From: kjchang@hplabsz.hpl.hp.com (K. J. Chang)
Subject: HP PA-7100
Followup-To: poster
Organization: Motorola Computer Group, Schaumburg, IL
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 01:49:30 GMT

Orginally from: tay@hpbbi4.BBN.HP.COM
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        HP'S NEXT-GENERATION PA-7100 WORKSTATIONS
 
   DELIVER UNMATCHED POWER AND NEW WAYS TO MAXIMIZE IT
 
 
      PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 10, 1992 -- Hewlett-Packard
 Company today unveiled an extensive family of the
 world's fastest workstations and a suite of interactive
 technologies that takes full advantage of their power.
 
 
 
      The new HP Apollo 9000 Series 700 workstation
 family is based on the superscalar PA-7100 chip and
 features the following:
 
      o    performance of up to 150.6 SPECfp92, 80
           SPECint92 and 147 SPECmark*89;
 
      o    high-performance, expandable color
           workstations priced from $5,695*;
 
      o    breakthrough 3-D graphics price/performance
           across the entire breadth of the product
           line, with 3-D solids workstations priced
           from $7,795;
 
      o    a cluster computing solution delivering 1
           billion instructions per second; and
 
      o    HP MPower, the workstation industry's only
           single-product solution for networked,
           collaborative multimedia1.
 
 
      "Increasingly power-hungry workstation applications
 make the unprecedented levels of processor performance
 we're announcing today an absolute necessity," said Gary
 B. Eichhorn, general manager of HP's Workstation Systems
 Group.  "The only workstation vendor delivering these
 levels of power, HP is also putting this performance to
 work with new technologies that make it much easier for
 users to interact with their computers and co-workers."
 
 
      The latest and most advanced implementation of
 PA-RISC* technology, the PA-7100 is the industry's
 fastest RISC chip.  The new workstation family -- Models
 715, 725, 735 and 755 -- sets new performance standards
 for the CPU, graphics, disk throughput and network
 operations.
 
 
      Building on this power, HP MPower provides HP
 workstation users with an intuitive, multimedia-based
 visual user environment that makes workgroup
 communications and collaboration significantly more
 efficient and productive.  While other workstation and
 PC vendors offer point products, HP is the only company
 integrating leading-edge multimedia communication tools
 -- such as multimedia electronic mail and the ability to
 share applications and images across the network -- into
 a single, economical workstation-based solution for
 distributed-computing environments.  All of the new
 Series 700 workstations are multimedia-ready,
 incorporating CD-quality audio and EISA* expandability.
 
 
      HP's combination of Series 700 workstations and
 Series 800 business servers continues to provide
 customers with the industry's only power-packed,
 compatible solution from desktop to data center.  With
 full compatibility, users of these new workstations have
 access to more than 4,000 software applications to
 address their engineering and commercial computing
 needs.
 
 
 The World's Fastest Workstations
 
      The 99-MHz Models 735 and 755 are the fastest
 workstations in the industry, delivering 150.6 SPECfp92,
 80 SPECint92 and 147 SPECmark89 to tackle the complex
 applications that solve everyday problems for
 workstation users.  The workstations provide nearly
 twice the system performance of HP's current industry
 leaders, while maintaining full binary compatibility
 with existing models.  All of the new Series 700
 workstation performance ratings were achieved using HP's
 standard, fully supported HP-UX* compilers, which will
 ship with every system.
 
 
      The Model 735 provides twice the floating-point
 performance and
 35 percent greater integer performance than any desktop
 system from Sun Microsystems, IBM or Silicon Graphics
 today.
 
 
      The Series 700 workstations offer more than three
 times the X11 graphics performance of any workstation
 competitor, delivering 19,122 X11perf.  They support a
 broad range of HP graphics systems, including the new
 CRX-48Z, the fastest mechanical-design graphics system
 in its price range.  The 48-plane CRX-48Z features
 leadership wireframe and surface rendering speeds and
 double buffering for smooth movement of true-color
 images.
 
 
      In addition to the outstanding CPU and graphics
 performance, these workstations feature the fast and
 wide SCSI 2 mass-storage interface, which eliminates I/O
 bottlenecks by delivering disk throughput of 20 Mbytes/s
 -- twice the I/O speed of Sun's SPARCstation 10 family
 -- for major gains in real application performance.  In
 addition, the high-speed FDDI* network has been tightly
 integrated to connect directly to the system I/O board,
 resulting in twice the actual network throughput and
 further boosting application speeds.
 
