Chronology of Workstation Computers

1994

February

• Digital Equipment produces the first test version of the 21164 processor. [186]
• Silicon Graphics founder and chairman James Clark resigns, to found Mosaic Communications. [79.9] (January [115.68])

(month unknown)

• Apple Computer ships Macintosh Application Environment 1.0 for the HP-UX operating system with the Motif interface, and the Solaris operating system with the OpenLook interface. [72.37]
• Hewlett-Packard unveils its PA-7200 processor design. It is manufactureed with a 0.55 micron CMOS process, allowing up to 140-MHz clock speeds. [55]

March

• Sun Microsystems announces the SparcStation 5, with 70-MHz or 85-MHz MicroSparc II processor. [106.161]
• Sun Microsystems announces the SparcStation 20, with up to four 50-MHz or two 60-MHz SuperSparc processors. [106.161]
• MIPS Technologies ships the 100-MHz R4600 RISC microprocessor. [90.134]
• Digital Equipment ships the 66-MHz Alpha 21068 processor. [90.134]
• Digital Equipment ships the 166-MHz Alpha 21066 processor. Performance is rated at 70 SPECint92. [90.134] [85]

(month unknown)

• Sun Technology Business announces initial samples of the 85-MHz and 100-MHz MicroSparc-2 processor. [62]
• Microsoft releases FoxPro 2.6 for UNIX. [81.6] [105.28]
• Ross Technology announces 80, 90, and 100-MHz HyperSparc processors, using Fujitsu's 0.5 micron CS-50 process. Internal cache is 128 or 256 KB. [66]

May

• MIPS Technologies announces availability of samples of the 200-MHz 64-bit R4400 RISC microprocessor. [48]

(month unknown)

• International Meta Systems files a patent application for technology that enables a RISC processor to emulate other instruction sets. [106.38]
• The IEEE Computer Society officially adopts SPARC as a standard, labelled 1754-1994. This is the first microprocessor architecture standard adopted by the IEEE, and took four years. [85]
• IBM introduces the RS/6000 Model 41T computer. It features an 80-MHz PowerPC 601 processor. Base price is US$11,200. Performance is 79 SPECint92 and 90 SPECfp92. [85]
• Hewlett-Packard introduces the HP 7000 Model 715/100 computer. It features a 100-MHz 7100LC processor, 32 MB RAM, 525 MB hard drive, 17 inch color monitor. Price is US$19,000. Performance is 101 SPECint92 and 137 SPECfp92. [85]
• Hewlett-Packard introduces the HP 7000 Model 712/80 computer. It features a 80-MHz 7100LC processor. Performance is 121 SPECfp92. [85]
• Intel and Hewlett-Packard announce a partnership to develop a 64-bit CPU architecture designed to replace the current x86 and PA-RISC architectuures. [49]
• Digital Equipment introduces the 233-MHz Alpha 21064A processor. Price is US$867 in 1000 unit quantities. It replaces the 225-MHz version. [49]

June 13

• SunWorld '94 is held in San Francisco. [63]

June

• Hal Computer Systems achieves first working prototype of a 64-bit SPARC-based processor. [188]
• MIPS Technologies ships the 75-MHz R8000 RISC microprocessor. [90.134]
• MIPS Technologies ships the 133-MHz R4600 RISC microprocessor. [90.134]
• MIPS Technologies ships the 200-MHz 64-bit R4400 RISC microprocessor. [90.134]

(month unknown)

• IDT announces sample availability of the 150-MHz R4600 processor. Performance is 104 SPECint92 and 81 SPECfp92. Price is US$325 in 1000 unit quantities. [123]

July

• IBM ships AIX 4.1 for the RS/6000, and AIX for the Power Macintosh. [58.12] [132.80]
• Digital Equipment ships its AXP 21064A 64-bit 275-MHz Alpha RISC processor in volume quantities, for US$1192 in 1000 unit quantities. The processor features dual 16 KB internal caches. [15] [88.261] [90.134] [133]
• Digital Equipment ships the 225-MHz Alpha 21064A processor. [90.134]

August 14

• The Hot Chips conference is held in Palo Alto, California. [123]

August

• At the Hot Chips conference, Digital unveils the 21164 Alpha processor. It features two integer units, a floating-point addition logic unit, a floating point multiplier, 8 KB data cache, 8 KB instruction cache, and 96 KB secondary cache. Target operating frequency is 300-MHz. Code name during development was EV-5. [133] [134]

September

• Sun Microsystems announces the 64-bit UltraSparc processor. Target clock speed is 167-MHz. The chip is the first to implement the SPARC v9 architecture, and incorporates two integer units, and five units for floating point and graphics calculations. [47] [152]
• Digital Equipment Corporation formally introduces its next-generation Alpha AXP processors, including a 300-MHz version that can execute 1 billion instructions per second. [16] [53]

October

• At the Microprocessor Forum, MIPS Technologies announces the R10000 RISC microprocessor. [48] [158]
• Sun Microsystems produces the first test version of the UltraSparc processor. [186]

(month unknown)

• SPARC Technology Business (a subsidiary of Sun Microsystems) begins shipment of samples of the 75-MHz SuperSparc-2 processor. Price is US$999 in 1000 unit quantities. [184]

November

• At Comdex, Digital Equipment announces the 21066A processor, a 0.5-micron version of the Alpha 21066 processor, operating 40% faster than the previous version. Speeds announced are 166-MHz and 233-MHz. Price is US$396 in 1000 unit quantities. [185]
• Digital Equipment introduces the AlphaStation 200 4/166, featuring a 166-MHz 64-bit Alpha AXP 21064 processor, and PCI bus, for US$6995. [129.14] [17]
• Digital Equipment introduces the AlphaStation 200 4/233, featuring a 233-MHz 64-bit Alpha AXP 21064 processor, and PCI bus, for US$11,750. [129.14] [17]
• Digital Equipment introduces the AlphaStation 400 4/233, featuring a 233-MHz 64-bit Alpha AXP 21064 processor, and PCI bus, for US$12,595. [129.14] [17]
• Digital Equipment introduces the AlphaServer 1000 4/200, for US$15,970. [129.14]
• Digital Equipment introduces the AlphaServer 2000 4/200, for US$18,070. [129.14]
• Digital Equipment introduces the AlphaServer 2100 4/275, for US$21,940. [129.14]
• Digital Equipment introduces the DEC 7000 Model 700 multiprocessor enterprise server, for US$120,000. [129.14]
• Sun Microsystems announces the SparcStation 20 Model HS11 computer. It features a 100-MHz HyperSparc processor from Ross Technology, 32 MB RAM, and 1 GB hard drive. Performance is 105 SPECint92, 128 SPECfp92. Price is US$18,695. [17] [184]

December 31

• During the year, Worldwide shipments of workstations: 779,385. [22]
• During the year, Commercial computer animation market: 63.5% PC, 16.5% workstation (Unix), 20% Macintosh. [125.14]