March 1998
Week ending 27 March, 1998
- Buyers'
Needs Will Slow Rate of 64-Bit Migration
- PC Week tries to downplay expectations for Merced due to
lack of 64 bit apps, slow emulation, and slow customer
acceptance. They even provide the analogy of the VAX to
Alpha migration already done as an example as to how long
it might take to migrate to a new platform. Of course,
there's no mention of the fact that there's already a 64
bit NT platform running today with 64 bit NT features now
in beta, leading people to think that they may have to
wait years for better performance.
- CA
Slashes PC And Server Ownership Costs With New Unicenter
TNG Remote Control Option
- Unicenter TNG bundles Remotely Possible into its bag of
tricks.
- DIGITAL
Enterprise Software for Windows NT
- A white paper by Digital which lays out a roadmap for new
software coming out this year.
- Discreet
Logic Launches 'New Media' Business Unit Dedicated to
Desktop Market
- Discreet Logic integrates several recent acquisitions to
develop a single new product line for digital media
solutions.
- IntelliMirror
In NT 5 Beta
NT
5.0 arrives (sort of)
- Under non-disclosure, Microsoft released an interim beta
at WinHEC which included the IntelliMirror and many other
components, but most notably, FX!32 v2.0.
- Microsoft
Pushes The NT Envelope
- NT 5 supposedly has a lot of 64 bit features in it, and
most of the work to make it a full 64 bit operating
system has already been done. There's also reference to
some kind of kludge that Intel and Microsoft are working
on to allow 32 bit x86 systems to pretend that they can
do VLM while waiting for the much delayed Merced to
become available.
- NovaSoft's
Rapid-Rollout Document Management -- Products offer
process orientation as well as quick deployment
- Information Week and DocuLabs evaluate Novasoft's
webserver based document management tool.
- Oscar
Winner Titanic's Special Effects Dramatize Sizzle of
Alpha Power for Business Computing
- More chest-thumping about Titanic, but with
plenty of references to several other studios using
AlphaPowered systems to do CGI better, faster, and
cheaper.
- Rumors
Of Alpha Demise Are Exaggerated
- Damage control to quiet concerns regarding the viability
of the Alpha product lines. For folks on the AlphaNT mail
list, a lot of this may be repetition, sounding a lot
like what we've been saying since last November.
Week ending 20 March, 1998
- Bitstream
Brings Award-Winning Font Managment to the
DEC-Alpha-Windows-NT Platform
- Bitstream ports their Font Navigator to NT on the Alpha;
it will only be included with new Creation Studio.
- Building
a 21st-Century Giant -- Digital has what Compaq needs
- PC Magazine takes a look at the Digital/Compaq merger and
comes to the same conclusions most everyone else has.
- Digital-Compaq
fears stir trading
- Some wild rumours send the stock volume soaring for both
companies, probably caused by arbitragers trying to hedge
their bets.
- Digital
strikes back at HP, FUD with new ad
- More folks take notice of HP's dirty tactics, including
Digital's lawyers..
- DIGITAL
Expands Internet Leadership with ISP Channel Program
- Digital gives ISP's the same status as top level VARs,
including joint marketing, market development, NT and
UNIX packages, Alpha and x86 systems, and even leasing
and financial support.
- From
the Bench -- Windows NT Firewalls
- PC Magazine reviews firewalls for NT, including
Network-1's Firewall/Plus that runs on Alpha.
- MacDrive
98 Alpha debuts on Digital Creation Studio workstations
at Seybold Seminars
- This package, which should be available for purchase on
the Web in the next couple of weeks, allows Alpha NT
systems to read and write removable media created by a
Macintosh.
- The
Inside Track
- John Dodge tries again to wake folks up to the fact that
there's already a 64 bit solution available for NT and
UNIX (and OpenVMS) that will have better performance than
Merced.
- Quintillions
of Things to Do With 64 Bits
- A look at what 64 bits can do and how it scales beyond 32
bits, including the inevitable reference to the rendering
done for Titanic. By the way, you can see the
start of the database of satellite images that represent
the entire surface of the earth at http://www.terraserver.com/.
