255:, one of the primary backers behind the formation of ACE, they were shifting priorities away from higher-end systems. Other factors included Compaq's ongoing restructuring amidst disappointing financial results, the accelerated introduction of the Pentium, and increasing availability of Unix software for the Intel architecture. This was followed in short order by SCO announcing that they were suspending all work on moving their version of Unix to the MIPS platform. Canion's departure from Compaq had precipitated the dissolution of a technology development agreement between Compaq and SGI in early 1992 that had been established for the co-development of MIPS-based computers, although Compaq denied that this would result in the company withdrawing from the ACE consortium, which happened only months later.
198:, to respond to gains by Hewlett-Packard and IBM, and to proliferate its own technologies. Compaq, Microsoft and SCO were perceived to be using it as a defensive strategy to prevent "Sun taking over the desktop and replacing Intel-architecture PCs with RISC, Unix SparcStations" with the consequent loss of opportunities for those companies. By joining the initiative, SCO was able to broaden its portfolio to RISC platforms alongside its existing Intel platform products, and Microsoft needed vendor support for its "Portable OS/2", later Windows NT, strategy.
87:, was a significant focus of the initiative, the "key force" behind it was said to be Compaq recognising that it needed to pursue a strategy with MIPS in order to compete in the emerging personal workstation market. A week prior to the ACE announcement, Compaq had entered into a relationship with Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI) involving an investment in SGI, the payment of advance royalties, and a strategy to co-develop low-cost workstation systems targeting a price range of "about $ 8,000 or $ 7,000 for a really usable system".
259:
about this pending acquisition and SGI's resulting control over the target platform. DEC had released their Alpha processor and were less interested in promoting a competing architecture, indicating continued low-end support for MIPS, but exhibiting a lack of commitment to future products, notably in relation to the MIPS R4000 line of processors and support for OSF/1 on the company's DECstation products.
272:
customers". Indeed, one reported motivation for Compaq's involvement in ACE was to "light a fire under Intel" and get the company to produce a roadmap that was competitive enough for Compaq's customers. Intel's response was to accelerate the delivery of the
Pentium and to pursue parallel development of three generations of future products (
271:
Intel was never itself a member of ACE, with its processor architecture having been introduced to the effort by Compaq. Since MIPS had been seeking to gain market share at Intel's expense, the initiative was a competitive threat to Intel, forcing the company "to take greater steps to accommodate its
262:
Meanwhile, the accelerated delivery and anticipated performance improvements of Intel's upcoming
Pentium processor, combined with more competitive pricing, made the "20 to 30 percent premium" of MIPS-based systems less attractive to vendors such as Compaq and their customers. Although ACE originally
258:
There were other potential conflicts and difficulties for the consortium. In early 1992, SGI had announced its intention to acquire MIPS Computer
Systems, leading vendors such as Control Data ("the largest OEM customer of both MIPS and SGI") to consider switching to other architectures over concerns
230:
The emerging rift within the ACE consortium was averted when it was decided to add support for SVR4 alongside OSF/1, thus placating the group which, by then, included
Siemens, Sony, NEC, Prime Computer, Olivetti, Tandem and Pyramid among its members. Although concerns persisted about the domination
105:
through the combined effects of a wide selection of software and the ease of building Wintel machines that supported it. ACE was formed to provide an alternative platform to Wintel, providing a viable alternative with the same advantages in terms of software support, and greater advantages in terms
189:
Each of the companies involved had their own reasons for joining the ACE effort. MIPS wanted to reverse the fragmentation seen with existing MIPS-based systems that had limited wider adoption of the architecture. Various semiconductor companies, particularly "giants" such as
Toshiba and NEC, were
267:
architecture, customers were reportedly confused by an incoherent message around the different hardware and software options encompassed by the initiative. Consequently, an increased emphasis on the MIPS architecture "as an informal recognition of what the organization has really been doing all
243:
computing platform. The upstart platforms did not offer enough performance improvement from the incumbent PC and there were major cost disadvantages of such systems due to the low volume production. When the initiative started, RISC based systems (running at 100-200 MHz at the time) had
231:
of the initiative by the founding members, the introduction of SVR4 complicated the position of DEC and SCO whose involvement focused on SCO Open
Desktop built on the OSF/1 kernel. However, the availability of SVR4 was regarded as a way of satisfying end-user demand, particularly by Compaq.
