Masscomp, Massachusetts Computer of Westford, has souped up its scientific supermicro line with three new models, increased the number of CPUs in its top-end box to six, and says its Fortran compiler will now globally optimise. The new MC5350, MC5450, and MC5550 each offers 20% to 30% better performance than its predecessor at the same price; the 5350 has 16.7MHz 68020 and 68881 at 2.5 MIPS; the MC5450 uses a 20MHz 68020 and 68881 and is rated at 3 MIPs, as is the MC5550. Existing machines can be field-upgraded to the new performance. The MC5700 multiprocessor now takes up to six 68020 CPUs, up from four for a 50% performance gain. The Global Optimisations for release 1.2 of the Fortran compiler improve performance an average 20% to 25% in floating point work. Masscomp also unbundled its X25 communications software, enabling users to take advantage of HASP, SNA 3270, and SNA 3770 from Morning Star Technologies.
