timr@sco.COM (Tim Ruckle) (06/27/91)
New York, June 25, 1991--Members of the Advanced Computing
Environment (ACE) announced today at PC EXPO that 41 additional
companies have joined the initiative, nearly tripling the
number of those originally announcing their support in April.
New members include 32 system companies, six software
vendors and three semiconductor vendors. Members of ACE
also announced that the first release of the Advanced RISC
Computing (ARC) specification has been completed.
Collectively, the new members supporting the ACE initiative
represent more than $4 billion in revenues, and over two
million desktop shipments in 1990 alone. New system vendor
members include Adaptec, Inc., Altos India, Ltd., Bruker
Analytische Messtechnik GmbH, Bull Micral of America,
Corollary, Inc., CSS Laboratories, Inc., Daewoo Telecom
Ltd., DCM Data Products, DESKSTATION Technology, Inc., Du Pont
Pixel Systems, Epson America, Inc., Gain System, Inc.,
Goldstar Co., Ltd., Heurikon Corpl, ITOS Computer GmbH,
JetFill, Inc., Justsystem Corp., Lockheed Sanders, Inc.,
Megatek Corp., Micro Computer Systems, Inc., Parallan
Computer, Inc., Porro Technologies Ltd., Reply Corp.,
Research Machines plc, Ross Systems, Samsung Electronics
Company Ltd., Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd., Set Technology
Corp., SPECS GmbH, Stereo Graphics Corp., Tatung Company of
America, Inc., and Tyan Computers Corp.
Although ACE members have yet to begin recruiting software
vendors, several have joined the initiative, including
Algorithmics Ltd., Banyan Systems, Inc., BioSym
Technologies, Inc., The CAD Group, Inc., Migration Software
Systems Ltd., and Zycad Corp. New semiconductor vendors
joining the initiative include Integrated Device Technology
Inc., LSI Logic Corp. and Performance Semiconductor Corp.
The new ACE members represent companies from Germany, Hong
Kong, India, Japan, Korea, the United Kingdom and the United
States.
The current release of the 150 page ARC specification, which
is being distributed to ACE members this week, defines the
minimum hardware standards that will ensure shrinkwrap
applications can be made available to run on all ARC
compliant systems. The complete specification is currently
confidential to ACE members, but certain features were
discussed at PC EXPO by James A. Billmaier, vice president
of software marketing at MIPS and secretary of the technical
committee that defines the specification.
ACE Membership Scope Widens
"At the request of vendors whose products complement or
support those of systems vendors, the ACE membership has
been expanded," noted Charles M. Boesenberg, president of
MIPS Computer Systems, Inc. "These vendors' products, such
as software tools and networking software, demonstrate the
breadth of industry support and involvement in ACE, and will
ultimately provide more complete computing solutions for
customers."
The ACE initiative, announced April 9, 1991, promotes a
broadly supported, standards-based, open computing
environment for a new class of advanced computing systems.
Key elements of the ACE initiative include support for two
open computer hardware platforms--the Advanced RISC
Computing (ARC) specification for MIPS (R) microprocessors
and systems based on 386, 486 and future x86-based
microprocessors--and two powerful operating systems--Microsoft(R)
OS/2(R) version 3.0 and The Santa Cruz Operation's unified UNIX(R)
environment known as Open Desktop(R).
The original 21 member companies of the initiative include
the Acer Group, Compaq Computer Corp., Control Data Corp.,
Digital Equipment Corp., Kubota Computer Inc., Microsoft
Corp., MIPS Computer Systems, Inc., NEC Corp., NKK Corp.,
Olivetti Systems & Networks, Prime Computer, Inc., Pyramid
Technology Corp., The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. (SCO),
Siemens Automation, Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme
A.G., Silicon Graphics Computer Systems, Sony Corp.,
Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd., Tandem Computers, Inc.,
Wang Laboratories, Inc., and Zenith Data Systems (a Groupe
Bull company).
Advanced RISC Computing Specification
The functionality of an ARC-compliant system calls for the
use of industry-standard components: a MIPS microprocessor,
CD-ROM and/or other media interchange, 8 MB of memory, IEEE
802.3 interfaces, Token Ring IEEE 802.5 interfaces, SCSI,
serial and parallel ports, audio-input and output, 1024 x
768.8-bit display, a mouse and a 101-key PC-style keyboard.
Addendums for the ARC specification initially spell out
support for two I/O buses, EISA and TURBOchannel(TM).
A key feature that will give ACE members the flexibility to
innovate with ARC-compliant systems is the combination of a
hardware abstraction layer and device drivers. The hardware
abstraction layer and device drivers lie between the
shrinkwrap operating systems and the ARC hardware. This
layer of software allows system vendors to add
differentiating value at the hardware level to system
products while preserving binary compatibility for
applications and operating systems. This flexibility is a
significant benefit over the computer industry's traditional
clone strategy.
Upcoming Milestones
Microsoft and SCO will meet with key software developers
this fall at developer conferences to launch software development
environments for the ARC specification. Application
software development kits are expected to be available from
Microsoft and SCO later this year. ACE developer forums
will be scheduled in conjunction with major trade shows and
conferences later this year.
The ACE timetable anticipates availability of development
systems based on MIPS' R3000(R) or R4000(TM) microprocessors
by the end of this year. ARC-compliant systems will become
commercially available in 1992. As soon as the first ARC
system ships, this release of the specification will be made
public.
ACE membership is open to all vendors who intend to build or
design hardware or software in concert with the goals and
objectives of the ACE initiative. Vendors who are
interested in joining the ACE initiative should contact
James A. Billmaier at MIPS Computer Systems, Inc., (408)
542-7028.
####
MIPS and R3000 are registered trademarks, and R4000 is a
trademark of MIPS Computer Systems, Inc. Open Desktop is a
registered trademark of the Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.
Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft
Corporation. OS/2 is a registered trademark licensed to
Microsoft Corp. UNIX is a registered trademark of UNIX
Systems Laboratories, Inc. TURBOchannel is a trademark of
Digital Equipment Corp.
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