ICL Plc has started shipping Trimetra DY, its multi-processor server – the first Intel Corp-based server that supports simultaneous versions of OpenVME, UnixWare and Windows NT (CI No 3,366). The enterprise server can run the operating systems in a combination or singly, and the company says it has chosen Intel as a migration path for existing customers who want to move off older ICL hardware with Fujitsu Ltd processors, because Intel will give them a secure future investment. According to the company’s Trimetra Servers marketing manager, John Davis, ICL has secured 2m pounds so far in orders and shipments of the new enterprise server, mainly to operations in Europe. The company is initially aiming it at existing customers, of which it has around 400 in this space, but hopes to attract new customers on the strength of Trimetra DY’s UnixWare and NT capability. The systems are selling for between 100,000 pounds and 500,000 pounds a piece, and in the wider scheme of ICL, will not be that significant in terms of the revenues it generates. But ICL is clearly pleased that it has managed to prove cynics wrong and got OpenVME running on Intel.
