First 604 PowerPC-Based System For Windows NT; FirePower Systems Added to Microsoft's Windows NT Hardware Compatibility List.MENLO PARK Menlo Park. 1 Residential city (1990 pop. 28,040), San Mateo co., W Calif.; inc. 1874. Electronic equipment and aerospace products are manufactured in the city. Menlo College and a Stanford Univ. research institute are there. 2 Uninc. , Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 27, 1995--FirePower Systems, Inc. has announced that its advanced line of Powerized desktop systems based on the 604 microprocessor are among the first PowerPC-based products on the Microsoft Windows See Windows. (operating system) Microsoft Windows - Microsoft's proprietary window system and user interface software released in 1985 to run on top of MS-DOS. Widely criticised for being too slow (hence "Windoze", "Microsloth Windows") on the machines available then. NT 3.51 Hardware Compatibility list HCL stands for hardware compatibility list. In today's world, there are vast amounts of computer hardware in circulation, and many operating systems too. A hardware compatibility list is a database of hardware models and its compatibility with a certain operating system. . FirePower's ES systems easily boots from the just-announced beta version A pre-shipping release of hardware or software that has gone through alpha test. A beta version of software is supposed to be very close to the final product, but, in practice, it is more a way of getting users to test the software in the first place under real conditions. of Windows NT 3.51 CD ROM which includes a complete native build for PowerPC-based systems further establishing the new platform as a competitive computing solution. "We are committed to the proliferation of Windows NT Workstation on a variety of platforms including PowerPC," said Rich Tong, division marketing manager of the Business Systems division at Microsoft Corp. "Windows NT 3.51 brings together the advanced RISC RISC in full Reduced Instruction Set Computing Computer architecture that uses a limited number of instructions. RISC became popular in microprocessors in the 1980s. performance of PowerPC technology and the enhanced capabilities of Windows NT. FirePower blends the most advanced technologies into a system that not only takes advantage of NT, but provides quality and affordable products to its expanding list of customers." FirePower's Powerized system products are the first systems to bring the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, New York, www.ieee.org) A membership organization that includes engineers, scientists and students in electronics and allied fields. 1275 standard for Open Firmware to Windows NT. Open Firmware is the only industry standard for boot firmware. It enables FirePower's Powerized products to fully support big- and little-endian operating environments, the booting of multiple operating systems, and processor independent auto configuration of add-in cards. "FirePower is dedicated to delivering state-of-the-art technology that meets the highest-quality standards," said Charlie Barbour, Vice President of Software Engineering at FirePower Systems. "It is important to us that our Powerized systems pass the strenuous Windows NT Hardware Compatibility Tests, are listed on the Windows NT Hardware Compatibility list, and have unique value-added Powerized software components included on the standard Windows NT distribution disk." The Powerized ES line, available as a turnkey desktop system or as a logic board with system software, has recently been announced in three microprocessor configurations: The ES380 which is based on an 80MHz (MegaHertZ) One million cycles per second. It is used to measure the transmission speed of electronic devices, including channels, buses and the computer's internal clock. A one-megahertz clock (1 MHz) means some number of bits (16, 32, 64, etc. PowerPC 603; the ES3100 which is based on a 100MHz PowerPC 603e; and the ES4100 which is based on a 100MHz PowerPC 604. All Powerized ES products include an IEEE 1275 Open Firmware Boot ROM, high-performance 64-bit wide memory bus graphics, CD-quality stereo audio, PCI-based 10BaseT Ethernet and PCI-based Fast SCSI-2 interfaces. The systems, which are available second quarter, are designed to allow OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) The rebranding of equipment and selling it. The term initially referred to the company that made the products (the "original" manufacturer), but eventually became widely used to refer to the organization that buys the products and customers to offer highly integrated, high-performance Windows NT RISC-based systems at estimated end-user street prices starting below $3,000. FirePower Systems, Inc., headquartered in Menlo Park, is dedicated to providing the industry's leading computer suppliers with systems based on the PowerPC microprocessor and compliant with the Common Hardware Reference Platform Common Hardware Reference Platform - PowerPC Platform specification. FirePower's innovative products, which range from designs to complete systems, are supplied to OEM customers for license or purchase. The company was formed in 1993 as a partnership with Canon Inc., of Japan. CONTACT: FirePower Systems Inc., Menlo Park Phil Schiller, 415/462-3025 |
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