Parallon Hooks into LAN Man Multiprocessing
 
Microbytes Daily News Service
Copyright (c) 1989, McGraw-Hill, Inc.
The new LAN Manager 2.0 announced by Microsoft today is faster
than its forerunner due to the 32-bit-wide High Performance File
System. And for even faster performance, it will include "hooks"
to support multiple processors. Compaq's new high-end Systempro
takes advantage of the multiprocessing capabilities of LAN Man
2.0. But thanks to a small company called Parallon Computer,
owners of any 386- or 486-based system should be able to migrate
to a new level of performance.
 
What Parallon has is a design for an AT coprocessor card and a
set of software that will attach to the hooks in LAN Man 2.0.
With the software, the coprocessor will be able to share in some
of the tasks that might normally be done by a system's main
processor. Parallon expects performance of such systems to be
double that of similar uniprocessor systems.
 
Parallon is seeking to license the design and the software to
manufacturers, who will probably offer Micro Channel or EISA
coprocessors card that would be much faster than current AT
cards. Parallon expects that companies will be offering these
cards sometime in the first quarter of 1990, around the time LAN
Man 2.0 is supposed to become available.
 
The company offers two versions of its product: a file server and
an application server. In the file-server system, the main
processor is dedicated to running LAN Man's HPFS; the coprocessor
takes care of the other parts of OS/2 and the LAN Man protocol
stacks. In the application server, the main processor runs the
HPFS and the LAN Man protocol stacks, while the coprocessor runs
an OS/2 application.
 
Parallon declines to mention which manufacturers will offer
products based on its technology but says that the products
should be immediately recognizable when they become available
early next year.
 
Contact: Parallon Computer, 295 N. Bernardo Ave, Mountain View,
CA 94043; (415) 691-0050.
 
                              --- Rich Malloy
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
