Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site pitt.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!think!harvard!seismo!rochester!cmu-cs-pt!cadre!pitt!hoffman
From: hoffman@pitt.UUCP (Bob Hoffman)
Newsgroups: net.micro.att
Subject: Re: 3B performance query
Message-ID: <913@pitt.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 7-Jun-85 11:56:03 EDT
Article-I.D.: pitt.913
Posted: Fri Jun  7 11:56:03 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 9-Jun-85 02:11:04 EDT
References: <759@plus5.UUCP> <452@rtech.UUCP>
Reply-To: hoffman@pitt.UUCP (Bob hoffman)
Distribution: net
Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh Computer Science
Lines: 12

> I have heard it said that the relative performance of the 3b machines
> can be summed up as follows:  the number following the '3b' part is
> the number of users.

According to our local AT&T-IS rep, the number stands for the number
of thousands of telephone circuits the processor was designed to
switch, e.g. 3b2 = 2000 lines, 3b5 = 5000 lines, etc.  Remember that
these things have been in use in COs for quite a while and have only
recently been sold as general purpose computers.
-- 
Bob Hoffman, N3CVL
Pitt Computer Science