As further evidence of its commitment to the Alpha product, Compaq has announced that it is discontinuing the MIPS processor in its high-end Tandem computers in favor of the Alpha processor it acquired when it purchased Digital Equipment Corporation. It will provide current Himalaya S-series users with a field-installable processor upgrade to the Alpha EV7 by the middle of 2000. With subsequent releases of the 64-bit RISC processor, Tandem customers will be required to migrate to new Tandem machines.
The news should reassure purchasers of automated library systems configured on Digital Alpha machines: primarily DRA, Gaylord, and Innovative customers. It should also put CARL customers on notice that they face a hardware upgrade.
