New Products

EAGLE Releases Disk Management Tool for UNIX

EAGLE Software, Inc. has released DISK_PAK for UNIX, a disk defragmenter, optimizer, and management tool. DISK_PAK allows in-place clean-up of fragmented disks as well as clustering of frequently accessed information. DISK_PAK supports online file viewing, displaying file system fragmentation graphically without interrupting normal processing. Visual display of fragmentation information can be used to determine when file system optimization should be scheduled.

DISK_PAK has an X Window graphical user interface, and includes an online help utility. DISK_PAK also supports character-based terminals. DISK_PAK supports RAID 5 disk architecture. DISK_PAK supports these platforms: Sun SPARCstations with SunOS 4.1.x, SCO OPEN DESKTOP with SCO UNIX V/386, Data General AViiON with DG/UX 5.4.x.) Prices start at $295. Contact EAGLE Software, 123 Indiana, Salina, KS 67401, (913) 823-7257; FAX: (913) 823-6185.

Winchester Systems Announces EISA Disk Controller and SCSI Disk Subsystem

Winchester Systems Inc. has announced FlashServer, an EISA disk controller intended for network servers. FlashServer, with Coretest 2.7 performance of 6,000 IOPS (from cache (1 Kb reads), provides RAID reliability for EISA computers.

FlashServer supports 14 SCSI disk driver per controller and up to 200+ Gb disk capacity per server. The controller also supports a variety of tape, optical and CD-ROM devices. The FlashServer caching controller provides two independent SCSI-2 channels supported by up to 128 Mb of on-board cache RAM.

FlashServer's base architecture includes a 32-bit RISC transputer engine with an embedded real-time, multi-tasking operating system; two 32-bit RISC processors that control independent SCSI-2 channels; a 32-bit wide cache RAM; and a single chip, 32-bit EISA Bus Master implementation.

FlashServer is compatible with EISA, SCSI-2, and ASPI, and runs ASPI packages such as Cheyenne, Legato, Sytos Plus, and Corel SCSI. FlashServer supports several modes including: RAID 1 controller-based disk duplexing for fault-tolerant disk arrays; RAID 0 controller-based disk striping for throughput; RAID 10 which combines both striping and duplexing; and disk chaining and partitioning, for translation between physical and logical drives.

FlashServer controllers are available with or without cache. SIMMS (1 or 4Mb) can be used to populate the board to 32 Mb, with plans for Cache capacity to 128 Mb using 16 Mb SIMMs later this year.

Winchester has broadened the target platforms for its SCSI disk subsystem, FlashDisk 2: computers or workstations with SCSI-1 or SCSI-2 ports, including SUN, HP, and IBM hardware running UNIX, Windows NT, or OSF operating systems. FlashDisk 2 provides 800 IOPS per disk, RAID 1+ reliability with hardware disk shadowing, FlashSync spindle synchronization in RAID 1+ mode, and a dual power supply.

FlashDisk 2 supports 780 Mb to 6 Gb per subsystem and can be housed in tabletop, rack mount, or pedestal enclosures. Total storage is limited by the number of SCSI devices supported by the host computer.

The single unit price for FlashServer is $3,000. FlashDisk 2 starts at $10,000 for a 16 Mb cache with 780 Mb storage. For more information, contact Winchester Systems Inc., 400 West Cummings Park, Woburn, MA 01801, (800) 325-3700; FAX: (617) 933-6174.

Sea Change Announces SCSI Navigator Software and ESD Subsystems Kits

Sea Change Corporation has announced SCSI NAVIGATOR, a suite of integrated functions supporting installation and operation of SCSI storage devices on SCO UNIX based systems. SCSI NAVIGATOR utilities are divided into two groups: On-line Utilities and Off-line Utilities. The On-line Utilities run as a privileged application under SCO UNIX and replace several command-line-oriented programs. Functions are provided for disk formatting, device testing, partitioning, performance profiling, and data backup/restore. Full support is provided for partitioning disk drives for both UNIX and DOS operation.

The Off-line Utilities run directly on the system hardware, with no host operating system required. This capability is provided by software which interacts directly with the system's SCSI controller, and lets systems backup tapes be accessed even if the main system disk has failed. Both programs use the same user interface, with color, menus, and context sensitive help.

Sea Change describes a "MISSION CRITICAL backup/restore function," which allows users to perform a partial or full system image backup using the On-line utilities, and in the event of a system disk failure, restore the entire UNIX system using the Off-line utilities "in as little as 10 minutes."

