Hewlett-Packard Co has come out with a new release of the MPE XL native operating system for the Precision Architecture RISC-based models in its HP3000 business computer family – the current models are the HP3000 925, 935 and 955. The new 1.1 release, free to 1.0 users, is claimed to hike throughput 30%, and also supports a wider range of peripherals, including the 7980 tape drive, and cached versions of its 600Mb disk drives, of which up to six are supported. The company also introduced the Allbase SQL-based relational database applications development environment for $44,000; the Virtuoso Cobol code generator, at $24,400; and the HP Edit editing tool for use with either the Allbase or the TurboImage database systems, at $5,940. NS X25 3000/XL server is hardware and software that provides full X25 packet-switching support on the Spectrum models; previously available only on 16-bit MPE V models, it is $15,250.And Hewlett, a pioneer of software delivery on Compact Disk, has come up with a Compact Disk application: LaserRX is a network performance analysis program for reporting on networks of HP3000s on the fly: it gives data on CPU usage, memory and disk activity, response time and transaction throughput on all machines on the network. It runs on an MS-DOS micro fitted with a 5.25 Compact Disk-Read Only Memory drive and costs $8,650 if you have three HP3000s, $16,650 with four to 10, and $24,850 if you have more than 10 on the net you’re monitoring. New Vectra – p2.
