The Amdahl 5860 Computer
9 September 1985
New Computers for Newcastle and Durham Universities
New computing equipment worth £1.8m is to be installed in the Computing Centres of Newcastle and Durham Universities in September.
Newcastle University will receive a 40-Megabyte Amdahl 5860 to replace its ten-year-old IBM 370/168. Durham University will take delivery of an Amdahl 470/V8 with 16 Megabytes of store in exchange for its IBM 4341-11.
The new computing system will be smaller in physical size, but will provide five times the computing power.
The Executive Director of NUMAC, Miss Elizabeth Barraclough, said:-
“The vastly increased power of the new system should enable NUMAC to offer a very much improved service to its users, and, by moving gradually to a distributed computer system, to keep at the forefront of computing developments where the two Universities have been since 1967, when they offered the first truly interactive terminal service in a British University.”
NUMAC (Northumbrian Universities Multiple Access Computer) was formed in 1967 by the Universities of Newcastle upon Tyne and Durham to provide a computing service initially based on an IBM 360/67 computer acquired jointly by the two Universities. In 1971, in a unique example of collaboration across the “binary” line of tertiary education, the Polytechnic of Newcastle upon Tyne joined the NUMAC partnership. NUMAC will continue to run the Michigan Terminal System but will be investigating the use of UNIX for the distributed service.
Amdahl is an American Company based in California with a European manufacturing base in Dublin. A number of leading UK organisations – British Airways, Halifax Building Society, Ford Motor Company – already use its equipment which is IBM-compatible.
The £1.8m cost of the equipment in being met by a grant from the Computer Board for Universities and Research Councils.
Notes for Editors
The NUMAC service started on an IBM 360/67 in 1975 and was substantially enhanced in 1975 when the 360/67 was replaced by an IBM 370/168-1, and in 1982 when an IBM 4341 was installed in Durham. Both processors are linked to each other and other locations by RJE links and a campus area network. This network has over 700 terminals or microcomputers permanently attached and, as well as connections to the main hosts, provides access to a number of small host machines locally and also connects to British Telecom’s PSS and JANET – the Joint Academic NETwork – for accessing remote hosts. Both the 370/168 and the 4341 were operated using the University of Michigan Terminal System (MTS) to provide batch and fully interactive terminal facilities to the 4,000 – 5,000 active users in the NUMAC community.
The strategy of computing development at the two uniwversities is to move towards the provision of an integrated distributed computing service with increasing use of single-user, low and high performance work-stations linked by a high speed Local Area Network to centralised file and process servers.
The equipment about to be installed represents the central processor and filestore components which will not only provide enhanced terminal and batch services for existing connections but will also be the basis for the required future server functions.
In addition to this central processing equipment, to further procurements within the text twelve months will be concerned with the installation of a high speed Local Area Network at each site linked by a 2-Megabit BT Megastream line and the purchase of some powerful single-user work-stations as the initial elements in the distributed system.
The Equipment
At Newcastle University:
An Amdahl 5860 with 40 Mb of memory and 16 channels and a high speed floating point unit providing 5 times more power and five times the memory of the 370/168 it replaces.
12,500 Mb of disk space (to replace the existing 2,800 Mb) on 40 spindles of 6280 disks on 6 channels and 3 dual controllers.
At Durham University:
An Amdahl 470/V8 with 16 Mb of memory and 12 channels providing 5 times the power and twice the memory of the IBM 4341-11 it replaces.
2,500 Mb of disk space to add to the 3,600 Mb already installed, on 8 spindles of 6280 disks on two channels with one dual controller.
For further details contact:
At Newcastle University:
Miss Elizabeth Barraclough, Executive Director, Newcastle University Computing Laboratory, tel: (0632) 329233 or Mr Tony Rylance, Press and Public Relations Office (0632) 328511 ext 3850.
At Durham University:
Mr John Lindley, Director, Durham University Computer Centre, tel: (0385) 64971, or Miss C.R. Webster, Durham University Press Office (0385) 64466.
Ends
[Transcript of Press Release in Senate Archives – 00-359]