Taking a leaf out of NCR Corp’s book of strategies, Unisys Corp will next week unveil the first of a new line of highly configurable Intel Corp iAPX-86 and EISA-based personal computers that, with few if any changes, will magically turn into Unix-run workstations and entry-level servers early in the second quarter. As U6000/DT Unix machines, they will initially run Unix System V.4 and UnixWare, the Univel Inc reprise of System V.4.2. Later in the year, a multiprocessing operating system derived from Unisys’ current product will appear. As with PW2 Advantage Plus personal computers, available next week, the boxes will run Santa Cruz Operation Inc Unix, seen by Unisys as more of a desktop offering. Initially 80486DX and DX2-based, they will have a built-in upgrade path to Pentium, with 60MHz and 66MHz machines expected by mid-year. There will be a three-slot workstation, a six-slot workstation or server and a nine-slot server. Their design will enable Unisys to swap most components, such as chips, multiprocessing, memory, video controllers, disk and networking to maximise price, performance and reliability options. The video and disk controllers and network interfaces have been integrated directly onto the motherboard. The line is touted as the first step in an aggressive effort to redesign the entire spectrum of Unisys desktops, workstations and entry-level servers and to accelerate its engineering, design, manufacturing and time-to-market.
