auxiliary processor black boxes

[Sid Shapiro]

Hi there folks,
An aquaintence at AT&T told me that in his shop, if one program, for example,
troff, started eating too many cycles, they would "hang a
troff-processor-box" off his vax (or other machine) to handle the troff jobs
- they would be shipped to the box, and when done, they would be shipped back.

That sounds pretty good to me, but he also said that these were proprietary
kinds of boxes, so my question is:

Does anyone do this type of "off-line" processing in general, and
specifically, does anyone use/know of a scribe-processor-box off which might
hang off of a vax running 4.2 (actually Ultrix)?

Any  pointers to poeple doing it, or vendors who sell such stuff would be
most appreciated.  If I get enough responses, etc., etc.

Thanks,
Sid Shapiro -- Wang Institute of Graduate Studies
    [apollo, bbncca, ucadmus, decvax, linus, masscomp]!wanginst!ss
    ss%wang-inst at Csnet-Relay.ARPA
	  (617)649-9731