Newsgroups: biz.digital.articles Path: bga.com!news.sprintlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!decwrl!pa.dec.com!rjones From: Customer-Update@Digital.com (Customer Update) Message-ID: <9411031625.AA23424@raptor.pa.dec.com> Approved: rjones@pa.dec.com Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation Subject: Next Generation of AlphaStation and AlphaServer Systems Sender: rjones@usenet.pa.dec.com Date: Thu, 03 Nov 94 08:25:22 -0800 X-Received: by usenet.pa.dec.com; id AA08494; Thu, 3 Nov 94 08:25:24 -0800 X-Received: by raptor.pa.dec.com; id AA23424; Thu, 3 Nov 94 08:25:23 -0800 X-To: biz.digital.articles.usenet Lines: 131 Next Generation of AlphaStation and AlphaServer Systems HIGHLIGHTS o First AlphaStation family members announced o Five new AlphaServer systems announced o Large system features and small system advantages ANNOUNCEMENT OVERVIEW Digital's new AlphaStation and AlphaServer product family are exciting, market driven, breakthrough products that incorporate not only leadership hardware functionality but supporting leadership business practices. Digital's new AlphaStation and AlphaServer products deliver both large system features such as performance, expandability, and high-quality service and small system advantages such as exceptional price/performance, three-year hardware warranties, and open low cost PCI, EISA, or ISA I/O. The new common I/O bus implementation on AlphaStation and AlphaServer systems, along with the ability to run DEC OSF/1 (UNIX), OpenVMS, or Windows NT software, means that you can look forward to unprecedented levels of investment protection and value as Digital continues to lead the industry in true open systems. No other vendor in the industry offers a product line with the unique market-driven and leadership functionality of Alpha technology. AlphaStation and AlphaServer systems represent true next generation computing. The systems in this announcement are breakthrough systems in terms of low initial acquisition costs, low support costs, and low upgrade costs. To do this Digital engineering combined the best Alpha processor technology with open low cost PC design features. The September 21164 microprocessor announcement is a clear sign that Digital has a sustainable performance advantage in processor technology. Workstation and Server Families Get New Names With this announcement Digital introduces workstation products that are optimized for complex technical applications and commercial desktop environments. The optimized server family has been engineered to support large numbers of users, high availability, I/O connectivity, and aggregate I/O bandwidth. In support of increased market focus on the workstation and server markets, the new product family names beginning with this announcement are AlphaStation for workstations and AlphaServer for servers. You may ask what's in a name? The chart below provides the explanation. AlphaSxxxxxx XXXX x/xxx | | | | | | | | Family Name | | Approximate Chip Speed | | Enclosure | | Chip Generation BENEFITS o Best in class price/performance. o Common I/O across entire product line -- access to third-party options. o Ideal platforms for migrating to Alpha platform. o Three-year warranty reduces cost of ownership. o The industry's most comprehensive Windows NT product line. PRODUCT POSITIONING Three new members of the 64-bit AlphaStation family are being announced: o AlphaStation 200 4/166 desktop model. o AlphaStation 200 4/233 desktop model. o AlphaStation 400 4/233 pedestal system. The new AlphaStation systems offer the best price/performance for workstations in the $10,000 and $15,000 price range. The new AlphaStation systems also offer industry leading PCI I/O along with a breakthrough three-year hardware warranty. The AlphaStation 200 systems offer a 15 to 20 percent performance increase over the DEC 3000 Model 300X and the DECpc AXP 150 systems. The AlphaStation 400 system is offered for those users that require performance and expandability in a workstation. The majority of the new AlphaServer product family is SMP capable. The new members of the AlphaServer family being announced are: o AlphaServer 1000 4/200 and the 2000 4/200 workgroup and small business servers. o AlphaServer 2100 4/275 and 2100 4/275 CAB departmental servers and the DEC 7000 Model 700 enterprise server. o The current 2100 Server Model A500MP is being renamed to the AlphaServer 2100 4/200. The new AlphaServer systems offer breakthrough server features, performance, and business practices. All AlphaServer systems except the DEC 7000 system are offered with a three-year hardware warranty. No other server family on the market has the performance, the consistent price/performance, the warranty, the openness, the expandability, and packaging features of the AlphaServer family. The AlphaServer 1000 and 2000 systems replace the DEC 2000 Model 300 and 500 and the DEC 3000 Model 600 systems. The AlphaServer 2100 systems replace the DEC 4000 system and the DEC 7000 Model 700 replaces the DEC 7000 Model 600 through a straightforward board upgrade. MORE PURCHASING OPTIONS Digital's rollout of its new AlphaStation and AlphaServer systems coincides with the company's efforts to sell more products through its business partners. The plan to increas indirect sales of Digital's products will provide a broader choice of purchasing options. Digital is working closely with its partners to ensure that, if you want to purchase a Digital product you can do so easily and codt-effectively regardless of where you buy it. You will receive the best that both Digital and its partners have to offer. To encourage growth of indirect sales of Digital products, the company is taking steps to make it more attractive for organizations to conduct business with partners and for the partners to sell Digital products. Digital is focusing on ensuring customer satisfaction for organizations planning to or already working with business partners while enhancing support for the partners themselves. __________ HP is a registered trademark of Hewlett-Packard Company. SPARC is a registered trademark of Sparc International, Inc. Sun is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines, Inc. COMPAQ is a registered trademark of Compaq Computer Corporation.