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In today's federal market, the expanding presence of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows and Windows NT operating systems is hard to ignore. However, some federal organizations, particularly NASA and the Defense Department, have opted to use Unix systems for computing power and stability.
We are taking our annual look at Unix workstations with a focus on the wide variety of choices available to customers for about $15,000. Our comparison offers a look at four excellent machines from Compaq Computer Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM Corp and Sun Microsystems Inc. Each of these vendors offers performance and functionality choices that were unimaginable for $50,000 just a few years ago.
In addition to the vendors' basic choices, two of the machines we tested offer operating system alternatives. Compaq's XP1000 runs Windows NT or the Tru64 Unix operating system. And for less than $500, Sun's new SunPCi card enables you to run a Windows PC system in a window on Sun's Ultra 60 desktop (see sidebar, Page 34).
Finally, for those who need Unix on the run, we looked at a portable (well, at least luggable) solution from Tadpole-RDI Inc. (see First Look, Page 38).
If we had unlimited space, we could write about even more choices: Windows NT running on 500-plus MHz Intel Corp. Pentium chips, a half dozen or so Unixes running on those same speedy Pentiums, or other flavors of Unix, such as Linux or NetBSD, running on some of the hardware we tested. With all these options, there has never been a better time to be in the high-performance computing business.
In setting up this comparison, we asked the major Unix hardware vendors for their best machine under $15,000. We specified 512M of RAM, 9G of hard disk space, a 20-inch monitor and fast 2-D graphics performance. Vendors were free to add whatever they wanted to the system. Unfortunately, two of the vendors - HP and IBM - sent us systems that exceeded the $15,000 limit we specified.
We received the following machines for the comparison: Compaq's XP1000 Professional Workstation, HP's Visualize C3000 Unix Workstation, Sun's Ultra 60 Model 1450 and IBM's RS/6000 43P Model 260.
We looked at several factors in determining a winner, including performance, administration, setup, features and price (see "How we tested...