Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 9, 1991 TAG: 9104090554
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A5 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Short
Among the members of the new group, whose formation was to be announced today, are Digital Equipment Corp., the world's second-largest computer maker, and Compaq Computer Corp., the largest maker of IBM-compatible personal computers. The group also includes Microsoft Corp., the world's largest maker of personal computer software.
Work stations are desktop computers that are more powerful and expensive than PCs. Originally designed for scientific and engineering uses, they are finding more mainstream applications.
The companies in the consortium, called the Advanced Computing Environment, will standardize their work station hardware and software around microprocessors made by Mips Computer Systems Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif.
The Mips chips use a technology called reduced instruction set computing, which speeds processing by simplifying the commands a computer must execute. RISC-based processors are the chips of choice for work stations, but there are a number of incompatible RISC chips on the market.
The consortium is expected to elevate Mips chips to the level of a de facto industry standard.
The group is viewed by some industry observers as an effort to counter the influence of several leaders in the work-station field, including Sun Microsystems Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co.
It also appears to limit the influence of Intel Corp., the maker of the microprocessors that act as the brains of most PCs, observers say.
by CNB