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Wednesday June 9, 1998

Silicon Graphics To Intro New Version Of Unix

ilicon Graphics Inc. next week will ship the latest version of its Irix Unix operating system. Irix 6.5 has innovative features that compare with or surpass leading Unix systems from Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and Sun Microsystems.

This release is the first Unix update from Silicon Graphics since the vendor confirmed plans in April to deliver Windows NT-based workstations next year. The most important feature of SGI's new Unix is support for a 128-processor CC-NUMA (Non-Uniform Memory Access) system. The new Irix includes intelligent data distribution and application placement, so that information is correctly distributed among 128 nodes, a key capability for improved NUMA performance.

Irix 6.5 also will come with built-in systems-management capabilities. With shipments this week, Computer Associates' CA-Unicenter and EnlightenDSM from Enlighten Software Solutions Inc. will provide high-end and workgroup systems management; Irix can also be managed from HP-UX Management Information Base. By year's end, Silicon Graphics will bundle support for Corba and Distributed Computing Environment, Microsoft's DCOM, as well as a version of BEA Systems' Tuxedo middleware.

Silicon Graphics' 128-node Origin CC-NUMA systems running Irix 6.5 will be based on 250-MHz Mips R10K processors until 300-MHz R12K processors are available at year's end. Silicon Graphics expects to migrate to Intel's IA-64 processor by mid-2001, but it will continue to ship systems with Mips processors as long as there is a performance advantage, company officials say.

--Martin J. Garvey