Chronology of Workstation Computers (1991-1992)

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Chronology of Workstation Computers

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This complete timeline is provided on the Web for free. If you wish to contribute money to help my keeping this timeline available and updated, I would very much appreciate it.

References are numbered in [brackets], which are listed in this file. A number after the dot gives the page in the source.

Last updated: 2005 March 14.

1991-1992

1991

January

Sun Microsystems begins shipping the SPARCstation 2. [35.81]
RDI announces the availability of Macintosh emulation software for SPARC systems. [34.80]
February

Sun Microsystems creates SunSoft, a system software subsidiary. [172.198]
MIPS Technologies unveils the R4000 RISC processor architecture. [31.13]
March

NeXT begins shipping of its low-end NeXTstation color computers for US$8000. [33.66] [110.263] (April [42.289])
May

NeXT begins shipping of its high-end NeXTstation color computers for US$14000. [110.263]
June

Ross Perot resigns from the NeXT board of directors. [110.292]
July

NeXT completes the Japanese version of the NeXTSTEP operating system. [110.280]
Sun Microsystems introduces the SPARCstation ELC, and the SPARCstation IPX. [34.80]
August

Silicon Graphics announces the Indigo computer. [138.81]
(month unknown)

Steve Jobs agrees with his NeXT company advisors to port the NeXTSTEP operating system to the Intel 80x86 architecture. [110.318]
September

MIPS Technologies begins shipping samples of the R4000 processor. [98.9]
Silicon Graphics begins licensing the OpenGL graphics library. [130.108]
SunSoft announces the Solaris 2.0 operating system for 80x86 and SPARC architectures. [172.198]
October

Sun Microsystems begins licensing the new chipset used in the SPARCstation 2. [35.81]
MIPS Technologies officially introduces the 100 MHz R4000, its 64-bit RISC processor. [8] [48]
November

MIPS Computer Systems announces its ARC System licensing program, consisting of a complete ARC System 100 system design, supporting ROM code, operating system drivers, and ASICs. [112.1]
Intel decides against licensing Digital Equipment's technology in the Alpha architecture. [97.24]
December

Standards Performance Evaluation Corp (SPEC) names its integer and floating point benchmark metrics for Unix systems as SPECint and SPECfp, respectively. [145.6]
December 31

Shipments of Unix operating system for the year: 1.2 million. [175.134]

1992

January

Standards Performance Evaluation Corp (SPEC) announces availability of SPECint92 and SPECfp92 benchmark suites for Unix systems. Cost of the suite is US$900. [121.78] [113] [145.6] [191]
At NeXTWORLD Expo in San Francisco, NeXT announces that a version of the NeXTSTEP operating system will be made for Intel PCs. [42.289] [110.319]
Standards Performance Evaluation Corp (SPEC) announces renaming of its Unix system benchmark metrics to include the "89" suffix, ie. SPECint89 and SPECfp89. [145.6]
(month unknown)

Hewlett-Packard introduces the Series 9000 Model 710 computer. It features 50 MHz PA-RISC processor, Ethernet, serial, parallel, SCSI-2, 16 MB RAM, 19-inch 8-bit grayscale monitor, for US$9490. [161.36]
Hewlett-Packard introduces the Series 9000 Model 705 computer. It features 35 MHz PA-RISC processor, Ethernet, serial, parallel, SCSI-2, 16 MB RAM, 19-inch 8-bit grayscale monitor, for US$4990. [161.36]
February

Ross Technology publicly previews its Pinnacle-1 SPARC processor. [111]
February 25

Digital Equipment unveils the 64-bit Alpha processor architecture, with speed estimates of 150 million instructions per second. [210.38] [213.63]
(month unknown)

Tadpole Technology introduces the Sparcbook portable computer. It features 8-32 MB RAM, 85-240 MB hard drive, floppy drive, gray-scale or color 640x480 monitor, 25 MHz CY601 integer processor, 25 MHz CY604 floating point processor, Ethernet port, internal 9600/2400 fax/modem, Solaris operating system, Open Windows 3.0, SoftPC to run MS-DOS and MS-Windows applications. Size is 12 x 8.5 x 2 inches, weight is 7 pounds 1 ounce, price is US$4950-14850. [165.40]
March

MIPS Technologies ships the 100 MHz R4000 processor. [90.134] [150]
Silicon Graphics announces it is acquiring MIPS Computer Systems. [111.1]
(month unknown)

MIPS Computer Systems announces the Magnum 4000 and Millennium 4000 OEM systems, based on the ARC System 100 design. Both use a 50/100 MHz R4000 processor. [112.1]
Silicon Graphics ships its 100,000th workstation. [197.9]
May

Ross Technologies announces the hyperSPARC processor. [180] [182]
IBM announces the RS/6000 Model 970 computer. It features 50 MHz processor with 32 kB instruction cache and 64 kB data cache, 64 MB RAM, 2.7 GB hard disk. Price is US$97,822. Performance specifications are 47.1 SPECint92, 93.6 SPECfp92, 49.3 SPECint89, 160.9 SPECfp89. [113.5]
Sun Microsystems announces the SPARCstation 10 family, using the Sun / TI Viking SuperSPARC processor. Original name for the family was SPARCstation 3. [113.11] [116.20] [180]
Sun Microsystems announces the SPARCstation 10 model 30. Features include 36 MHz SuperSPARC processor, 32 MB RAM, 424 MB hard drive Price is US$18495. [113.11]
Sun Microsystems announces the SPARCstation 10 model 41. Features include 40 MHz SuperSPARC processor, 1 MB second-level cache, 32 MB RAM, 424 MB hard drive Price is US$24995. [113.11]
Sun Microsystems announces the SPARCstation 10 model 52. Features include two 45 MHz SuperSPARC processors, each with 1 MB second-level cache, 64 MB RAM, 1 GB hard drive cache Price is US$39995. [113.11]
Sun Microsystems announces the SPARCstation 10 model 54. Features include four 45 MHz SuperSPARC processors, each with 1 MB second-level cache, 64 MB RAM, 1 GB hard drive cache Price is US$57995. [113.11]
(month unknown)