SCSI NAVIGATOR supports SCSI disks or tape drives conforming to SCSI-1 or SCSI-2 standards, and high capacity tape devices including QIC-150, QIC-525, 4mm DAT drives, 8mm helical scan drives, and traditional 9 track drives.

Sea Change also announced the External SCSI Disk (ESD) subsystem kit for UNIX systems. Ranging in capacity from 480 Mb to 2 Gb the ESD kit lets the system support a range of application solutions. The kits include SCSI Navigator, an external SCSI disk with cables, a preformatted disk drive, and (optionally) an Adaptec SCSI controller.

In addition to the ESD kits, several SCSI tape storage kits (525 Mb Streaming, 2.5 Gb Exabyte, 5.0 Gb Exabyte, and 1.3 Gb DAT) and mainframe level SCSI disk kits are also available as "plug and play" products. For more information, contact Sea Change Corporation, 6695 Millcreek Dr., Unit 8., Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L5N 5R8, (416) 542-9484; FAX: (416) 542-9479.

Advanced Archival Products Introduces AMASS 4.0

Advanced Archival Products, Inc. has introduced AMASS 4.0, a UNIX filesystem and driver for jukeboxes. AMASS 4.0 is a direct-access filesystem which supports a single filesystem view of jukeboxes of varied sizes and media types.

The jukebox is available through a single local or NFS mount point. Files and directories can span media, letting the filesystem and directories be of unlimited size, and files can be the full size supported by the host operating system. AMASS 4.0 is compatible with existing applications, UNIX utilities, and network protocols, so application programs which normally access files on magnetic disks can operate with the optical or tape jukebox without modification. AMASS 4.0 maintains an online index of jukebox directories and files, providing magnetic disk equivalent performance without having to load optical or tape media, and magnetic disk caching, which supports multi-user/multi-tasking access and high-speed magnetic disk access of the most recently used file data. AMASS provides multifunction drive support for erasable optical, WORM, and magnetic tape media in the same jukebox. AMASS can also provide a single mount point, a single filesystem interface for daisy-chained jukeboxes on a single platform. AMASS 4.0 supports the most common UNIX platforms, and over 42 jukebox models from 12 manufacturers, with capacities ranging from 3 Gigabytes to many Terabytes.

Prices for AMASS 4.0 start at $6,000. For more information, contact Advanced Archival Products, Inc. 6595 S. Dayton St., Suite 1200, Greenwood Village, CO 80111, (303) 792-9700; FAX: (303) 792-2465.

Puzzle Systems Introduces SoftNet Client

Puzzle Systems Corporation has introduced SoftNet Client, NetWare Client emulation for UNIX platforms. SoftNet Client lets users of HP 9000, Silicon Graphics, and SPARC platforms act as Novell NetWare clients and directly access Intel-based NetWare file servers. The UNIX workstation user can log onto and mount the drivers of NetWare file servers without the need for NFS support on the NetWare server. IPX support is provided to the workstation without interfering with its native TCP/IP capabilities.

SoftNet Client does not require UNIX kernel reconfiguration or disk partitioning. In addition to NetWare server file access, the workstation user can send print jobs to NetWare printers. At present, NetWare 2.2 and 3.11 server types are supported by SoftNet Client. According to Puzzle Systems, "SoftNet Client further adds to the interoperability option available to users of mixed NetWare/UNIX environments. If you would like to have your UNIX platforms also act as fast NetWare compatible file servers, consider SoftNet Utilities; if you prefer to have your UNIX platforms act as NetWare compatible clients, SoftNet Client is the correct product."

SoftNet Client is priced at $395 for a single user license and $1,495 for a five-user license regardless of UNIX platform type. For more information, contact Puzzle Systems Corporation, 16360 Monterey Rd., Suite 250, Morgan Hill, CA, 95037, (408) 779-9909; FAX: (408) 779-5058.

Interstream Releases eNFS/PFS

Interstream, Inc., has released eNFS/PFS (Personal File Server), an eNFS implementation that resides on client workstations and provides continued access to NFS data during interruptions due to NFS server failures or overloading. Built on Interstream's eNFS/Cache, eNFS/PFS loads transparently into the client workstation and is positioned between the application environment and the workstation's TCP/IP communications software, where it monitors NFS requests during normal operations. eNFS/PFS monitors the combination of server-client NFS requests and Remote Procedure Call (RPC) responses and activates whenever either of these operations requires intervention due to a non-responding NFS server.

