Sun Microsystems Unveils Desktop Workstation Family

Dow Jones News Service - Ticker

April 6, 1988

BOSTON -- Sun Microsystems Inc. introduced its Sun386i family of 80386-based workstations that integrate UNIX system functionality with DOS applications.

The company said the workstations are available in configurations that exceed 3 MIPS (Sun386i-150) and 5 MIPS (Sun386-250) and offer high-performance, 32-bit Sun workstation features, including heterogeneous networking, high-resolution graphics, and 4 to 16 megabytes of main memory. For the first time in a Sun workstation, a 3.5-inch, 1.44-megabyte floppy-disk drive is included for DOS applications.

Sun said a base Sun386i-150 monochrome workstation, which includes a 15-inch monitor and 4 megabytes of memory, is priced at $7,990. A similarly configured Sun386i-150 color system that includes a 14-inch color monitor and a 91-MByte disk lists for $10,990. A Sun386i-250 monochrome workstation with a 19-inch monochrome monitor and 8 MBytes of memory is priced at $13,990.

Sun said the systems are being shipped in volume today with current backlogs at 60 to 90 days.

Sun Microsystems also announced the availability of NETdisk, a new network service.

Sun said NETdisk makes it possible for a diskless workstation or personal computer to get its operating system from any vendor's system on the network which supports the Sun ONC software environment.

It said more than 25 computer and software vendors have committed to port the NETdisk technology to their products.

Copyright (c) 1988, Dow Jones & Co., Inc.