault tree.
In addition to aiding in the verification of the reliability model, GO provides reliability engineers with a readily understandable format for presenting complex model information to company management, regulatory agencies and company customers. GO is written in C-language for Sun4 computers.
Cosmic's hybrid automated reliability predictor (HARP), Version 7.0, provides a general Markov modeling capability to model and predict the reliability/availability of a wide variety of systems.
The fault tree is not limited to the traditional combinatorial modeling approach. The addition of four special fault tree gates, called sequence dependency gates, allows the generation of dynamic fault tree models that were not practically solvable using analytic solution techniques until now.
HARP will also accept system reliability/availability models expressed directly in the form of a Markov model. It is written in ANSI Fortran 77 for Sun4 computers.
Cosmic's hybrid automated reliability predictor output (HARPO) graphics display interactively plots HARP (Hybrid Automated Reliability Predictor) output data, and supplies design engineers with a tool for displaying alternate model data for trade-off analyses.
HARPO provides a set of interactive prompts and menus in a graphical display environment. The following types of analyses can be made: Unreliability vs. Mission Time, Probability of Failure Bounds, Worst/Best-Case Bounds, Summation of State Probabilities and Sensitivity of Systems Failure. The HARPO graphics display is written in ANSI Fortran 77 for Sun4 computers.
Cosmic released Polmap, which classifies multifrequency, polarimetric syntheticaperture radar (SAR) data into homogeneous classes of radar backscatter.
It accepts SAR data acquired by the NASA/JPL Airsar aircraft SAR polarimetric instrument, in compressed format. Polmap is a Bayesian classifier, which means that the optimal classification is the one that maximizes the a-posteriori probability of the image classes given the radar observations. It is written in FORTRAN 77 for Sun 4 series computers.
Legent Corp. released a hierarchical storage management (HSM) product for Sun, Hewlett-Packard and IBM. Reliance/XP -- Open Storage Manager (OSM) extends the capacity of existing network disk file system resources and eliminates productivity losses due to disk out-of-space conditions, the vendor said.
Legent's OSM helps contain companies' growth by identifying files holding inactive data and migrating them from expensive disk devices to more economical optical disk and magnetic tape volumes. The software works with standard Unix file systems, even those already 100 percent full, and perpetuates the native format within the network storage repository.
The OSM technology applies a rules-based discipline to the management of file system utilization. Files are selected based on the date they were last accessed and their size. Typically, the oldest and largest files migrate first, and are replaced by a stub containing the original file inode and one data block. Stub files are typically 1K in length, depending upon the block size of the client system platform.
Reliance/XP -- OSM currently supports Sun and HP (700's) and has support for IBM's RS/6000 planned for Q3 1995. Legent's OSM will also support Ampex devices, which are targeted at the high-end storage market.
Cosmic has released IPAC Skyview 2.0, an interactive astronomical image display and analysis program which includes a large set of display, analysis and manipulation functions for images including zoom, pan, stretch, frame, mark and examine. "Man" pages with function descriptions and usage examples are included.
Skyview can be used interactively or in the "server" mode, in which a program calls Skyview and executes the command itself. It is written in C-language for Sun4 computers.
CrossCheck Technology introduced VeriCurrent, an IDDQ test development software solution that is compatible with Cadence Design Systems' Verifault-XL.
The product represents an extension to the test automation alliance between the two companies.
VeriCurrent is used in conjunction with the IDDQ quiescent supply current test methodology to increase the detection of defective circuits during manufacturing. By monitoring the power supply of a circuit directly, IDDQ detects manufacturing defects such as transistor-level shorts and metal bridging.
VeriCurrent uses a proprietary selection technique to select and grade a subset of the existing vectors for fault coverage. The vector selection process not only minimizes test time, it does so while avoiding operational conditions that might otherwise cause excessive IDDQ leakage, such as floating or conflicting buses, thereby eliminating false "fault" conditions. Thus, VeriCurrent saves the designer from accidentally rejecting good devices as it selects appropriate vectors to measure the true current level of a device.
VeriCurrent is available on Sun SPARC and Hewlett-Packard HP9000 Series 700 platforms.
Falcon Systems Inc. is now shipping the hyperSparc, the logical upgrade path for Sparcstation 10, Sparcstation 20 and Sparcserver 600MP users.
Users can upgrade their systems to a maximum performance with a quad-CPU configuration or opt for a dual or single CPU configuration. The modules mount to the motherboard through an Mbus connector and do not require the user to sacrifice additional Sbus slots. Falcon's hyperSparc upgrades preserves system investment--only the Mbus module is replaced. The chassis, memory, disk and other peripherals remain intact.
Falcon's CPU upgrades are supported by SunSoft, run under Solaris 1.1 (SunOS 4.1.3), Solaris 2.3 and Solaris 2.4 and are fully compatible with existing Sparc software.
Each Falcon upgrade kit includes the hyperSparc CPU module, extract-unbundle CD-ROM, upgraded open boot PROM(s), ESD kit and an installation guide. The CPU operating frequency is 90MHz.