Yup, it's on NT, and it's on an Alpha. (A terabyte of
imagery in an SQL database and one Alpha.)
- NT
grows in former Mac stronghold
- Windows NT on the Alpha makes its presence known again in
the Macintosh marketspace at the Seybold Seminars, with
products including a couple of RIP engines.
- The
Real Merger - Compaq and Intel
- And here John Dodge tries to push the limits of
reasonable thinking in suggesting that Compaq and Intel
may merge. Like the FTC doesn't have enough to worry
about! Might this be an April Fool's joke? A good clue is
the fact that he makes the obviously ignorant statement
that "the Alpha chip had to be handed over to
Intel" versus the fact that Intel was made to buy an
underutilized plant and now works for Digital at a forced
discount rate.
- Your
Future PC -- Processors, April 1998
- A look at processor technologies by Ziff-Davis, part of a
bigger article about future PC technologies in general.
Although a little of the article has Alpha oriented
information in it, there's plenty of detail on other
system technologies and their benefits. (Caveat: 64 bit,
66 MHz PCI is ignored, although 66 MHz 32 bit, and 33 MHz
64 bit PCI busses are mentioned.)
- Dassault
Systemes - V5 pre-announce Press release
- Dassault Systemes releases Catia v5 on Alpha NT, joining
the growing ranks of other IBM applications for Alpha NT.
Week ending
13 March, 1998
- Baan,
Digital team for Business Pack
- Preconfigured Certified Business Packs, ERP packages
bundled with a database and middleware.
- Digital
defends tech commitment
- Digital makes a heavy assault on its critics trying to
prey on customer concerns regarding the pending merger
with Compaq and the litigation against Intel. Catch more
of their response at Quash.
- Don’t
let Hewlett-Packard drag you down into the slime
- This is what happens when even a fine and upstanding
company attempts to bad-mouth their competition --what
you dish out comes back to haunt you.
- DIGITAL
Offers New Ultimate Workstations; Extends Powerstorm 3D
Graphics Family
- The official announcement for the 533a2 and 533au2 plus
the new Powerstorm 4D51T.
- FTC
expands Compaq-Digital query
- Speculation on the Compaq/Digital merger and possible FTC
inquiries into both this and the Intel deal.
- MS,
Citrix Fill In Thin-Client Details
- The second beta of the Windws Terminal Server (WTS)
includes Alpha bits.
- New
Imation Rainbow Controller Software Supports Postscript
3, PDF Workflows
- Print Postscript 3 and PDF documents directly with this
RIP engine.
- Security
Dynamics Delivers ACE-Agent for Windows NT
- New release of Security Dynamics' 2-factor authentication
systems for remote access, website, and local NT logon.
Week ending 6
March, 1998
- Digital
Rolls Out AltaVista Enterprise Architecture
- New and new versions of tools to improve the Internet
experience, including clustering for webservers, Y2K
compliant search engines, a developers' kit, and Alta
Vista Tunnel 98 for the Alpha running NT.
- Digital
Spells Out Clustering Initiative With Microsoft
- Digital reviews the announcements that were lost in the
noise over the Compaq merger, and adds a few too. Look
for enhancements to the MS Cluster Server, including
shared-disk technology (vs. the current shared-nothing),
disaster-tolerant capabilities, wide-area clusters, and
more.
- Enhanced
inks ESDRAM pact -- Partnership with Siemens sets stage
for 64-Mbit ICs
- ESDRAM is starting to make waves in the marketplace with
peak speeds of 166 MHz, offering up to 1.6 GBytes per
second throughput.
- NETIQ
Ships Comprehensive Microsoft Windows NT Monitoring
Solution For Digital Alpha-Based Systems
- The AppManager monitors NT system services and
applications, and can provide alerts, email, SNMP traps,
or even run corrective applications when needed. This
release includes the agent component only.
Compaq, Digital, Alpha, and Alphapowered
are trademarks of Compaq Computer Corporation.
Windows NT is a trademark of Microsoft.
The AlphaNT Source website and its
contents Copyright © 1998,1999,2000 by Aaron C. Sakovich
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