UI delivers second early access version of SVR4 ES/MP

Software Industry Report

July 20 1992

UNIX International has provided its members with early access to a second version of SVR4 Enhanced Security/Multiprocessing (ES/MP) now in development at UNIX Systems Laboratories Inc. (USL).

This version, based on the multiprocessing technology requirements defined in UI's 1992 roadmap for SVR4 technologies, builds on the first early access load made available last December with a fully multi-threaded kernel.

It also merges the features of SVR4.1 Enhanced Security and SVR4.2, and provides scalability to support up to 30 CPUs. Other enhancements include a compilation environment that allows customers to build and install both uniprocessor and multiprocessor versions; installable reference binaries for the Intel platform (with systems management commands for administering the multiprocessor features); and a preliminary version of the application programming interfaces for multi-threaded enhanced security features. The APIs allow application developers to improve performance by parallelizing application operations across multiple CPUs.

USL says it plans to make SVR4 ES/MP generally available in mid-1993. It is being developed by USL and partners including Fujitsu, ICL, NCR, Pyramid and Sequent Computer Systems. It is complaint with all relevant industry standards and maintains source and binary code compatibility with existing SVR4 products.