🚀 go-pugleaf

bds@mbunix.mitre.org (Smith) writes:
>It has always been DEC's position that small systems like workstations
>should be limited in ways that the larger systems are not.  For
>example, if you need 10 or 12 Ethernet ports, you can't get them in a
>small system.  Thus the (current) VAXstation 4000/90 only allows 2
>Ethernet ports (using the Turbochannel port) while the VAX 7000/610,
>with the same 32VUP processor, allows 16 Ethernet ports.  Similarly,
>if you need sophisticated disk access, eg, DSSI, you can only get it
>on the larger machine while the smaller one uses SCSI.  Unfortunately,
>the choice of a machine in a large system is not as simple as looking
>at performance numbers/processor.

	This DEC position appears to be altering. The DS5000/240 now
has access to DEC's big disk technology, i.e. disk arrays and
intelligent controllers. It comes through a TurboChannel to Computer
Interconnect (CI) adapter. The amount of disk and performance available
this way is well beyond what you get through the SCSI port. This same
adapter is available on the "Big Max", DS5900, which can be upgraded
to an Alpha processor. 
	The smaller AXP's could also use the same approach to allowing
a small Alpha server to connect to an industrial strength disk farm.
The DEC folks might like to comment on whether CI will be available on
all of the AXP configurations.

							--Sid

--
Sidney W. Kitchel  	    kitchel@cs.indiana.edu, kitchel@dpsi.com
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