SUN Microsystems has just released the latest in its desktop workstations, effectively issuing a challenge to its rivals to better it.
The new systems have been five years in the making and are based on what Sun calls its UltraComputing architecture.
According to Sun, the new machines are ideal for Internet servers and high-end graphics. They will, a spokesman said, outperform Digital's AlphaStation and the fastest 3D imaging systems from Silicon Graphics.
UltraComputing boasts a number of new features, including Ultra Port Architecture (UPA), a system that speeds up multiple transfers of data; Visual Instruction Set (VIS), a system of graphics and multimedia technology; Creator Graphics, a new graphics subsystem that takes advantage of the UltraSPARC and VIS at the level of the motherboard to speed up such processes as rendering; 3D-RAM, a technology co-developed with Mitsubishi that is said to speed up 3D graphics by a factor of 10; FastEthernet, an ethernet system that can also run up to 10 times faster than the old one.
According to Daniel Yu, the marketing director of Sun Microsystems, PRC/ Hong Kong, Sun would like to change the face of computing.
'Sun is moving into a whole new paradigm in computing. This will be the first of a series that will take us into the next century,' he said.
Sun corporate marketing vice-president Anil Gadre said the firm planned to oust Silicon Graphics from the top spot in the graphics workstation market.