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Digital tailors lines to NT

Digital revamps its PC desktops, notebooks, and servers across the board for NT.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
Brooke Crothers
2 min read
Digital Equipment (DEC) has announced a wide-ranging revamp of its personal computer products to reflect the increasing importance the company places on the Windows NT operating system.

Among the new features are NT-based notebook PCs with special software that makes them easier to use on this platform. Digital's strategy also mirrors a migration by some of the company's largest customers to Windows NT.

Highlights of the new products that have been optimized for Windows NT include the following:

--New Venturis GL desktop PCs, a Pentium Pro addition to Digital's previously introduced Venturis FX Pentium desktop family. The Venturis GL is available with Pentium Pro 180- and 200-MHz processors and is optimized for Windows NT 4.0 Workstation. Available immediately, with estimated street prices for the Venturis GL beginning at $2,299.

--Celebris family of "enterprise-ready" clients. Each system includes Digital's ClientWORKS management software (Digital's cluster-ready software for high data availability) and NT 4.0 Workstation. The Celebris FX family includes models with 133-, 166-, and 200-MHz Pentium processors and integrated 10BaseT/2 networking. The systems are available worldwide with estimated street prices starting at $1,749. The Celebris GL includes models based on 180- and 200-MHz Pentium Pro processors. The GL system comes integrated with a 10BaseT/2 network interface and is upgradeable to 100BaseTX with a daughter card. Available immediately, estimated street prices for the Celebris GL begin at $2,609.

--HiNote Ultra II notebook PCs preloaded with Windows NT 4.0 and notebook management features not supported natively in NT. The notebooks support hot-docking for expansion hardware such as the HiNote CD-ROM drive module, as well as hot insertion and removal of PC Cards. Digital-designed power management features deliver extended battery life under NT 4.0, the company said.

--ClientWORKS 2.3, the latest version of Digital's client-management software featuring new system management capabilities for reporting asset management information.

--Digital ServerWORKS. ServerWORKS Manager 2.0 supports multiple server operating environments. New features include remote paging, management of Windows NT clustered servers, an intelligent toolbar, and integration with Digital's DMI-based ClientWORKS software.

--Digital Clusters for Windows NT Server 1.0a, software for high availability (redundancy) under Windows NT Server 4.0, including failover support for Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle Workgroup Server, and Windows NT File Services. New features include real-time failover monitoring, notification, recovery management through Digital's ServerWORKS Manager, and simplified installation.