Unix-based systems continue to embarrass the old-line mainframers in the very core of their corporate beings, and the latest to announce that it has dumped its mainframe for Unix is Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, which went to AT&T Co for its new System 7000 MIPS Computer Systems Inc RISC-based symmetric multiprocessors for a new reservation system, running the Informix-OnLine database management system and using Informix Software Inc’s 4GL application development tools to build the worldwide reservationsystem. The system is designed to support 1,500 users, provide round the clock access to hotel room information and manage 50,000 room in more than 160 hotels worldwide. The system is multiple gigabytes in size, contains millions of records and replaces a mainframe-based application Hyatt has been using since 1982. The new system is designed to provide sub-second local response time for most transactions. The machines also run a Hotel Management Reporting System implemented in 80 hotels that automatically transfers hotel room point-of sale information to a central accounting system.
