Plymouth, Minnesota-based Tricord Systems Inc is moving its Intel Corp-based multiprocessors up into the higher ground currently occupied by its erstwhile OEM partner Sequent Computer Systems Inc, Beaverton, Oregon. Early next year, Tricord is expected to release a 12-processor model in its K-Series range of servers based on dual-processor Pentium boards. The box is expected to come with a number of operating system options, including UnixWare and Santa Cruz Unix bundled with Notes. Multi-processing OS/2 is also a possibility – IBM Corp has demonstrated it on a Tricord – and Windows NT a definite. Sequent currently uses the Tricord range for its low-end WinServer series, aimed at the Windows NT market. But although both companies insist that their relationship is still strong, Tricord has recently contravened the original terms of its agreement with Sequent, which gave Sequent exclusive rights to all Windows NT sales (CI No 2,088). Tricord has been selling Windows NT upgrades to its existing OS/2 and Novell Inc NetWare user base for the last five or six months, and claims to have 120 active Windows NT sites, with around 100 on the order books. Sequent says that the terms and conditions of its agreement with Tricord have not been changed, but that it has accepted that Tricord wants a piece of the Windows NT business directly. Both firms denied suggestions that Sequent had not made its numbers on the OEM deal. Tricord is said to have generated around $40m in revenues from Sequent since cutting the pact – and that Sequent had been slow to offer the latest Tricord boxes with 100MHz Pentiums and new storage options because of a backlog of old systems sitting unsold in its warehouse. But both firms admitted that sales had been slower than expected as they waited for Windows NT to go beyond the pilot stage in user installations. Sequent now hopes it will not clash too often with Tricord, which has agreed to steer clear of existing Sequent sites. Sequent says it tends to go for clustered Windows NT installations, not one-off boxes. Meanwhile, of course, Sequent is already working on implementing Windows NT for its mainstream Symmetry line of servers – an obvious alternative if Tricord invades too much of its personal space.
