Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!ncar!mailrus!husc6!rice!sun-spots-request From: phil@Rice.edu (William LeFebvre) Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun Subject: 3/50 upgrade product announcement from Sun Message-ID: <2495@kalliope.rice.edu> Date: 26 Jan 89 12:32:29 GMT Sender: usenet@rice.edu Organization: Sun-Spots Lines: 91 Approved: Sun-Spots@rice.edu Original-Date: Wed, 25 Jan 89 17:37:39 CST X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 7, Issue 123, message 8 of 8 I just got this Friday from our local Sun office. Thought some readers might just possibly be interested (is that an understatement?). PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENT 3/50 Upgrade -------------------- Only the flat-top 3/50 versions are upgradable. This version has been shipping since July 1987. At this time we are unable to announce anything for the dimple-top 3/50's but several possible alternatives are under evaluation. The upgrades have 75 to 90 day availability and are priced as follows: Upgrades for flat-top 3/50s: UG3/60-4F Upgrade 3/50 CPU to 3/60 CPU w/4MB $4,950 UG3/60-8F Upgrade 3/50 CPU to 3/60 CPU w/8MB $6,650 UG3/60-12F Upgrade 3/50 CPU to 3/60 CPU w/12MB $10,050 UG3/60-16F Upgrade 3/50 CPU to 3/60 CPU w/16MB $13,450 UG3/60-20F Upgrade 3/50 CPU to 3/60 CPU w/20MB $16,850 UG3/60-24F Upgrade 3/50 CPU to 3/60 CPU w/24MB $20,250 Customers may install the upgrade themselves or call Sun to install. It is covered by a 90 day warranty. If a service agreement covers the system, Sun will install the upgrade at no charge as a courtesy to the customer. This upgrade offers customers the best solution to capacity constrained 3/50s. The 3/60 upgrade is a high quality, high performance solution. Internal evaluation of 3/50 add-on solutions has indicated they may cause possible reliability problems such as: a. Erratic and unpredictable failures due to exceeding the internal power supply capacity. b. Increased failures due to air flow restrictions and increased heat dissipation. c. Incompatibility of hardware and software with various of the CPU when married with an add-on product. d. Damage to CPU on installation and de-installation. e. Unforeseen difficulties due to past and future design changes. QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ------------------- 1. How do I know if I have a dimple-top or flat-top system The older style dimple-top systems were built prior to July'87 and are attached directly to the 3/50 base with the ball of the monitor into the dimple of the base. These systems would have serial numbers beginning with numbers less than 730. The newer flat-top style have monitors resting atop the base unit. 2. What do I get with the upgrade? The upgrades for the flat-top offer the exchange of the 3/50 CPU board for the 3/60 CPU. Also included is the installation documentation and 3/60 feature tape. 3. Will other upgrades be offered for the 3/50? We plan to offer upgrades to future Motorola and SPARC based products as they become available. We do not foresee availability of these upgrades for 3-6 months after the base product is announced. 4. Why has Sun not come out with its own memory add-on for the 3/50 like the ones from Clearpoint, Helios and SunFlower? Several designs were proposed and some actually were built and tested. Each and every one was rejected due to the lack of confidence in product quality and reliability that could be achieved when evaluating the complete system including the add-on memory. 5. What if we choose to go with one of the 3/50 add-on products? If the add-on product specially modifies the Sun product such as the soldering of components, Sun will not honor the warranty and will support the product on a T&M best efforts basis only. This applies as well to any service agreement covering the product. If the add-on product is reversible, then Sun will continue to support the Sun system and the Sun components, however the customer must properly install/de-install the add-on product for service to be performed. Also, should the addition of the add-on memory cause a failure or increase the failure rate of the Sun system, then the customer will be liable for T&M charges. 6. Will Sun be able to ship these upgrades in a timely manner? You should quote a 75-90 day lead time. We have a commitment from manufacturing for enough boards to meet our forecasted requirement. We expect availability to be less than 75-90 days in Q4. William LeFebvre