109:
The environment standardized on two hardware platforms: a personal computer platform based on the Intel 80386 and 80486 processors, and a workstation platform based on the ARC specification. To be supported by both hardware platforms were two
206:
Even prior to the announcement of the initiative, a number of companies headed by Compaq and including
Siemens, Sony, Silicon Graphics, Unisys and Control Data Corporation favoured the adoption of Unix System V Release 4
268:
along" was envisaged, focusing more on ARC as a way of delivering MIPS-based hardware. In April 1992, the ACE Executive
Advisory Board refocused the initiative on systems software availability for the ARC platform.
239:
Even so, the ACE initiative (and consortium) began to fall apart little more than a year after it started, as it became apparent that there was not a mass market for an alternative to the
308:
environment. Although ACE went defunct, and no computer was ever manufactured which fully complied with the ARC standard, the ARC system still exerts a widespread legacy in that all
190:
perceived as embracing the initiative to establish themselves and to take market share from Intel. DEC used the initiative as an attempt to take market share away from the
456:
358:
In addition, most of the various RISC-based computers designed to run
Windows NT used versions of the ARC boot console to boot NT. Among these computers were:
636:"New breed of computers based on new standard UNIX/RISC software debuts: Compaq's Rod Canion says 'ACE' destined to be environment of choice for the 1990s"
431:
223:
group, consisting primarily of DEC and SCO, sought to define interoperability with DEC's Ultrix operating system. The Apache group later adopted the name
488:
520:
399:-based computers would adopt the ARC console, although only SGI ever marketed such IA-32-based machines with ARC firmware (namely, the
377:
bus designed prior to the end of support for
Windows NT Alpha in September 1999 (the Alpha ARC firmware was also known as AlphaBIOS)
34:) was defined by an industry consortium in the early 1990s to be the next generation commodity computing platform, the successor to
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1210:
1145:
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46:. The effort found little support in the market and dissolved due to infighting within the group and a lack of sales.
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At the time it was widely believed that RISC-based systems would maintain a price/performance advantage over the
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713:
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248:
chips (running at approximately 60 MHz at the time), but the Pentium promised to reduce such advantages.
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group, reportedly conceived as a pun on "Big Indian". At that early stage, a different group known as the
1203:
635:
1268:
1182:
1091:
280:
and P7), thus providing a roadmap that could dissuade its customers from adopting RISC architectures.
853:
83:(ARC) specification, indicating the details of an "open and scalable" hardware platform based on the
767:
740:
465:
355:) boot from an ARCS console (which uses the same drive naming conventions as Windows, accordingly).
211:) as the means to provide portability between the MIPS and Intel architectures. Since SVR4 favoured
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20:
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Compaq was the first company to leave the consortium, stating that with the departure of CEO
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Cassell, Jonathan; Khermouch, Gerry; Stedman, Craig; Zipper, Stuart (4 May 1992).
965:"From Server Room to Living Room: How open source and TiVo became a perfect match"
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122:(originally named OS/2 3.0). Other members of the consortium included
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Products complying (to some degree) with the ARC standard include:
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1064:"Is ACE consortium in the hole as Compaq, SCO throw in cards?"
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used a modified version of the ARC firmware (which it called
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NetBSD project description of ACE (contains following links)
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19:"Apache Group" redirects here. For groups named Apache, see
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The consortium was announced on the 9th of April 1991 by
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operation, this subgroup of members was known as the
1027:
Stedman, Craig; Khermouch, Gerry (14 October 1991).