Systems administrators can give developers isolation from temporary interruptions in a server's availability through eNFS/PFS's disconnected NFS write subsystem. This feature allows the client's own disk to act as a personal NFS server when the mounted NFS server is not responding. eNFS/PFS also supports reconnection services that update the appropriate NFS server when communications are restored. eNFS/PFS lets portable UNIX NFS clients operate disconnected from an NFS server. No modifications are necessary to NFS server or NFS clients not using eNFS/PFS.

eNFS/PFS, including eNFS/Cache, is priced at $495 per NFS client. Upgrades from eNFS/Cache are $300 per client. For more information, contact Interstream, Inc., 1501 Reedsdale St., Pittsburgh, PA 15233-2329; (412) 323-8000; FAX: (412) 323-1930.

Performance Technologies Announces VME Adapters and Controller

Performance Technologies has announced two adapters, the PT-VME430/432 (SCSI 2 adapters) and the PT-VME600 (FDDI adapter), and a WAN controller, the PT-VME340. The PT-VME430/432 are two fast/wide VMEbus SCSI-2 host adapters designed for use in both VME and VME 64 systems, providing up to 17-19 Mb/sec sustained data transfer rates. The PT-VME430/432 incorporates a SCRIPTS processor and two custom ASICs, and Performance Technologies claims a reduction in overhead to about 2 usec per data block. The PT-VME-430/432 supports 8- and 16-bit SCSI bus widths, with either differential or single-ended operation. Users can mix and match up to thirty-six combinations of 50-pin ribbon, 50-pin shielded or 68-pin shielded connectors on one or both channels. The PT-VME430/431 host adapters support sixteen devices on the primary SCSI-2 channel plus sixteen on the optional secondary SCSI-2 channel.

The PT-VME600 is an FDDI node adapter for VME64, which uses the National Semiconductor two-chip FDDI chip set. Performance Technologies describes the PT-VME600 as easily maintaining a sustained data throughput of over 90% of the LAN media bandwidth. The dual-attached (DAS) version of the PT-VME600 is designed for front-end network applications such as image processing, multimedia, and CAD/CAM; but it is also well suited as a backbone network to tie together the main components of a distributed system. The FDDI interface conforms to ANSI (X3T9.5) standards and has been optimized for network control and protocol processing. PMD options include ST and MIC Multimode fiber and SDDI copper. The controller can be configured as either a single or dual attach. Extension via a P2 connector provides concentrator support with a dual path interface to an 8-port copper media master port card or a 4-port copper or optical master port card. The PT-VME340 is a VMEbus Serial I/O module for T1/E1 rates - a four-port wide area network controller designed to sustain serial I/O rates up to 10 Mb/sec. The PT-VME340 is build around the Zilog 16C32 ISCC, based on the Z8530 SCC, but including an eight-channel 16-bit I/O DMA controller with "chained Link List capabilities" for high-speed data movement. The SIO throughput of the PT-VME340 is in excess of 4 Mb/sec on all four ports (full duplex) and up to 10Mb/sec on one port (full duplex). Physical interfaces are supplied via the PTI Line Adapter Boards (LABs), providing RS-232C, RS-422, RS-485, Mil Std 188C/114, and V.35 interfaces. The PT-VME340 controller is based on a Motorola 68EC030, with 1 to 4Mb or onboard DRAM and a high-performance VME64 VMEbus interface.

For information, contact Performance Technologies, Incorporated, 315 Science Pkwy., Rochester, NY 14620, (716) 256-0200; FAX: (716) 256-0791.

Microport Ships System V Release 4 Multiprocessor

Microport Inc. has begun shipping System V Release 4 (SVR4) Multiprocessor operating system with support for Corollary's 486/smp XM architecture. System V/4 Multiprocessor is shrink-wrap compatible with commercial and custom applications for PC UNIX and XENIX, and includes tools for network configuration and management. Source compatibility with older, Berkeley-based UNIX systems permits the migration of custom applications from legacy systems to PCs running Microport system V/4.

The 486/smp XM is a dual-bus, multi-processor core subsytem with Corollary's Extended C-bus and the EISA I/O bus. The architecture supports a maximum of ten Intel i486 DX2-66 processors and 256Mb of ECC memory.

For more information, contact Microport Inc., 108 Whispering Pines Dr., Suite E, Scotts Valley, CA 95066, (408) 438-8649, FAX: (408) 438-7560.

