Eve of release intelligence on the IBM RS/6000 suggests that the entry machine will come in at about $13,000 with 20MHz 8Mb CPU, 720Mb disk and mono screen to deliver 20 VAX MIPS, the top machine will start at around $93,000 to deliver 41 VAX MIPS and 13 MFLOPS, and support 50 to 200 users, either direct connected at ASCII screens or via a local area network; the enhanced Micro Channel is expected to have a burst mode double the maximum speed on the PS/2; IBM has its own Cobol, it is said, but no RPG II, at least not to start with; there will be models with 20MHz, 25MHz and 30MHz CPUs, memory will be error-corrected throughout; there are likely to be 3.5 and 5.25 hard disks for the things, with the biggest said to be 857Mb; an 8mm back-up tape drive will be offered; and AIX 3 is expected to be upwards compatible with Unix System V.3 and Berkeley 4.3; some models are expected to be available in the second quarter.