813:
714:"SGI's McCracken: From leading edge to mass market"
97:systems. However, it was also widely believed that
79:(SCO). Although the consortium's definition of the
1092:"Compaq exits ACE, posts dismal quarterly revenue"
1062:
684:
658:Advanced RISC Computing Specification Version 1.2
1250:
1029:"ACE Embraces Unix V.4 To Avoid Internal Strife"
1026:
1208:
339:) in its systems. All SGI computers which run
795:"NT Plus RISC Equals A New Breed Of Desktops"
16:Computing standard based on MIPS architecture
1204:ARC specification pdf file at www.netbsd.org
604:
1211:"Will ACE Become King of the Workstations?"
1071:. Vol. 3, no. 1910. pp. 1, 6
938:"MIPS Software Group Seen Taking Two Paths"
1116:
1098:. Vol. XXVI, no. 18. p. 105
1089:
914:. Vol. 6, no. 9. pp. 93, 49
511:, Challenge, Onyx, Origin etc. Big-Endian
976:
935:
887:. Vol. 6, no. 9. pp. 39–40
288:The main product of the ACE group is the
182:. Besides these large companies, several
878:
860:. Vol. XXV, no. 29. p. 29
824:
711:
244:substantial performance advantages over
227:after the demise of the ACE initiative.
118:with Open Desktop and what would become
1143:
1125:. Vol. XXVI, no. 4. p. 4
851:
774:. Vol. XXV, no. 15. p. 7
747:. Vol. XXV, no. 15. p. 6
738:
1251:
999:
962:
956:
765:
638:. Software Industry Report. 1991-04-15
1117:Hildebrand, Carol (27 January 1992).
905:
879:Heichler, Elizabeth (29 April 1991).
792:
720:. Vol. 6, no. 9. p. 94
712:Heichler, Elizabeth (29 April 1991).
572:—a competing initiative based on the
403:series, which went on sale in 1999).
362:MIPS R4000-based systems such as the
186:built ACE-compliant systems as well.
881:"ACE plan: So what's a buyer to do?"
825:Mangione, Paul A. (September 1992).
693:. Vol. 3, no. 5. p. 4
682:
739:Johnson, Maryfran (15 April 1991).
201:
44:32-bit instruction set architecture
13:
852:Johnson, Maryfran (22 July 1991).
649:
323:) used ARC conventions for naming
101:would quickly displace many other
14:
1285:
1192:
1146:"DEC Rethinks VAX, Station Plans"
1002:"Vendors Support Single Mips ABI"
854:"The ACE gospel according to DEC"
1090:Hildebrand, Carol (4 May 1992).
963:Barton, Jim (July–August 2003).
936:Robertson, Jack (1 April 1991).
793:Krill, Paul (22 November 1993).
1175:
1000:Wagner, Mitch (29 March 1993).
766:Savage, J. A. (15 April 1991).
908:"When are standards standard?"
628:
598:
234:
28:Advanced Computing Environment
1:
1144:Stedman, Craig (4 May 1992).
906:Gantz, John (29 April 1991).
683:Peck, J. Richard (May 1991).
611:"New Computer Alliance Forms"
591:
73:Digital Equipment Corporation
1209:Andy Reinhardt (June 1991).
296:. It was initially based on
54:
7:
1264:Computer hardware standards
1119:"Compaq, SGI call it quits"
664:. MIPS Technology Inc. 1992
562:
392:It was also predicted that
384:computers (such as the IBM
10:
1290:
1183:Apache Software Foundation
768:"Outsiders don't fear ACE"
406:
343:6.1 or later (such as the
49:
18:
1168:
380:most Windows NT-capable
128:Control Data Corporation
1259:Advanced RISC Computing
1181:Unrelated to the later
373:-based machines with a
290:Advanced RISC Computing
81:Advanced RISC Computing
21:Apache (disambiguation)
498:NeTpower Fastseries MP
457:Carrera Computers, Inc
442:SGI Visual Workstation
401:SGI Visual Workstation
283:
978:10.1145/945074.945076
459:Cobra R4000 and VIPER
69:MIPS Computer Systems
833:. pp. 28–30, 32
691:Personal Workstation
536:Power Series 850/830
77:Santa Cruz Operation
827:"Who's Flying ACE?"
