IBM's New Push Into the Higher Ed Market: The 6512
Summary. This Bulletin discusses IBMs new 6152 Academic System, a hybrid model 60-based unit that runs MS-DOS 3.3, OS/2 and UNIX. Designed for and sold exclusively to the Higher Ed market, the 6512 is IBM’s major strategic move to tie multiple operating systems and a variety of other PCs together in this typically multivendor environment.
The Product. IBM announced a new machine designed for the higher ed market called the 6152 Academic System. It uses a standard PS/2 Model 60 as a base unit with a Micro Channel coprocessor board based on the RT-PC's RISC CPU. It reportedly runs slower in benchmarks than the RT (PC Week reports it at 3.5 MIPS), but slightly faster when running actual UNIX applications. The product is designed to work with the ANDREW Toolkit and ANDREW File System projects codeveloped by Carnegie-Mellon University and IBM. These products allow the creation and management of a multi-vendor, multi-location distributed computing environment across campus-wide local area networks.
Pricing and Configurations. The 6512 Model 022 with 2 MB RAM and a 20 MB hard disk costs $6,395 without CRT. The Model 078 with a 70 MB hard disk and 8 MB of RAM goes for $10,140. The special version of UNIX, bsd 4.3 licensed from AT&T, is called the Academic Operating System 4.3 and will cost $1,715. It is designed as a multiuser and multitasking environment. A smaller version costs $300. The system also runs MS-DOS 3.3 and OS/2.
Distribution. The 6512 will only be available to institutions already qualified for IBM's Educational Discount Schedule. It has been speculated by some that the discounts to universities will be as much as 40 to 45%. (IBM has not completely ruled out distribution to some business customers “if the demand is there.”)
Other Products. IBM also announced the AT Simulator, a software emulator that allows one to run MS-DOS applications simultaneously with AIX applications on a PC RT. The $500 program employs the X-Windows interface and is available in June.