ANALYSIS - Compaq heralds the one true 64-bit OS

Company plans software to be one of only three millennial survivors.

Compaq has changed the name of Digital Unix to Tru64 Unix torvivors. capitalise on the boast that the software is the original 64-bit OS.

And in the wake of the renaming the company has presented a raft of new products and price cuts in a further bid to convince the world of its determination to figure in the 64-bit market.

Core to this short-term strategy is the continued backing of the Alpha processor. Compaq sees this as the heart of Tru64Unix servers and, though it supports Intel's IA-64 chip, it states that it will only be the processor for NT servers.

For 64-bit market dominance the company's first hurdle is to make sure Tru64 Unix survives the Unix fallout. The Gartner Group has predicted that only three versions of Unix will survive into the next millennium.

The fruits of IBM, SCO and Sequent's efforts to create a 64-bit Unix is tipped for success along with HP-UX and Solaris. However, Compaq believes the battle isn't over and has announced Tru64 Unix V4.0 as the newest version of Unix.

UNLIMITED STORAGE

The major hardware release to go with the Compaq announcements is the high-end AlphaServer, the DS20, which comes with a guarantee of non-stop availability. It has 4GB of memory and a total of 128GB of internal storage, making it suitable for holding data warehouse applications.

Listing the starting price at #15,000, Richard George, the AlphaServer product manager, added: "It's got four-CPU performance at two-CPU prices." He also outlined price cuts of up to a 44 per cent price reduction for some Unix-based AlphaServers.

The vendor has also completed step one of its four-phase plan towards a single-storage architecture, dubbed ENSA (Enterprise Network Storage Architecture), as part of its vision of 'storage as a utility'. Users will have continuous access to unlimited storage by connecting with IBM mainframes. It has set up partnerships with two mainframe connectivity specialists, Computer Network Technology and Bus-Tech, in order to facilitate the link.

Donal Madden, Compaq's storage marketing manager, claimed that other vendors, such as EMC, are merely repackaging their old products and fitting them into the storage area network idea.

"Up to 90 per cent of companies have internal server storage and many people want to hang onto their mainframes. So, we're not playing God and forcing them to repent and reform overnight," he said.