 
      The desktop Model 735 is priced from $34,795 to
 provide significant price/performance advantages over
 competitive systems.   The system has 1 EISA slot and
 supports up to 400 Mbytes of ECC RAM and up to 125
 Gbytes of disk storage.
 
 
      The deskside Model 755 provides even greater
 workstation expandability, with four EISA slots, support
 for up to 768 Mbytes of RAM -- twice the memory capacity
 of previous Series 700 workstations -- and a total disk
 capacity  of 295 Gbytes.  Prices start at $58,995 for a
 19-in. color system with 64 Mbytes of RAM and a 2-Gbyte
 disk.
 
 
      With industry-leading performance, a compact design
 and low price, the Model 735 is the ideal building block
 for the cluster computing solution recently introduced
 by HP and Convex Computer Corp.  A rack of eight Model
 735 workstations running Convex cluster software
 delivers more than 1,500 peak Mflops and nearly 1
 billion instructions per second -- supercomputer
 performance at a small fraction of the cost.
 
 
      Models 735 and 755 are ideally suited for markets
 such as mechanical computer-aided design (MCAD),
 electronic design automation (EDA) and scientific
 visualization -- markets in which top system and
 graphics performance and expandability are a necessity.
 
 
      Easy no-penalty CPU board upgrades are available
 from current Model 720, 730 and 750 workstations to
 Models 735 and 755.  No penalty means that the combined
 cost of the current model and the upgrade is equivalent
 to the cost of a new system from the factory, providing
 current and future customers with an industry-leading
 upgrade path.
 
 
 No-compromise Entry-level Family
 
      Unlike many low-end workstations from competitors,
 HP's Series 700s combine aggressive pricing -- from
 $4,995 -- with outstanding functionality and performance
 in the low-end Models 715 and 725.
 
 
      These models match or exceed the entry-level
 performance of competitive  systems for a lower price.
 In comparison with IBM's entry-level workstation -- the
 RS/6000 Model 220 -- the Model 715 delivers 72 percent
 greater floating-point performance, 44 percent greater
 integer performance, three times the graphics
 performance and memory capacity, and two times the
 internal disk capacity at a price that is $1,000 less
 for a 17-in. color, 16-Mbyte, disk configuration.  It
 also offers more than twice the floating-point and
 graphics performance of Sun's SPARCstation IPX.
 
 
      Models 715 and 725 feature expandability unmatched
 by any competitor's entry-level offering.  They support
 up to 256 Mbytes of memory and 2 Gbytes of internal disk
 storage.  With outstanding EISA expandability in this
 low-priced package -- four slots in the Model 725 and
 one in the Model 715 -- these systems provide support
 for an extensive array of key technologies, such as
 video and the ISDN*, FDDI and IBM Token Ring network
 interfaces.
 
 
      The breakthrough color-system pricing of this
 family starts at $5,695 for the 15-in. Model 715/33.
 This model is ideally positioned for both the low-end
 CAD marketplace -- traditionally dominated by PCs -- and
 as a high-performance, full-featured desktop client.
 In addition, it is an ideal host for the HP 700/RX
 station family, helping to further lower the color cost
 per seat of HP's workstation X station solution.  A
 19-in. color Model 715/33 with 16 Mbytes of memory and
 a 525-Mbyte disk costs only $9,995.
 
 
      The Models 715/50 and 725 -- priced from $11,895
 and $17,895, respectively -- operate at 50 MHz to bring
 performance of 72.1 SPECfp92,
 36.5 SPECint92 and 69 SPECmark89 to the entry-level
 workstation marketplace for the first time.  The Model
 715/33, operating at 33 MHz, delivers
 45.0 SPECfp92, 24.2 SPECint92 and 45.9 SPECmark89.
 
 
      To further enhance the entry-level family, the new
 CRX-48Z and the popular CRX-24 and CRX-24Z graphics
 systems now are available on Models 715 and 725.
 Complementing its industry-leading X11 performance, the
 Series 700 now delivers leading 3-D solids performance
 and functionality at lower prices than any competitor,
 opening up the 3-D market to low-end workstation users
 previously unable to afford this technology.
 
