Digital Equipment Corp., the nation`s largest manufacturer of mini-computers, Tuesday introduced a line of supermicrocomputers designed to put much greater power into a smaller, lower-priced package.
The new line, called the MicroVAX II, is compatible with Digital`s current line of VAX mini-computers. Based on a new 32-bit microprocessor called ”VAX on a chip,” Digital claims the unit offers the power and speed of a mini-computer in a much more compact size.
It is to sell for about one-fifth that of Digital`s own lower-priced mini-computers. Digital said the new processor`s performance averages up to 90 percent of the VAX 780 mini-computer.
It can operate as a single unit, as a multiuser unit that will support up to 16 users in its more sophisticated versions, or hooked with other VAX equipment in a network. Prices range from $18,840 to $43,780, the latter price for the most advanced models.
”Digital desperately needed something at the low end of its product line,” said Richard Shaffer, editor and publisher of Technologic Computer Newsletter, based in New York.
”It`s a move that was long overdue; the company has been under attack at every level of its product line,” he added, pointing out that a number of small work-station producer companies already have introduced products that bring more performance for a comparable price.
Shaffer said the new Digital lines are ”adequate technically.” He added, ”What Digital really has going for it is its huge installed base, its first-class sales force and plenty of very good software.”
There has been some concern that the new line could cut into sales of Digital`s own line of older, smaller mini-computers. But, Shaffer said, if
”Digital doesn`t cannibalize its own sales, somebody else will.”
Digital also introduced a line of high-graphic resolution work stations aimed at the engineering and technical marketplace and an optical disc computer system, which stores the equivalent of 200,000 single-spaced typewritten pages on a compact, read-only optical disk.
