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Compaq targets RISC with new servers

Compaq introduced new Pentium Pro servers to compete with RISC processor servers.

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.
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Brooke Crothers
Compaq Computer today introduced the Compaq ProLiant 5000, a powerful Pentium Pro multiprocessor server line that will compete directly with the RISC-processor server camp, including Digital Equipment's Alpha-processor series and IBM's RS/6000.

The ProLiant 5000 6/166 uses four 166-MHz Pentium Pro processors and is intended for computing environments that, for example, use database software running on the Windows NT Server 4.0. The servers are designed for large file consolidation, and the rack-mounted models of the 5000 make server centralization in the data center easier to manage, Compaq said.

Prices for the Proliant start at just under $12,000 but can reach well beyond $100,000 in feature-packed configurations. The servers are slated to ship at the end of June.

Compaq also introduced the ProSignia 300 5/150, a workgroup file-print server that uses the 150-MHz Intel Pentium processor at prices starting at $2,950.