 
      With HP's PowerShade software -- which enables 3-D
 solids rendering on even low-end color workstations --
 3-D graphics now can be sent over the network using the
 X Window System client/server protocol.  Host 3-D
 functionality therefore is available remotely on any
 X-capable device -- a  feature especially well-suited
 for HP's 700/RX station family, with its optimized X
 Window and Ethernet performance.
 
 
      "We are dramatically expanding the field of users
 with access to technologies that our competitors offer
 only on high-end systems," said Eichhorn.  "Now even the
 most cost-sensitive users can take advantage of HP's
 industry-leading 3-D solids solutions."
 
 
      With low-priced color, high performance, leadership
 expandability, and full graphics functionality, the
 Models 715 and 725 are a leading solution for a broad
 range of markets, including EDA, MCAD, AEC, electronic
 publishing, and computer-aided software engineering
 (CASE).
 
 
      The new PA-7100-based workstations and business
 servers support Release 9.0 of the HP-UX operating
 system.  A proven, stable and robust operating system
 shipping since 1981, HP-UX complies with the latest
 revisions of industry standards -- including the OSF
 Application Environment Specification, X11 Release 5 and
 Motif 1.2.
 
 
      All models and upgrades can be ordered immediately.
 General availability of Models 715, 735 and 755 is
 expected to be in the first quarter of 1993, with the
 Model 725 following in the second quarter.
 
 
      HP computer systems now come standard with a new
 limited one-year, on-site warranty and choice of support
 options.  Support options upgrade the base hardware
 warranty to higher repair responsiveness and provide
 software updates and software telephone support.
 
 
      HP is the third-largest computer supplier in the
 United States, with computer revenue in excess of $10
 billion in its 1991 fiscal year.  HP has been delivering
 PA-RISC-based computers since 1986 with high
 reliability, data integrity, data availability and
 system availability.  PA-RISC is being advanced by the
 Precision Risc Organization, an association of
 industry-leading companies that is broadening the use of
 PA-RISC technology and delivering its benefits to more
 customers worldwide.
 
 
      Hewlett-Packard Company is an international
 manufacturer of measurement and computation products and
 systems recognized for excellence in quality and
 support.  The company's products and services are used
 in industry, business, engineering, science, medicine
 and education in approximately 100 countries.  HP has
 90,900 employees and had revenue of $14.5 billion in its
 1991 fiscal year.
 
 
                          # # #
 
 
 Prices listed are U.S. local currency price.
 
 Prices quoted are based on U.S. local currency price.
 
 1 All competitive claims are based on vendor-published
 information.
 
 PA-RISC stands for Precision Architecture-
 reduced-instruction-set computing.
 
 SPEC stands for System Performance Evaluation
 Cooperative, an industry-standard benchmarking group.
 SPECmark is that group's standard.
 
 EISA stands for extended industry-standard architecture.
 
 
 HP-UX is based on and is compatible with USL's UNIX*
 operating system.  It also complies with X/Open's* XPG3,
 POSIX 1003.1, FIPS 151-1 and SVID2 interface
 specifications.
 
 UNIX is a registered trademark of UNIX System
 Laboratories Inc. in the U.S.A. and other countries.
 
 X/Open is a trademark of X/Open Company Limited in the
 UK and other countries.
 
 X11perf stands for X Window System 11 performance.
 
 FDDI stands for fiber-optic distributed data
 interchange.
 
 ISDN stands for integrated service digital network.
 
 .......................................................................
 
        HP'S NEW 3-D GRAPHICS PRODUCTS SPAN ENTRY
 
                TO HIGH-END WORKSTATIONS;
 
 NEW WORKSTATIONS SET PRICE, PRICE/PERFORMANCE STANDARD
 
                         FOR 3-D
 
   3-D solids graphics now supported on HP X Stations
 
 
      PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 10, 1992 -- Hewlett-Packard
 Company today announced the industry's lowest priced 3-D
 solids graphics workstations -- part of a complete new
 HP family of desktop and deskside workstation
 visualization products.
 
 
      The 3-D graphics products run on the PA-7100-based
 HP Apollo 9000 Series 700 workstations -- the world's
 fastest workstations -- and feature the industry's best
 graphics performance at every key price point.
 
 
      The family of graphics workstations delivers 3-D
 solids graphics performance to the desktop at a
 breakthrough entry price of $7,795* for a full-featured
 workstation.
 
