Strand88 Announcement

[Operator]

Strand Software Technologies is pleased to announce the availability
of STRAND88(TM).  Following extensive testing, this is the first full
release of the Strand language which is based on STReams and AND 
parallelism.

STRAND88 addresses the needs of programmers who wish to explore
the programming challenges posed by the rapidly expanding number
of parallel processor hardware types becoming available. The vital
difference between STRAND88 and any other parallel processing
language is that the same code runs efficiently on single processor
machines such as workstations as well as on a growing list of parallel 
architecture hardware, including both shared memory and distributed 
memory machines, based on most of the common processor types e.g.  
Intel 80386, Motorola 68020/30, SUN Sparc, Inmos Transputer and
NatSemi 32032.  (Further details of specific hardware platforms
supported are shown below.)

STRAND88 offers the programmer:-

PARALLEL SEMANTICS.

Many widely used systems analysis tools and development
methodologies are based on the technique of identifying parallel
streams of computation which, for execution on von Neumann
machines, have to be arranged in a particular sequence.
STRAND88's parallel semantics allows these parallel streams
to be mapped directly into executable STRAND88 code to take full
advantage of available parallel hardware.  The continued use of
established methodologies is a major benefit but, in addition,
applications written in STRAND88 will run on any configuration of
parallel hardware, ranging from those with only one processor to
those with thousands, without modification.

PORTABILITY.

The design of STRAND88 and the implementation techniques
employed allow applications written in STRAND88 to migrate to
the latest generation of hardware without re-programming effort
giving the benefit of 'future-proofing'.  Programmers will also
appreciate being liberated from dependency on a particular
hardware manufacturer.

PROTECTION OF INVESTMENT IN EXISTING APPLICATIONS.

We have designed a foreign language interface into STRAND88
which allows exisiting applications, written in sequential languages
to be re-analysed (through functional and data decomposition)
and a STRAND88 harness added to them to allow the parallelism
latent in them to be identified and exploited.  At present C and
Fortran interfaces are provided but more will follow.

STRAND88 PRICES AND AVAILABILITY:-
In the tables below, the first figure is the $US price (for USA) and the 
second figure is the pounds sterling price (for the rest of the world 
except that prices in Japanese Yen are also available - see contact details 
below).

EDUCATIONAL PRICES

HARDWARE TYPE

PC PLUG-IN TRANSPUTER BOARDS	
Supporting Helios, Parasoft Express	

WORKSTATIONS						
Sun 3, Sun 4, System V Unix/80386 Workstations and Atari ATW
Transputer Workstation

WORKSTATION PLUG-IN TRANSPUTER BOARDS
Supporting Helios, Parasoft Express

	All of the above at $500 (350) for a single unit license.


SHARED MEMORY SUPERCOMPUTERS
Sequent Symmetry and Balance
Encore MultiMAX	

DISTRIBUTED MEMORY SUPERCOMPUTERS
Intel iPSC/2

MULTI TRANSPUTER SUPERCOMPUTERS
Meiko Computing Surface

	All of the above at $1250 (850) for a single unit license.


MEDIA AND DOCUMENTATION  

A pack which includes one set of documentation and the
appropriate media is included in the above prices.  Additional sets
of documentation are available at $165 (110) per set.


NEW RELEASES AND UPGRADES

New releases and upgrades, as and when available, will be priced
at $200 (125) per pack per hardware type to include media,
documentation and delivery to the site.

EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT AND MAINTENANCE

Such agreements  are available at 25% of the Unit License fees
per annum.

SITE LICENSES

Educational establishments have, as an alternative to single unit
pricing the option to license the software on a per site basis for
the payment of a license fee of $5,000 (3,500) for all versions
of Strand on all supported hardware.

The Licensee may at any time now and in the future use as many
copies of the software as required on the site.  One copy of the
appropriate media and full documentation will be supplied for
each hardware type required at $250 (150) per pack delivered
to the site.

The Site Licensee is also entitled to any future additional hardware
implementations of Strand under these same terms and conditions.

Site License fees will be invoiced at the time of dispatch of the
initial software order.

EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT AND MAINTENANCE

Educational Support and Maintenance is available for Site Licensees
including hotline support for the sum of $1,250 (900)  per annum.
Unless otherwise agreed, each site must have one named technical
contact through whom all communications with Strand Software
Technologies Inc. regarding technical support issues must be routed.


RUN TIME LICENCES

Versions of Strand are available for installation on target host
machines which are intended solely to run applications.  These are
available as Educational Run Time licenses at $150 (100) per copy,
multiple copies by negotiation.

EDUCATIONAL PRICING IS ONLY AVAILABLE TO RECOGNISED
EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS AND WHERE THE USE IS FOR
TEACHING AND NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY.


COMMERCIAL PRICES			Single		Annual
					Licence		Maint
HARDWARE TYPE				Fee		Charge
					$		$
					(sterling)	(sterling)
PC PLUG-IN TRANSPUTER BOARDS
Supporting Helios, Parasoft Express 	1,500		400
					(1,000)		(300)
WORKSTATION PLUG-IN TRANSPUTER BOARDS
Supporting Helios, Parasoft Express 	3,500		700
					(2,000)		(400)

WORKSTATIONS	
Sun 3, Sun 4, System V Unix/80386
Workstations and Atari ATW		6,500		1,300 
Transputer Workstation			(4,000)		(600)

SHARED MEMORY SUPERCOMPUTERS	
Sequent Symmetry and Balance		16,000		3,200
Encore MultiMAX				(10,000)	(1,500)
 
MULTI TRANSPUTER SUPERCOMPUTERS	
Meiko Computing				16,000		3,200	 
Surface					(10,000)	(1,500)
							
DISTRIBUTED MEMORY SUPERCOMPUTERS	
Intel iPSC/2				20,000		4,000
					(12,000)	(1,800)

MEDIA AND DOCUMENTATION

A pack which includes one set of documentation and the
appropriate media is included in the above prices.  Additional
sets of documentation are available at $165 (110) per set.

RUN TIME LICENSES

Versions of Strand are available for installation on target host
machines which are intended solely to run applications.  These are
available as Commercial Run Time licenses at 5% of the List Price
of the target machine per copy, multiple copies by negotiation.

ANNUAL MAINTENANCE CHARGE
 
Includes hotline support and new releases of the software
originally licensed and is payable annually in advance.  It will be
billed at the time of dispatch of the software and on each
anniversary thereafter 

The software may be subject to encryption.

Site Licenses are available by negotiation.

The prices shown do not include local sales taxes.



For further information, please e-mail:-

Strand88 at ail.co.uk

or contact:-

In USA (from 14 August 1989):-

Strand Software Technologies Inc.,
15220 N.W. Greenbrier Parkway, Suite 350,
Beaverton, OR 97006

Tel. No. 503 690 9830	Fax. No.503 690 9797

In  the rest of the world:-

Strand Software Technologies,
Greycaine Road,
Watford,
Herts, WD2 4JP
UK

Tel. No. 0923 247707 (within UK) or +44 923 247707 (elsewhere in Europe)
Fax. No. 0923 247836 (within UK) or +44 923 247836 (elsewhere in Europe)

STRAND88TM  and StrandTM are trademarks of Artificial Intelligence Ltd.
Strand Software Technologies is a division of Artificial Intelligence Ltd.