Parallan Inc has launched a high-end server targeted at OS/2 LAN Manager environments, which is likely to take the two-year old company into direct competition with the likes of Compaq Computer and NetFrame Systems. William Patton, chairman and chief executive of the Mountain View, California firm says that the Server 290 is not a product for the Unix environment, but for those operating in a personal computer, OS/2 and the IBM mainframe world. The Server 290 is based on a 33MHz 80486 processor, is compatible with Micro Channel Architecture and has a 64-bit bus. The server is said to provide network administrators with tools to monitor and control the server by the Maximum Availability and Support Subsystem feature, which analysts claim is normally available only from mainframe or fault-tolerant vendors. The new server comes in four configurations, ranging from the five processor Model 10 to an eight processor Model 60. The servers support up to 32Mb of memory, 10.8Gb of hard disk storage and execute at at a maximum of 70 MIPS. They servers sell for from $50,000 to $250,000 and Parallan is planning to market the new products through system integrators and by its direct sales force, and is expecting the latter to account for 75% of its initial revenue.