180:Zenith Data Systems
1241:2008-12-03 at the
1006:Open Systems Today
799:Open Systems Today
616:The New York Times
547:40P, 43P, E20, F30
534:Personal Computer
432:DeskStation Raptor
292:specification, or
152:Pyramid Technology
36:personal computers
1269:MIPS architecture
556:Tangent MediaStar
317:operating systems
184:startup companies
176:Wang Laboratories
112:operating systems
103:operating systems
85:MIPS architecture
1281:
1231:
1229:
1228:
1219:. Archived from
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202:The Apache Group
196:Sun Microsystems
172:Tandem Computers
160:Silicon Graphics
106:of performance.
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1243:Wayback Machine
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1150:Electronic News
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1069:Electronic News
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1035:. pp. 1, 4
1033:Electronic News
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518:Siemens-Nixdorf
494:NEC RISCstation
466:DECstation 5000
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327:devices before
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136:NEC Corporation
75:(DEC), and the
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24:
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608:(1991-04-08).
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578:Apple Computer
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1223:on 2007-02-03
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745:Computerworld
742:
741:"ABCs of ACE"
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1274:Unix history
1234:Linux-MIPS (
1225:. Retrieved
1221:the original
1214:
1177:
1154:. Retrieved
1149:
1139:
1127:. Retrieved
1122:
1112:
1100:. Retrieved
1095:
1085:
1073:. Retrieved
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1037:. Retrieved
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1022:
1010:. Retrieved
1008:. p. 32
1005:
995:
968:
958:
946:. Retrieved
944:. p. 30
941:
916:. Retrieved
912:Digital News
911:
901:
889:. Retrieved
885:Digital News
884:
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862:. Retrieved
857:
847:
835:. Retrieved
830:
803:. Retrieved
801:. p. 44
798:
788:
776:. Retrieved
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749:. Retrieved
744:
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722:. Retrieved
718:Digital News
717:
707:
695:. Retrieved
690:
678:
666:. Retrieved
657:
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640:. Retrieved
630:
619:. Retrieved
615:
606:John Markoff
600:
570:AIM alliance
423:AlphaStation
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1156:25 November
1152:. p. 9
1129:25 November
1102:25 November
1075:25 November
918:27 November
891:27 November
864:27 November
831:UNIX Review
778:25 November
751:25 November
724:27 November
697:27 November
686:"Editorial"
668:27 November
484:MIPS Magnum
427:AlphaServer
366:workstation
364:MIPS Magnum
331:. Further,
246:Intel 80486
235:Dissolution
192:workstation
1253:Categories
1227:2016-06-06
1039:11 October
1012:12 October
948:11 October
837:10 October
642:2010-02-20
621:2007-05-03
592:References
553:PowerStack
419:DEC Multia
321:Windows XP
313:Windows NT
298:MIPS-based
253:Rod Canion
213:big-endian
120:Windows NT
99:Windows NT
1245:) article
969:ACM Queue
576:, led by
476:Microsoft
452:Acer PICA
319:(such as
310:Microsoft
300:computer
221:Gibraltar
65:Microsoft
55:Formation
38:based on
1239:Archived
987:15741363
586:Motorola
563:See also
551:Motorola
528:PowerPC
306:firmware
302:hardware
225:MIPS ABI
194:leader,
168:Sumitomo
144:Olivetti
116:SCO UNIX
805:10 June
574:PowerPC
545:RS/6000
505:Indigo²
463:Digital
407:Systems
386:RS/6000
382:PowerPC
315:-based
156:Siemens
50:History
985:
415:Alpha
349:Octane
241:Wintel
217:Apache
178:, and
132:Kubota
95:Wintel
92:ad hoc
61:Compaq
1169:Notes
983:S2CID
662:(PDF)
521:RM200
448:MIPS
438:i386
397:IA-32
394:Intel
388:40P).
371:Alpha
40:Intel
1216:Byte
1158:2021
1131:2021
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