InformationWeek
Defining The Business Value Of Technology
January 12, 1998
Digital, Sequent Partner
Target market for 64-bit Unix on Intel
The 64-bit operating system, called Bravo, will be available when the Merced chip ships in 1999, the companies say. Bravo will be based on Digital Unix and will include support for Non-Uniform Memory Access, a server scalability technology, from Sequent's Dynix/ptx operating system. The companies say Bravo will be designed for both Intel's IA-64 and Digital's Alpha chip architectures, and will be compatible with current Digital and Sequent applications. Digital and Sequent plan to shop Bravo to other hardware vendors.
Rich Partridge, an analyst with D.H. Brown Associates
in Port Chester, N.Y., says he expects to see other companies team on Unix-on-Intel or move to one of the well-backed Intel-based Unix versions. "We're seeing a shakeout for Unix on Intel," says Partridge, "and the other players must decide which way they'll go in the first half of this year."
Sun is also partnering with NCR Corp. on a 64-bit Solaris for Merced-but so far, only NCR has said it will ship Solaris-based Merced systems. HP is developing HP-UX for Merced on its own, but is in a strong position because of its large installed base. A Sequent source says the company was talking with Sun about a partnership, but stalled negotiations prompted Sequent to join forces with Digital.
Michael Prince, CIO of Burlington Coat Factory in Burlington, N.J., a user of both Sun and Sequent machines, welcomes the trend to fewer variants of Unix on Intel. Says Prince, "Sequent certainly did not need to develop its own 64-bit version of Unix."
igital Equipment and Sequent Computer Systems Inc. are partnering on a version of Unix for Intel's upcoming Merced platform, the companies said last week. Digital and Sequent join Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, and others in a race to dominate the developing Unix-on-Intel market.
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