Maynard Announces Price Reductions on Minicartridges and Upgrades Software

Maynard Electronics Division of Archive Corporation has announced price reductions on its Irwin AccuTrak and ArchiveXL 9250 DC2000 systems for standalone PC, Lantastic and NetWare LAN tape backup applications. After reductions of 20% to 44%, prices range from $198 to $419 depending on the minicartridge.

The Irwin AccuTrak is bundled with EzTape for DOS 3.1, an upgrade of Irwin EzTape with a graphical user interface. EzTape for DOS provides data compression, unattended backup scheduling, integrated tape librarian, and backup of an entire disk or selected files. Irwin AccuTrak also supports UNIX/Xenix systems, and EzTape supports Windows, OS/2, and Novell networks. Irwin AccuTrack tape drives can interchange data with minicartridge tape devices from HP, NEC, Compaq, and others.

QICstream 3.0XL, software for the ArchiveXL 250, supports NetWare 2.x and 3.x networks, and guides inexperienced users with menus and pop-up questions. Using the STAC data compression algorithm and extended length tapes, users can store up to 250 Mb on a tape, at rates up to 9Mb/minute. For more information, contact Maynard Electronics Division, Archive Corporation, 36 Skyline Dr., Lake Mary, FL 32746, (407) 263-3500; FAX: (407) 263-3555.

Freedman Sharp Releases Load Balancer

Freedman Sharp and Associates, Inc., has released Load Balancer v3.1, an automatic job queuing and load distribution facility for UNIX platforms. The Load Balancer uses centralized configuration information about each application, computer, and user, along with dynamically-gathered performance information, to run each application on the most suitable computer. The Load Balancer handles constraints including: licensing, security, and multi-platform speed/memory/swap/ differences.

Load Balancer requires no application or kernel modifications and can be reconfigured by the system administrator without rebooting. Another feature is a network-wide batch queuing system with 256 priority levels. The Freedman Sharp Load Balancer supports Sun, HP, DEC, SGI UNIX, and IBM platforms. The price for a Load Balancer site license is $1,500. For more information, contact Freedman Sharp and Associates Inc., (403) 251-2729; FAX: (403) 245-0036.

Systems Center Announces Network DataMover

Systems Center, Inc., has announced Network DataMover (NDM) for UNIX. NDM automates UNIX-to-MVS and UNIX-to-UNIX data transfer through support of the TCP/IP protocol. Features of NDM include: API, which lets developers control data transfer; a response mechanism, which reports results to the application program; process language, so work can be defined through conditional logic statements; process scheduling with automatic connection retries; and a checkpoint/restart feature which eliminates the need to retransmit entire files due to transmission failure.

NDM for UNIX provides security options including: a secure point of entry; an authorization facility, granting users and nodes different levels of authority; and a Statistics Facility which records events. NDM for UNIX requires NDM-MVS Release 7 and operates on HP 9000, Sun SPARCstation, DEC RISC, NCR 3000, and IBM RS/6000. For more information, contact Systems Center, Inc., 1800 Alexander Bell Dr., Reston, VA 22091, (703) 264-8000.

Introl Announces Software Driver, Storage Subsystem, and Drive

Introl Corporation has announced the SCSI-FLEX Solaris Driver support for Erasable Optical drives running the Solaris 2.x operating system. Features include: a custom-written driver; an Open Windows optical disk manager; software protected by a host/key matching algorithm; online help for menu-driven utilities; an auto install utility incorporating "pkgadd" and "pkgm" commands; and NFS compatibility.

Introl also announced support for the HP 16 Platter Erasable (Magneto) Optical Subsystems for Sun and Silicon Graphics Workstations. The Subsystems include a standalone jukebox, and the SCSI-FLEX jukebox software driver, and provide up to 10.4 Gb of formatted optical storage. Introl has also begun offering the Maxoptix Tahiti IIm drive with all Erasable Optical and Jukebox Subsystems. The Tahiti IIm drives include up to 4Mb of read and write cache. For more information, contact Introl Corporation, 2817 Anthony Lane South, Minneapolis, MN 55418-3254, (612) 788-9391; FAX: (612) 788-9387.

SCH Releases Integrated UNIX System Administration Tools

SCH, Inc., has released SCH:SAM. SCH:SAM is an integrated suite of UNIX management tools which offer a consistent interface across multiple hardware platforms. SCH:SAM is built with a modular architecture, whose component modules include: SAM:Print - interactive networked print manager; SAM:Batch - batch job scheduling and control system; SAM:Archive - tape backup and retrieval tool; and SAM:Control - interface to UNIX administrative functions. SCH:SAM provides both character-based and X-Windows/Motif modes. SCH:SAM is available as a complete package or users can purchase the tools separately. SCH:SAM runs under UNIX V4 on HP, NCR 3000, IBM RS/6000, SUN, and other platforms.

