Digital looks to Sequent, Intel

Digital Equipment (DEC) will get next-generation servers based on Intel's upcoming 64-bit Merced chip from Sequent Computer, another indication that Digital is inching toward Intel's 64-bit future.

Digital also makes high-end computers based on its own 64-bit Alpha processor.

Sequent will become Digital's sole supplier of Merced-based servers for a high-end Unix operating system architecture called NUMA, or Non-Uniform Memory Access.

This next generation of Sequent's server computers will combine the power of traditional mainframes and the price-performance of Intel-based computing, Sequent said. Sequent's architecture will enable companies to run servers on a combination of Unix and Microsoft's rival Windows NT operating system.

Sequent servers are used for large database applications.

Tim Yeaton, vice president of Digital's Unix Systems Group, said that Digital still fully intends to support its Alpha chips too. "We are committed to delivering the best of both Alpha and Intel-based systems to our customers, " he said in a prepared statement.

Casey Powell, chairman and CEO of Sequent, said Sequent's Merced-based systems "will scale to hundreds of processors and deliver mainframe functionality. This is what we have been working toward for 15 years. It's a true mainframe replacement."

The Digital supply agreement comes two months after Digital and Sequent announced their IA-64 Unix Initiative to build an a IA-64 Unix on Intel processor-based systems.

Intel is an investor in CNET: The Computer Network.