DEC is understandably reluctant to call them such, but yesterday announced what could be its final VAX systems – specifically two MicroVAX 3100 boxes and a VAX 4000 Server, including desktop and rackmounted versions (CI No 3,012). There were no new high-end VAX 7000 systems. The 3100 MicroVAX model 88, priced at $18,700, is a replacement for the MicroVAX 3100 model 85; the 3100 model 98, priced between $28,500 and $31,700, replaces the old model 96; and the VAX 4000 model 108, priced between $42,200 and $46,300, replaces the old VAX 4106A. Although using the same chip as existing VAXes, the new models have been re-designed to take 256Mb of memory in non-proprietary SIMM single in-line memory module format, double the 128Mb maximum of the old models. This significantly reduces cost of ownership, says DEC, along with the choice of more in-box disk – up to 19.2Gb – and a smaller footprint. The VAX 4000 supports DEC Q-Bus peripherals. Running OpenVMS version 6.2, the boxes are software compatible with VMS version 5.22, which is where most VAX users have stayed. There are no upgrade options for existing users because of the new packaging. DEC’s VAX product line director Jane Heaney said that the new systems, along with the existing 7000 series, will take us through the year 2000. She said that as long as customers want to keep buying them, DEC would continue to sell them as long as we can profitably do so. We may not have new platforms coming out, but we’ve not closed the door to enhancements such as more memory expansion. There is still an on-going effort to upgrade VAX users to DEC’s Alpha-based systems, although some of the initiatives put in place a few years ago have fallen away, admitted Heaney. The more recent Affinity program aims to convert VMS users over to NT, although a new software developers kit for OpenVMS Version 7.1, including DECnet/OSI and OpenVMS clustering enhancements, began shipping only this month. There are still more than quarter of a million VAX users out there. DEC apparently sold its last PDP-11 – the predecessor to the VAX – earlier this year.