In a related announcement, SCH noted that SCH:SAM will be incorporated as "USAM" in the latest release of Unidata's relational database, UniData RDBMS Release 3. For more information, contact SCH, Inc., 3 Centennial Plaza, 895 Central Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45202, (800) 729-8649 or (513) 579-0455; FAX: (513) 579-1064; Telex: 24-1665 (SCHCIN).

MIT X Consortium Awards AGE Logic X Image Contract

AGE Logic, Inc. has been awarded the X Image Extension (XIE) Sample Implementation contract by the MIT X Consortium. AGE will implement the new features and protocols defined in the XIE draft standard, version 4.12 for X Window servers. XIE will be incorporated into the next release of the X Window System (X11R6). XIE compresses the image on the host system and then decompresses the image on the display server side. This compression/decompression mechanism reduces the volume of data which is transferred across the network and can result in compression ratios of 20:1.

XIE enables the X server on the display device to scale, rotate, and flip images and supports enhancement and geometric operations. AGE's sample implementation will include DIS, the Document Imaging Subset of XIE. Applications written for DIS will be compatible with XIE. For more information, contact AGE Logic, Inc., 9985 Pacific Heights Blvd., San Diego, CA 92121, (619) 455-8600; FAX: (619) 597-6030.

MUST Announces NOMAD for UNIX

MUST Software International has announced NOMAD for UNIX. NOMAD Release 3.3 4GL software is available for IBM RS/6000 systems under AIX 3.2. NOMAD provides a windowed user interface, non-procedural 4GL language, procedural language, reporting and data management facilities, a developer's workbench, and a syntax-free reporting front end. Available with NOMAD 3.3 is the NOMAD Sybase SQL Server Interface, which supports read/write client/server access to Sybase SQL Server from NOMAD running on AIX, OpenVMS, DOS, and OS/2 clients. For more information, contact MUST Software International, 101 Merritt 7, Norwalk, CT 06856, FAX: (203) 845-5252.

Eyring Releases PXROM

Eyring Corporation has released the PXROM porting Environment for Motorola's MVME162, an embedded computer designed as a CPU that can be custom configured for industrial control and automatic test equipment applications. Based on a modular architecture, PXROM is supported by the XRAY debugger tool set, which includes simulation and multitasking for high volume and real-time applications. PXROM supports the Microtec ANSI C compiler and runtime library of POSIX and PDOS extensions on a range of hosts (including DEC, HP, PC and Sun), generating compatible source and object code across the different platforms. The price for PXROM starts at $3000 for unlimited PC cross development. Runtime licensing starts at $175 per license. For more information, contact Eyring Corporation, 1455 West 820 North, Provo, UT 84601, (801) 375-2434; FAX: (801) 374-8339.

Empress Ports RDBMS to Alpha AXP

Empress Software, Inc., has ported its relational database management system (RDBMS) to DEC's Alpha AXP 64-bit RISC architecture. EMPRESS RDBMS supports an ANSI-standard SQL, a C-callable RDBMS kernel, a full function report writer, and a 4GL application generator. Offering object-oriented capabilities and multimedia data types, Empress RDBMS applications can be prototyped, developed, and executed in local or distributed mode. With user defined functions in the 4GL, EMPRESS RDBMS stores and displays binary data using the X Window System with mouse support. For more information, contact Empress Software, Inc., 6401 Golden Triangle Dr., Suite 220, Greenbelt, MD 20770, (301) 220-1919; FAX: (301) 220-1997.

Software Maintenance & Development Systems Releases X-ADC

Software Maintenance & Development Systems, Inc., has released X-ADC, an X Window/Motif user interface for the Aide-De-Camp configuration management system. X-ADC has visual support for merging multiple versions, branches, or spurs into a mainline development path, and for viewing the relationships and objects in a software product. The view displays differences between versions, files, and lines of code. ADC can determine impact of a change on other pieces of code, identifying where the new software conflicts with existing code, and identifying components that depend on other software for execution. X-ADC entities can be associated with logical attributes, such as the name of an operating system, hardware platform, client, or bug fix. X-ADC supports UNIX and VMS. For more information, contact Software Maintenance & Development Systems, Inc., P. O. Box 555, Concord, MA 01742, (508) 369-7398; FAX: (508) 369-8272.