gnu (04/20/83)
People have been asking for a description of Sun's products here on the
Usenet. This week we announced 4.2bsd. (While most people on WorkS probably
knew we were working on it, it was never before a real, orderable product.)
This is the cover letter from the announcement -- it is not a technical spec.
If I don't get many complains about this kind of "commercial stuff" being on
the Usenet (and gatewayed to Arpanet), I'll follow this message with more
technical info.
John Gilmore, Sun Microsystems
April 15 marks a major milestone in the development of the Sun Microsystems
product line. Today, in response to requests from our customers and as the
result of our continued engineering progress, Sun is introducing several signi-
ficant additions to our product offering as well as several new configurations
of existing products. Among these are:
* Workstations equipped with 4.2bsd UNIX
* Network communications and diskless operation
* Additional languages as standard equipment
* Larger, high performance disk subsystems
* Smaller, less expensive disk subsystems
* Comprehensive hardware and software support agreements
Until now, Sun Workstations were ordered with Version 7 UNIX. Each had to
be a complete stand-alone system. Each required a local disk and tape subsystem
for operation. 4.2bsd UNIX integrates Ethernet local area networking into the
operating system kernel, providing both high-speed communication among stand-
alone workstations and high-performance remote disk access for workstations
without local mass storage.
Customers may now order a network of Sun Workstations, mixing diskless
nodes with fileserver nodes supporting peripherals. A desktop Model 100 works-
tation is now the standard diskless workstation. For the greatest configuration
flexibility and expandability, a rack-mountable Model 150 workstation is the
standard fileserver on a network. The Model 150 is a complete Sun Workstation,
with high-resolution graphic display, keyboard, and mouse. It provides ample
space, power, and access for customers to add boards of their own to a system.
But, recognizing that a user may not want to sit next to peripheral fans and
motors (one of the original motivations for developing diskless capability), and
to make the option of a dedicated fileserver more attractive, Sun now offers an
option to delete the bitmapped display, keyboard, and mouse from the rack-
mountable Model 150U, for a substantial credit.
The Model 100 (desktop) and Model 150 (rack-mountable) Sun Workstations
have been replaced by the Model 100U and Model 150U. These new models are phy-
sically nearly identical to the previous ones, but the standard Model 100U and
Model 150U bundle in the 68010 processor, optical mouse, and 4.2bsd UNIX, which
were formerly purchased through a separate upgrade. An Ethernet local area net-
work interface is now an option to both workstations. And to make more confi-
gurations supportable, the power consumption of the Sun color display controller
has been reduced.
Fortran 77 and Pascal compilers are now part of the standard software dis-
tribution, along with C and assembler. These were additional cost items under
Version 7 UNIX but are included with 4.2bsd at no additional cost. (The 4.2bsd
language compilers are not the same compilers that were offered under Version 7
UNIX, and may require limited conversion effort. Among other changes, they are
calling-sequence compatible, which allows subroutines written in different
languages to call one another, unlike the Version 7 compilers.)
Customers with multiple Sun Workstations linked to a fileserver have
expressed a need for larger capacity, more cost-effective mass storage. Sun's
first solution is a 169 MByte Winchester drive. This mass storage option is
configured expressly for fileservers with the addition of a high-performance
disk controller. The drive offers twice the capacity of our previous largest
drive at a 40% reduction in the cost per megabyte. The controller achieves up
to seven times the data transfer rate.
At the other end of the capacity spectrum, Sun is introducing several mass
storage subsystems based on a 31 MByte 5 1/4-inch Winchester disk. Priced 40%
below the price of our earlier smallest disk drive, these new subsystems offer
attractive alternatives for local disk storage on a networked workstation and
for a minimum entry-level disk/tape subsystem on a stand-alone workstation.
On a different front, today Sun is introducing the first of our support
programs. Under this plan, Sun provides factory-based hardware and software
support for a fixed monthly fee determined by the system configuration.
Hardware is supported by a diagnostic and module-swap procedure through the fac-
tory. Software support, covering operating system, networking, languages, and
other utilites, includes telephone consultation as well as a problem reporting
service and periodic new software releases.
In a related area, Sun Microsystems is steadily expanding our sales and
support organizations in order to offer the highest quality service to our cus-
tomers. In January, Sun added to our headquarters sales office in Mountain
View, California, an office in the New York area. We are pleased to announce
the April opening of our Boston office, under the direction of Mr. Shaun McCon-
non. Mr. McConnon will be responsible for local sales and technical support in
the New England region (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Rhode
Island). Within the next few months, Sun will be opening additional sales
offices across the country.
Sun's new configurations and new product offerings are explained in greater
detail in our Product Description and Configuration Overview documents. We
believe you will be pleased with our progress in continuing to offer the best
high-performance, networked, high-resolution graphics workstation on the market
today. If you have any questions about Sun Microsystems' new or existing pro-
ducts, please contact your nearest Sun sales office, by telephone or postal
mail. Our sales staff is not yet set up to deal with requests from the Usenet,
although we can arrange direct UUCP connections with customers after they
receive their workstations.
__________________________
Boston New York Mountain View
1040 Waltham Street Two Executive Drive 2550 Garcia Avenue
Lexington, MA 02173 Fort Lee, NJ 07024 Mountain View, CA 94043
617-863-8870 201-944-9755 415-960-1330