 
      The "no-compromise" workstations excel in all areas
 -- including vector and solids performance as well as X
 Window System performance.  "No compromise" means that
 the workstation price doesn't force the customer to
 choose between any single feature at the expense of
 other features.
 
 
      "With today's announcements, HP has eliminated
 price as a barrier to the use of 3-D graphics on the
 desktops of designers," said Gary B. Eichhorn, general
 manager of HP's Workstation Systems Group.  "HP now
 offers faster graphics workstations at lower prices at
 the key price points than any other company."
 
 
      Eichhorn said the new systems will benefit design
 engineers who develop and manipulate large 3-D models,
 architectural engineers who rely on visualization and
 "walk-throughs" to simulate constructed objects and
 specialists involved in disciplines, such as molecular
 modeling.
 
 
      According to International Data Corp., a market-
 research firm, the fast-growing market for 3-D
 workstations is expected to increase during 1991-1995 at
 a compound annual growth rate of approximately 40
 percent.
 
 
      To bring the benefits of 3-D graphics to additional
 desktops, HP is extending 3-D solids graphics
 capabilities to X-capable devices, such as its
 leadership family of HP 700/RX stations, through the
 latest version of HP PowerShade.   With the HP
 PowerShade software, even the most cost-sensitive user
 can use 3-D solids solutions.
 
 
      HP's graphics workstations deliver the following:
 
      o    up to 600,000 triangles/s for fast 3-D solids
           rendering -- more than twice as fast as the
           equivalently priced Silicon Graphics Inc.
           (SGI) Elan workstations1;
 
      o    twice the wireframe performance and 35
           percent higher triangle performance of
           comparably configured Freedom Series from Sun
           Microsystems and Evans & Sutherland for
           $15,000 less;
 
      o    GPC cylinder-head performance of 78.7, the
           highest published 3-D solids performance in
           the industry at any price; and
 
      o    X11 performance up to three times faster than
           any competitive 3-D workstation.  Window
           manipulation is instantaneous.
 
      "It's great to be able to quote impressive
 benchmarks, but the true test of a system's value is in
 application performance," said Eichhorn.  "For example,
 we have measured two- to four-times higher overall
 graphics performance on our new graphics workstations
 than the equivalently priced and configured SGI R4000
 Elan workstation running Pro/Engineer from Parametric
 Technology, a leading mechanical-design application."
 
 
      Since it is tightly integrated with the Series
 700's superscalar PA-7100 CPU, HP's graphics subsystem
 provides superior performance in all areas -- vector and
 solids performance as well as X Window performance.
 
 
 CRX-48Z, CRX-24Z Take on Most Demanding 3-D Solids
 Applications
 
      The new CRX-48Z graphics subsystem is supported on
 the new Series 700 Models 715/50 and 725 -- which
 deliver performance of up to 72.1 SPECfp92, 36.5
 SPECint92 and 69 SPECmark*89 -- and the Models 735 and
 755.  The high-end Models 735 and 755, based on the
 99-MHz version of the PA-7100, deliver performance of up
 to 150.6 SPECfp92, 80 SPECint92 and 147 SPECmark89.
 
 
      With 48 color planes and true-color double
 buffering, the Series 700 CRX-48Z workstation is a 3-D
 solids modeling system without peer in its price class.
 
 
      For example, the Model 735 CRX-48Z workstation
 delivers more than twice the triangle and quadrilateral
 performance  -- two critical 3-D solids benchmarks -- of
 the popular SGI R4000 Elan.  Also, the Model 735 CRX-48Z
 achieves a rating of 78.7 in the GPC cylinder-head
 benchmark -- a standard measure of 3-D solids
 performance -- or up to four times the performance of
 the DEC 5000 240-PXG Turbo and 4.5 times greater
 performance than the IBM 350 GTO workstation.
 
 
      Head-to-head with the SGI Indigo R4000 Elan, HP's
 Model 715/50 CRX-48Z workstation gives users a nearly 70
 percent X Window performance boost and more than two
 times the 3-D triangle performance for about $6,400
 less.  Series 700 CRX-48Z system configurations begin at
 $27,890, and include 16 Mbytes of RAM, a 525-Mbyte hard
 disk and a high-resolution 19-in. color monitor.
 
