[bionet.general] Solbournes for biocomputing

davjon@ibmpcug.co.uk (David Jones) (07/05/90)

Is anyone using Solbourne servers for biocomputing applications?
We are interested in buying a Solbourne 5/602 as the central
server for a new biocomputing lab but as the machine is fairly
new to the UK, we haven't been able to find anyone else using
it for applications similar to ours. We will be using it to
serve various workstations (including Irises), and for general
protein sequence/structure analysis - alignment, database
searching, simulations, general programming, and to run
Oracle for our work on relational protein databases. The raw
performance figures look great, the multiprocessing seems
a major advantage for our work (a mix of interactive and
fairly intensive batch processing), but there could be
some specific problems that we cannot envisage.

Has anyone got any definite opinions on Solbournes in this
field? I'd be grateful for any responses (by E-mail
preferably).

P.S. I'm told there is a Solbourne mailing list - could
someone tell me how to subscribe (if there really is one!).

Many Thanks!

- David Jones -
-- 
Automatic Disclaimer:
The views expressed above are those of the author alone and may not
represent the views of the IBM PC User Group.
-- 
This message was written, produced and executively directed by David Jones
Email:  davjon@ibmpcug.CO.UK		|    JANET: d-jones@nimr.mrc.ac.uk
Path:   ...!ukc!slxsys!ibmpcug!davjon   |
Disclaimer: STANDARD > KEYWORDS : OPINIONS MY OWN NOBODY ELSE'S WHATSOEVER

kristoff@genbank.BIO.NET (David Kristofferson) (07/06/90)

The GenBank On-line Service (GOS) runs on a 4-processor Solbourne and
we have been very happy with it to date.  I'll pass your message along
to our systems programming staff for their coments on technical
issues.  The machine is used extensively for DNA and protein sequence
similarity searches and is now running the Sybase RDBMS.  Solbourne's
technical support in the U.S. has been excellent, although you should
investigate what kind of support is available in the U.K.

Disclaimer: GOS and I have no financial or other interest in Solbourne
other than being satisfied customers.
-- 
				Sincerely,

				Dave Kristofferson
				GenBank On-line Service Manager

				kristoff@genbank.bio.net