SPARC International introduces version 9 of the SPARC architecture. It features 64 bit address space, and instruction set extensions for superscalar implementations. [175.26]
Unix Systems Laboratories announces Unix System V release 4.2. [175.38]
Silicon Graphics and the OpenGL Architecture Review Board officially release OpenGL 1.0 Specification. [130.13]
Bud Tribble, co-founder of NeXT, resigns from NeXT, and goes to work for Sun Microsystems. [110.330]
September

NeXT ships NeXTSTEP v3.0. [42.289]
(month unknown)

IBM announces the RS/6000 Model 580 computer. It incorporates a 62.5 MHz POWER chip set. Performance is 59 SPECint92, 125 SPECfp92, and 126 SPECmark89. Base price is US$62,500. [146]
October 14

At the Microprocessor Forum, Texas Instruments and Sun Microsystems formally unveil the 50 MHz microSPARC processor. The processor includes integer and floating-point units, and 4 kB instruction and 2 kB data caches. It incorporates 800,000 transistors, using a 0.8-micron CMOS process. Development names during development were Tsunami and TMS390S10. Performance is about 40 MIPS. [90.134] [147.1] [107.36] [180]
October

Hewlett-Packard announces the PA-7100LC processor. [182]
November 16

Digital Equipment demonstrates systems with 125 MHz 21064 Alpha processors running a variety of Windows NT applications. [149]
November

Digital Equipment unveils the 150 MHz DECchip 21064 microprocessor, implementing the Alpha AXP 64-bit architecture. Development name was EV-4. [7] [37.15] [69.61] [87.64] [90.134] [148.1] [187]
Digital Equipment introduces the DEC 3000 Model 500 AXP, featuring 150 MHz Alpha 21064 processor, 512 kB cache, 32 MB RAM, 1 GB hard drive, six Turbochannel expansion slots, CD-ROM drive, and 19-inch color monitor. Price is US$38.995. Performance is 121.5 Specmark. [137.22] [148.1]
Sun Microsystems introduces the SPARCclassic, featuring a 50 MHz microSPARC processor, 16 MB RAM, 207 MB hard disk, two SBus expansion slots, Solaris 2.1, and 15-inch color monitor. Price is about US$4500. Performance specs are 59.1 MIPS, 26.4 SpecInt92, 21.0 Specfp92. [37.15] [137.21] [148]
Sun Microsystems introduces the SparcStation LX, featuring 50 MHz microSparc processor, 16 MB RAM, 424 MB hard disk, Solaris 2.1, GXplus video accelerator, CD-quality audio, built-in ISDN, and 16-inch color monitor. Price is US$7995. Performance specs are 59.1 MIPS, 26.4 SpecInt92, 21.0 Specfp92. [37.15] [137.21]
Sun Microsystems announces SPARCcenter 2000 multiprocessor server. Up to 20 SuperSPARC processors can be used. Price with two processors is US$95,000. [37.15] [148]
MIPS Technologies (division of Silicon Graphics) announces the R4400 microprocessor, previously called the R4000A. It is an R4000 processor with double on-chip cache, implemented in 0.6-micron CMOS. Clock rates of up to 150 MHz (75 MHz internal) will be available. The chip incorporates 2.2 million transistors. [148.1] [180]
Hewlett-Packard announces the HP 9000 Model 735 desktop workstation. It features a 99 MHz PA-RISC 7100 processor, 32 MB RAM, 525 MB SCSI hard drive, and 19-inch color monitor. Rated speeds are 147 Specmarks and 40.8 MFLOPS. Price is US$37,395. [37.15] [139.18]
Hewlett-Packard announces the HP 9000 Model 755 deskside workstation. It features a 99 MHz PA-RISC 7100 processor, 64 MB RAM, 2 GB hard drive, and 19-inch color monitor. Rated speeds are 147 Specmarks and 40.8 MFLOPS. Price is US$58,995. [37.15] [139.18]
Hewlett-Packard announces the HP 9000 Model 715/33 workstation. It features 33 MHz PA-RISC processor, grayscale monitor, and one expansion slot. Price is US$4,995. [37.15] [139.18]
Hewlett-Packard announces the HP 9000 Model 715/50 workstation. It features 50 MHz PA-RISC processor, grayscale monitor, 512 MB hard drive, and one expansion slot. Price is US$11,895. [139.18]
Hewlett-Packard announces the HP 9000 Model 725/50 workstation. It features 50 MHz PA-RISC processor, 4-slots, grayscale monitor, 512 MB hard drive, 16 MB RAM, for US$17,895. [37.15] [139.18]
December

Novell buys UNIX Systems Laboratories from AT&T;, gaining all rights to the UNIX source code, for US$150 million. [14] (December 1993 [45.141]) (January 1993 [70.1]) (US$350 million [117.99])
December 31

Workstation market share for the year: HP PA-RISC 31%, Sun SPARC 25%, MIPS 20%, IBM RS/6000 12%. [183]

End of 1991-1992. Next: 1993.

1968-1986 1987-1990 1991-1992 1993 1994 1995-end

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