Douglas@Yale@sri-unix (10/27/82)
From: Craig Douglas <Douglas@Yale> -------------- Wed 20 Oct 16:43 DAVID.LEWIN From: DAVID.LEWIN <LEWIN at CMU-20C> Subject: Technical details of personal computing plans This is the technical backgrounder issued at the press ocnference on the IBM-CMU personal computing agreement. The probable transition machine is IBM Instruments Division's CS9000 workstation. Carnegie-Mellon University's Personal Computing Environment The personal computing environment at Carnegie-Mellon University will be implemented in two stages, a two-year transition phase introducing personal workstations into the CMU computing environment, and an advanced phase, introducing a distributed computing environment. To get experience in working with personal workstations, a substantial number of existing machines will be brought into the Carnegie-Mellon computing environment over the next two years. These transition machines will be linked to the current computing facilities. Currently under evaluation as the transition machine is a workstation with a 16-bit (Motorola 68000) processor and a bit-mapped graphic display, manufactured by the IBM Instruments Division. Initially, over a hundred transition machines are expected to be available on campus in the fall of 1983, growing to several hundred in following years. Software, including an editor and text processing facilities, will be developed at the Carnegie-Mellon Computation Center to function in an environment based on the UNIXtm operating system. It is expected that FORTRAN, Pascal and the C programming languages will be supported. While the transition system is implemented and evaluated, work will be in progress within the joint CMU-IBM Information Technology Center on software for the second phase of the university's personal computing plan. During the transition period, IBM will work on networking and advanced workstations. Carnegie-Mellon's objective is to begin deploying the computing environment resulting from integrating all these elements, including a new operating system environment for distributed personal computing, in late 1985. The workstations will have a 32-bit processor with virtual memory capable of executing 0.5-1 million instructions per second (MIPS), from 500,000 to 1 millions bytes of random access memory, a high-resolution bit-mapped graphics display, and a graphics tablet and keyboard input. Both an on-board disc memory and color display will be options. Rather than using built-in disc storage, clusters of 50 to 100 workstations will share a file server through a local area network; the clusters will be linked together--and to the university's mainframe computers--through a backbone network. Users will be able to access files from any workstation in the network. ------- Wed 20 Oct 16:42 DAVID.LEWIN From: DAVID.LEWIN <LEWIN at CMU-20C> Subject: IBM-CMU Agreement news release Here is the text of the news release on the personal computing environment agreement. Contact: Don Hale For release: 1 p.m., Wednesday, Carnegie-Mellon and IBM Sign Joint Development Contract PITTSBURGH--A prototype distributive computing project designed to give every student at Carnegie-Mellon University direct personal access to the full information resources of the university will be developed jointly by CMU and International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). Dr. Richard M. Cyert, president of Carnegie-Mellon, said the goal of the three-year agreement signed today is to lay the technological foundation, in equipment and programming, for powerful computer workstations and communications services to be available to students and faculty, whether at home in an office or in a laboratory. The development effort will build on existing software research done by the CMU Department of Computer Science. By 1986, several thousand personal workstations for the university's staff, faculty and 5,500 students will be in place, CMU officials predict. "The comprehensive computing environment planned by the university differs greatly from the traditional way computer facilities have been used in higher education," Dr. Cyert said. "For example, in 1991, we expect to have about 7,500 personal workstations, each with its own powerful computer and graphics display, all interconnected through a high-speed local area network. In addition to communications between every workstation, there will be a unified data file system and a central computing facility available to all workstations. "Our objective is to extend this computing system and supporting network for faculty and students beyond the CMU campus to the greater Pittsburgh area through cable television or telephone lines," he said. The agreement with IBM, which involves a commitment through a three-year development phase, calls for the establishment of an Information Technology Center (ITC) at the university. It will be staffed by both IBM and CMU personnel. The agreement also expresses the intent of IBM to continue its support through 1987, based on progress of the project. IBM will provide funds and equipment for the ITC. IBM and CMU personnel will work together at the center to develop the programming for the prototype computing environment. "Carnegie-Mellon is aware that it now costs more than $10,000 annually for someone to attend college," Dr. Cyert said. "We want to provide students with a competitive edge, and this is the next step in meeting the challenges of the future. "The university remains committed to a financial aid policy that makes it possible for any qualified student to attend the university." "Carnegie-Mellon is an appropriate campus for this prototype computing environment because it is a leader in computer science and technological innovation," said Dr. Lewis Branscomb, IBM vice president and chief scientist. "The university is large enough to test this concept in all disciplines, yet small enough to make the test economically feasible." The agreement with IBM provides for the establishment of a consortium of universities, with each university designating a person as primary liaison with the CMU-IBM project. Regular meetings of these designated individuals will be held and, as elements of the integrated computing environment become operational, they may be made available to members of the consortium. -------