Aspen Systems and Digital Equipment Corp. Announce Joint Licensing Agreement for OpenVMS Operating System

Aspen Systems, Inc. has announced a joint licensing agreement with Digital Equipment Corp. to package the OpenVMS operating system with its high-performance line of workstations, specifically the ALPINE workstations powered by the Alpha microprocessor. This partnership marks the first commitment by a hardware vendor outside of Digital to load OpenVMS on their Alpha systems. The new workstations running OpenVMS will be demonstrated at the Fall '94 DECUS conference, which opened on December 16, 1994, at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif.

Key Takeaways:

• Aspen Systems' ALPINE workstations will be the first to offer OpenVMS as an operating system on an Alpha-based system, marking a significant milestone in the history of OpenVMS.
• The ALPINE workstations will be available with the Digital OpenVMS operating system loaded right on the box, targeting Windows NT, Windows NT Advanced Server, and OpenVMS markets.
• The 166MHz and 200MHz Alpha-based ALPINE Systems began shipping in April 1994, with the 233MHz and 275MHz ALPINE systems shipping in July 1994.
• The partnership between Aspen Systems and Digital Equipment Corp. is expected to increase the presence of OpenVMS in small-to-medium-sized enterprises and provide a tremendous market opportunity for both companies.
• The ALPINE workstations will feature a 128-bit RAM bus, three version-2 PCI compliant expansion slots, and three ISA expansion slots for high-speed I/O throughput and backward compatibility with thousands of PC peripherals.
• Aspen Systems' "pop out chip and oscillator" design allows for easy motherboard upgrades and supports processor speeds of 166MHz, 200MHz, 233MHz, and 275MHz.
• OpenVMS, with over ten million user accesses, offers a large applications portfolio and the advantage of being on the world's leading 64-bit technology with Alpha systems.

Statistics:

• The ALPINE workstations will be available with processor speeds of 166MHz, 200MHz, 233MHz, and 275MHz.
• The ALPINE workstations will feature a 128-bit RAM bus for maximum computing performance.
• Three version-2 PCI compliant expansion slots will provide high-speed I/O throughput of up to 132 megabytes per second.
• Three ISA expansion slots will provide backward compatibility with thousands of PC peripherals.
• The partnership between Aspen Systems and Digital Equipment Corp. is expected to increase the presence of OpenVMS in small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SME).
• Over ten million users are currently accessing OpenVMS applications.

Sources:

• Aspen Systems, Inc. press release, December 16, 1994.
• Digital Equipment Corp. press release, December 16, 1994.
• "Aspen Systems and Digital Equipment Corp. Announce Joint Licensing Agreement for OpenVMS Operating System", Business Wire, December 16, 1994.