Apollo Computer Inc is to develop a Fiber Distributed Data Interface, FDDI, network for a US government department possibly the National Security Agency – based on its Series 10000 RISC workstation. According to spokesman Mark Lederhof of Apollo, the sole source contract is the US government’s first order for a FDDI-compliant network. Under the contract, Apollo is to develop a FDDI board, enabling the workstations to act as ANSI network servers, and must pick machines from at least one other computer manufacturer to put on the network. At least three Domain 10000 systems will be included in the network, which is due to be delivered in the autumn. It will use dual counter rotating fibre optic rings, yielding a combined performance of 200Mbits-per-second – Apollo’s current Domain network offering is a 12Mbit-per-second token ring design. The Fibre Distributed Data Interface network is also to be marketed commercially, and the board will be available from mid-summer for Apollo systems, and will be developed to support other systems in future.
