Aging Alpha Processor Gets Companion Product BoostAging Alpha Processor Gets Companion Product Boost

With the days of the 64-bit Alpha processor seemingly numbered with but 700,000 users, Nemonix Engineering is stepping into the breech as one of the few firms to field a product that works alongside the legendary but no longer well supported CPU.

Nemonix has unveiled a dual Gigabit Ethernet controller for Alpha, as the first entry in a planned program of continued support for the processor. Daniel Bumbarger, Nemonix' founder, said he believes his company is the sole firm developing new products for the Alpha.

"This is the first of several products we want to bring to market," said Rich Williams, the firm's vice president of strategic alliances, in an interview. "We started by supporting the VAX and that's been a good market for us. We expect the same type of market is developing around the Alpha."

The Alpha has had a long and circuitous march. Developed over a decade ago by the Digital Equipment Corp. as its flagship for the future, the machine was initially hampered by a lack of native mode software. Digital was subsequently sold to Compaq Computer and then Hewlett-Packard acquired Compaq and, along with it, the Alpha. But HP already had the 64-bit Itanium, which it developed with Intel. Thus, Alpha languished.

Williams noted that HP is still selling new Alphas, but the computer's manufacturing line is scheduled to go dead in 2006. HP will support the family through 2011. Nemonix plans to design an array of products that will keep the Alpha in operation well beyond that, he said.

"We are ardent supporters of OpenVMS," Williams said noting that the robust and stable operating system is still one of the strongest features of the Alpha. VMS had a logical progression in Digital, growing almost organically from the VAX to the Alpha.

The new Nemonix controller was developed in collaboration with HP. Prior to its release, users of AlphaServer DS, ES, and GS systems were limited to 100Mbps of built-in network capability as well as restricted network expansion capacity, Nemonix said. The controller has two Gigabit Ethernet ports on a single plug-and-play 64-bit PCIX card.

Priced at $899, the controller also supports HP OpenVMS Version 7.3-2 Alpha and above for AlphaServers, HP OpenVMS Cluster control, UCX, TCP/IP, Multinet and DECnet.

Moving forward, Nemonix believes it can build an ongoing business over what will soon be a legacy processor. "VAX customers have Alphas and they want to keep them," said Williams. "There's a lot of customers out there for us."