Conference ilbbak::us_sales_service

121.0. "OSF Statement of Direction" by FSOA::KCHERNACK (Cut byte or fiche) Wed Jun 10 1992 09:34

                  I N T E R O F F I C E   M E M O R A N D U M

                                        Date:     10-Jun-1992 08:02am EDT
                                        From:     R_A_GIORDANO
                                                  R_A_GIORDANO@NEST@MRGATE@NRGATE@NRO
                                        Dept:      
                                        Tel No:    

TO: See Below

Subject: OSF STATEMENT OF DIRECTION                                             

             ******************************************************
             * This Message is from Charlie Christ,Vice-president *
             *         SME/Departmental Systems & Software        *
             ******************************************************
			
					
To: All Field personnel


Digital's direction for the OSF operating system on DECstations and DECsystems
is as follows:

1. Digital will implement the OSF/1 operating system on R2000, R3000, and 
R4000-based DECstations and DECsystems. This implementation
of OSF/1 will be compatible with the OSF/1 for Alpha-based systems.

2. Digital will support the ULTRIX operating system on R4000-based
DECstations and DECsystems. Today's ULTRIX applications will be binary-
compatible with R4000 systems running ULTRIX.

3. Digital will provide R4000-based CPU daughter card upgrades for the 
DECstation 5000 models 20, 25, 33, 120, 125, 133, and 240; the DECsystem
5000 models 25, 133, 240; and the DECsystem 5900.

Digital is committed to provide these products to our customers.


Commitment to OSF

Our customers have made their wishes known; they want OSF technology from
Digital, and they want it on multiple platforms. We will satisfy this
demand by providing the OSF/1 operating system for Digital's MIPS-based 
and Alpha-based systems. 
 
Our commitment to OSF gives our customers a complete array
of solutions at every point in the price range. This common software
environment enables customers to choose the time at which they can add
Alpha-based systems to satisfy their business requirements. 
This approach will make that coexistence and migration very easy 
and convenient.





From: Matt Kochan, Manager, UNIX-based Software and Systems Marketing and
                   Planning Group
To: All Field Personnel

Subject: Questions and Answers, OSF Statement of Direction

Date: June 9, 1992



1. What is Digital's UNIX strategy?

Digital will provide the leading implementation of OSF/1, and continue our 
track record as the first vendor to bring OSF technologies to the market. 

Digital will continue our commitment to the MIPS processor family by providing 
R4000 CPU daughter cards, and a family of packaged R4000-based systems.

Digital is moving forward on the introduction of a complete range of 
Alpha-based systems that will run OSF/1.

Digital will provide a complete array of migration and coexistence options that
will enable customers to get the most out of their MIPS- and Alpha-based
systems in a common computing environment.

2. When will the operating systems ship for the DECstations and DECsystems?

OSF/1 for R3000-based systems will ship in the middle of calendar 1993.
OSF/1 for R4000-based systems also will ship in the second half of calendar
1993, about six months after the R3000 version.
ULTRIX for R4000-based systems will ship in the first half of calendar 1993.

3. When will the R4000 CPU daughter card upgrades be available?

In the first half of calendar 1993.

4. Will ULTRIX applications migrate easily to these releases of OSF/1?

ULTRIX is binary compatible with OSF/1 on DECstations and DECsystems.
The application migration will be very easy.

5. What about moving OSF/1 applications from MIPS-based systems to Alpha-based
systems?

Both hardware platforms will run the same version of OSF/1, so the software
migration will be relatively simple.

6. Will we implement ULTRIX on Alpha?

No.

7. What about ULTRIX on VAX?

Our strategy has been to transition ULTRIX and System V UNIX on VAX to
OSF with ULTRIX and System V compatibility. This is still our strategy.


If you have any further questions, please contact your UNIX Partner. 


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