 
      The CRX-24Z runs on all next-generation Series 700
 workstations, including the entry-level Model 715/33,
 which provides up to 44.2 SPECfp92, 23.3 SPECint92 and
 45.9 SPECmark 89.
 
 
      CRX-24Z-based workstations offer a 24-bit Z buffer
 for fast polygon performance and draw up to a fast
 140,000 triangles/s.  The Model 715/33 CRX-24Z delivers
 1.5 times greater 3-D vector performance, 25 percent
 greater 3-D triangle performance and 65 percent more
 quadrilateral performance than the SGI Indigo XS24Z.
 With configurations that include a 19-in. high-
 resolution monitor and hardware Z buffer, 16 Mbytes of
 RAM and a 525-Mbyte disk, the Model 715/33 CRX-24Z is
 priced at $18,995 vs. $21,500 for the SGI workstation.
 
 
      "For the uncompromising, cost-sensitive 3-D
 workstation user, the Model 715/33 CRX-24Z is the clear
 choice over competitive offerings that force users to
 choose between price, performance and functionality,"
 said Eichhorn.
 
 
 HP PowerShade Brings 3-D Graphics to X Stations
 
      HP is driving the proliferation of 3-D graphics on
 lower-priced systems with the latest version of
 PowerShade.  PowerShade is a graphics library that
 allows 3-D visualization on systems without custom
 graphics hardware, including X-capable devices.
 
 
      HP PowerShade creates a 3-D image in workstation
 memory.  It then uses the X Window System protocol to
 send the image over the network to the X-capable device,
 such as a member of the HP 700/RX station product line.
 
 
      "For those users who are most concerned about
 price, PowerShade is a superior solution," said
 Eichhorn.  "In fact, when receiving 3-D images, our
 HP 700/RX stations achieve up to 40 percent faster
 graphics performance than competitive X terminals."
 
 
      HP PowerShade runs across the entire family of
 Series 700 color workstations.
 
 
      A new Model 715/33 workstation configured with a
 15-in. color monitor, 16 Mbytes of RAM and PowerShade
 delivers 610,000 3-D vectors/s and 12,000 triangles/s at
 an entry price of $7,795.  The Model 715/33 is also
 well-suited as the host for an HP 700/RX station to
 further reduce the color cost-per-seat.
 
 
      An HP PowerShade single-user license for an HP
 700/RX station or other X-capable device is priced at
 $500 and is expected to be available on Dec. 1.
 
 
      HP also offers other graphics-workstation solutions
 ranging from eight-plane grayscale and color solutions,
 featuring fast vector and X Window System performance,
 to the CRX-24 option for more demanding visualization
 applications.  Graphics options are available to meet
 the needs of desktop publishing, computer-aided software
 engineering (CASE), information management and retrieval
 and desktop productivity.  The workstations are also
 well-suited for customers working on electronic-design-
 automation (EDA) applications, such as schematic
 capture, as well as those in financial services and
 geographic information systems (GIS).
 
 
      The company's multimonitor workstation
 configurations allow Series 700 users to take advantage
 of expanded screen real estate for applications such as
 GIS, command and control, financial-transaction
 processing and process control.
 
 
      Hewlett-Packard Company is the third-largest
 computer supplier in the United States, with computer
 revenue in excess of $10 billion in its 1991 fiscal
 year.  HP has been delivering PA-RISC-based computers
 since 1986 with high reliability, data integrity, data
 availability and system availability.  PA-RISC is being
 advanced by the Precision Risc Organization, an
 association of industry-leading companies that will
 broaden the use of PA-RISC technology and deliver its
 benefits to more customers worldwide.
 
 
      Hewlett-Packard Company is an international
 manufacturer of measurement and computation products and
 systems recognized for excellence in quality and
 support.  The company's products and services are used
 in industry, business, engineering, science, medicine
 and education in approximately 100 countries.  HP has
 90,900 employees and had revenue of $14.5 billion in its
 1991 fiscal year.
 
 
                          # # #
 
 
 1 All product comparisons are based on current vendor-
 published information.
 
 All prices are based on U.S. local currency price.
 
 PA-RISC stands for Precision Architecture-
 reduced-instruction-set computing.
 
 SPEC stands for System Performance Evaluation
 Cooperative, an industry-standard benchmarking group.
 SPECmark is that group's standard.
 
 X1perf stands for X Window System 11 performance.
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