Xenix - Real Unix

Plexus First to Adopt UNIX System III STD

Santa Clara, Calif. -- February 2, 1982 -- PRN -- Plexus Computers, Inc. today became the first computer system manufacturer to adopt Western Electric's new UNIX (TM) System III operating system as the standard for its existing and planned product lines.

The company also reduced its licensing fees for systems with Version 7, the previous Western Electric UNIX operating system. The reductions are effective immediately.

UNIX is a powerful, highly portable operating system developed by Bell Laboratories that offers strong multi-user and interactive features. Programs written under UNIX on one computer system will run on another manufacturer's system with little or no modification.

UNIX System III was announced by Western Electric in November, with licensing fees considerably below previous UNIX versions, and with more utilities included. Although other computer manufacturers have expressed interest in it, only Plexus has made it the standard for its present and future products.

"We are announcing our support for UNIX System III partly because we want to show our commitment to UNIX-based computer technologies, and also because we feel it will become the standard operating system for minicomputers," says Robert F. Marsh, president of Plexus Computers. "Since System III includes the Programmer's Workbench (PWB) and Source Code Control System (SCCS), which were not in Version 7, we feel the increased functionality will ensure the success of System III," he added. Marsh is one of the founders of /usr/group (pronounced "slash user slash group"), a commercial UNIX users group that represents more than 100 companies.

Marsh said Plexus engineers are currently installing System III on the company's products. Plexus will upgrade its existing systems running UNIX Version 7 to the System III operating system at nominal cost, Marsh said.

Reflecting Western Electric's license fee reductions for UNIX, Plexus has reduced its licensing fees for Version 7. Prices are cut to $1,000 from $5,000 for the eight-user system, to $1,000 from $7,500 for 16 users, and to $2,500 from $10,000 for 24-user systems. These prices are effective immediately, Marsh said.

Founded in 1980, Plexus Computers, Inc. is based in Santa Clara, Calif., and has sales offices in four major cities throughout the United States, including: Framingham, Mass. (Boston); Dallas, Texas; Newport Beach, Calif. (Los Angeles); and Santa Clara, Calif. (San Francisco).

Last fall, Plexus introduced the P/40, the first in a line of commercial UNIX-based systems the company plans to introduce. Plexus also plans to develop UNIX-based systems software and software development tools to expand applications using the system and to serve what the company calls the distributed professional computing market.

CONTACT -- Leslie Schroeder of Plexus Computers at 408-988-1755