tcp-ip@ucbvax.ARPA (06/18/85)
From: Tom Perrine <tom@LOGICON.ARPA>
About a week ago I asked about a TCP/IP for System V being offered by a
company called Uniq. Here are the responses I received:
<<<<11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111>>>>
Date: 11 Jun 1985 17:29:02 EDT
From: INCO@USC-ISID.ARPA
Subject: TCP/IP for Version 5
To: tom@LOGICON.ARPA
The only other thing I heard about that project was that it was
supposed to support the original version of DoD HFP created for the
WWMCCS project some time ago, and that it had a series of specialized
performance and timing tools, although no specifics were given to
me. I would be interested in finding out any more that you
discover on it, since I am working on an R&D on that very subject.
Thanks.
Steve Sutkowski
Inco at Usc-Isid
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Date: Wed, 12 Jun 85 21:06:30 edt
From: bellcore!sabre!martin@Berkeley (Martin J Levy)
To: tom@logicon.ARPA
Subject: re : passage
look at excelans stuff, i think it's faster.
we have that up on 2 5.0 vaxen.
martin
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Date: Thu, 13 Jun 85 7:27:09 CDT
From: Linda Crosby <lcrosby@ALMSA-1>
To: Tom Perrine <tom@logicon.arpa>
cc: JGregory@ALMSA-1
Subject: Re: Passage TCP/IP for UNIX Sys V
Tom,
1. We are in process of procuring PASSAGE to be used on our VAXEN
with AT&T UNIX System V. I have passed a copy of your message to
our team member who has the most knowledge of PASSAGE, Jim Gregory.
He should be contacting you in a few days.
2. Also, you should contact Grace Avallone (GAVALLON@CECOM-2). The
CECOM-2 machine is using System V with PASSAGE.
Linda J. Crosby
Technical Liaison
ALMSA
(LCROSBY@ALMSA-1)
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Date: Fri, 14 Jun 85 10:09:07 CDT
From: James Gregory <jgregory@ALMSA-1>
To: tom@logicon.arpa
cc: lcrosby@ALMSA-1
Subject: Passage TCP/IP for UNIX Sys V
Tom,
We have been aware of the UNIQ effort for quite some time now. Our contact
at the Army Communications Electronics Command, Grace Avallone (Avallone@
CECOM-1.ARPA), informed us about the middle of May that they are successfully
using PASSAGE on their system. (I believe it's a VAX 11/780.) The UNIQ
implementation, as I recall, was based on a version that was produced under
government contract. UNIQ modified it to run on VAXen.
UNIQ corporation conducts business a little different than I'm used to. In
the fall of 1984, PASSAGE was a $3,000 package, in May, the cost was $15,000.
In the fall of 1984,
maintenance was $30 a month per copy of PASSAGE, now it's $5,400
for one year of maintenance for two copies. Source
is no longer provided thereby creating dependency on a vendor that, if
my sources are correct, has a very volatile pricing strategy. (It will be
interesting to see what their maintenance costs will be if and when we
renew it.) At any rate, compared to the TCP/IP which is an integral part of
the BSD 4.2 system which is available for licensed users for a distribution
cost only (about $1000), UNIQ's software does not appear to be any kind of
bargain. If you MUST run TCP/IP on a UNIX V VAX, however, it seems to
be the only act in town - at the moment.
I'm not sure how reliable this information is today, it's based on
information I received elsewhere within the Army within the last two weeks
(following their discussion with the vendor). Suffice it to say that you
would be wise to consider the business ethics of the company before doing
business with them. (Incidentally; Yes, it looks like we'll be buying in -
but, I'm not very happy about it.)
Jim Gregory
Project Leader
Data Communication Systems Division
Directorate for ADP Technology
US Army AMC ALMSA
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Thanks to all who replied. If anyone has any other information, please
feel free to send it along.
Tom Perrine
Logicon - Operating Systems Divivison
Sand Diego CA
(619) 455-1330 ext. 726tcp-ip@ucbvax.ARPA (06/19/85)
From: ulysses!bentley!mmj@BERKELEY (M Jacob) The Wollongong's TCP/IP works for System V release 2 or later.
tcp-ip@ucbvax.ARPA (06/22/85)
From: mark@cbosgd.ATT.UUCP (Mark Horton) It is certainly not true that UNIQ is the only game in town for TCP/IP for a System V VAX. Here are some others: Excelan: we tried their product and gave up in disgust. The guy who wrote it tells me it will only run on a VAX 750; I can vouch that it does NOT work adequately on a 785. It came up far enough to show that the list of obvious bugs that should have been caught immediately is quite long. Cost: $5000 for the software, plus you have to buy their board. (TCP/IP runs on an 80186 in the board, which offloads the host but creates a bottleneck communicating with the host via the Unibus, and makes a gateway impossible.) The code is based on Berkeley 4.1aBSD, which is not very close to 4.2. The Wollongong Group: we wound up being an unintentional beta test site. Their stuff works (although installation is nontrivial) and has a few rough edges. They tell me the final product (which we don't have yet) cleans up these problems. Cost: an outrageous $15,000 for the first machine and $6,000 for each additional machine at the same geographic site. (This is probably why Uniq raised their prices suddenly.) The code is based on Berkeley 4.2 and seems pretty compatible. rwho even works, complete with a load average! CMC: I don't know much about them, as I have never met a customer. Their boards are like Excelan's but use a 68K on the board. Price is about $4,000 for hardware and software combined. Excelan sounded this good a year ago, however, so caution is advised. 3Com: we have their UNET code ported to System V in AT&T, it runs on Vaxen as well as various 3B's. 3Com has discontinued this product and the AT&T port is not available on the outside (and probably never will be, it works but Berkeley's is much better) so you can't get it.