Digital to OEM Intel Merced-Based Servers From Sequent

BEAVERTON, Ore. - March 9, 1998 - In an important endorsement of its NUMA (Non-Uniform Memory Access) technology, and its vision of a multi-tiered, managed computing environment able to run multiple instances of UNIX and Windows NT, Sequent Computer Systems, Inc. today announced that Digital Equipment Corporation will become an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of Intel Merced™-based servers from Sequent.

Sequent will become Digital's sole supplier of high-end Intel Merced-based servers for the UNIX NUMA market.

This next generation of Sequent's successful NUMA-Q™ 2000 data center server family will combine the functionality of traditional mainframes and the price performance and flexibility of multi-tiered microprocessor-based environments. Additionally, Sequent's system architecture will enable companies to run multiple application and data servers on a combination of UNIX and Windows NT operating systems in a single, easily-managed data center platform. This level of system flexibility will provide smooth interoperability with data center Windows NT, and the ability to better manage a multi-tier environment for high availability and lower total cost of ownership.

According to Digital, this OEM relationship with Sequent will move Digital to the forefront of high-end NUMA Intel systems.

Tim Yeaton, vice president of Digital's UNIX Systems Group, said, "We are committed to delivering the best of both Alpha and Intel-based systems to our customers. Sequent is an acknowledged leader in large Intel systems, and the leader in NUMA technology for commercial production environments. We are confident that its next-generation Merced-based platform, in combination with our IA-64™ UNIX operating system, will be the leading high-end offering on Intel."

According to Sequent, this is an important endorsement of its NUMA technology and its roadmap going forward with large-scale data center systems supporting heterogeneous workloads.

Casey Powell, chairman and CEO of Sequent, said, "Our 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 with price/performance indicative of Intel platforms. This validates our efforts and will prove to be a big win for both companies."

Powell continued, "Sequent approaches the year 2000 better positioned than ever to make our system integrator and end-user customers successful. We have a strong technology roadmap on Intel which provides excellent UNIX and Windows NT integration. We also have one of the premier service organizations in the industry. Our OEM relationship and UNIX partnership with Digital will help us go forward confidently and remain focused on what we do best."

IA-64 UNIX Initiative

The Digital OEM announcement comes just two months after Digital and Sequent announced their IA-64 UNIX Initiative (January 6, 1998) to build an industry-leading IA-64 UNIX on Intel with broad support from ISVs and other vendor partners. The new IA-64 UNIX will be based on Digital UNIX but incorporate key technologies from Sequent's DYNIX/ptx®, and offer integral Windows NT/UNIX interoperability.

NUMA - Next-Generation SMP

Sequent's NUMA-Q architecture is a quantum leap for mainframe alternative computing. NUMA-Q enables high-end scalability by linking four Pentium® Pro microprocessor SHV baseboards or "quads" via an innovative interconnect technology called IQ-Link. Sequent's IQ-Link™ is designed to move data among up to 63 quads (252 processors) while the operating system and applications software continue to operate as one large shared-everything SMP system without re-coding, thereby providing unparalleled scalability and performance.

About Sequent Computer Systems, Inc.

Sequent Computer Systems (Nasdaq:SQNT), the leader in Intel-based systems for the data center, is committed to the success of its end-user and system integrator customers. Sequent's platform architectures and services are optimized for the scalability, availability and manageability requirements of corporate and institutional data center environments leveraging industry-standard technologies and best-in-class partnerships.

Sequent was the world's fastest-growing server vendor between $100K and $1M in 1997 on the strength of NUMA-Q 2000, and has been the number one vendor of high-end UNIX servers in the UK for the past seven years, according to IDC. Sequent supports more than 10,000 installations worldwide, including many of the world's largest and most sophisticated OLTP, DSS, business communications, and RDBMS applications.