As part of the on-going revaluation of its business model and objectives, Amdahl Corp has decided to scrap development of its own Sparc RISC-based Enterprise and Workgroup servers which were due for introduction next month. In their place it will offer Sun Microsystems Inc’s high-end SparcServer 1000 and SparcCenter 2000 systems which it signed to market on an OEM basis a couple of weeks ago (CI No 2,265). At that announcement the company also revealed its plan to take Sun’s Solaris Unix implementation under an OEM agreement: Solaris will be enhanced, in a future version, with features of Amdahl’s UTS mainframe Unix. Amdahl’s now all-but-defunct Sparc development effort was a fairly cloak and dagger operation from the outset when, nearly three years ago, it killed its plans to build a supercomputer using the technology acquired with the failed Key Computer Labs for $30m and instead focused on getting the input-output subsystem technology from that project running with Sparc (CI No 1,589). Amdahl said it became clear earlier this year – once its Sparc development reached the product implementation stage that the company’s restructuring would necessitate a painful make or buy decision. Once it realised that its products were already outdated and outgunned by Sun’s previously released top-end servers, it decided to buy rather than build. Amdahl stresses that it had many Sparc development projects in the works – including the UTS-on-Sparc project. Whether there will be any future Sparc development initiative remains unclear, although the possibility of it offering a Sparc-based mainframe is still an option, the company says, especially given the current preponderance of Japanese mainframe-builders for RISC-based Unix strategies. We’re taking a deep breath, is how the company explained fut ure options. What will now become of Amdahl’s UTS Unix is unclear. Amdahl would not comment on how much the three-year Sparc develop ment project has cost it, saying charges were made on an on-going basis. Howev er, it is understood reven ue from sales of the now- scrapped boxes would begun feeding into its next quar terly balance sheet and the firm decided to halt devel opment now rather than lat er, to prevent write-offs going beyond last quarter.
