3/50 upgrade product announcement from Sun

[William LeFebvre]

I just got this Friday from our local Sun office.  Thought some readers
might just possibly be interested (is that an understatement?).

PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENT   3/50 Upgrade
--------------------

Only the flat-top 3/50 versions are upgradable. This version has been
shipping since July 1987. At this time we are unable to announce anything
for the dimple-top 3/50's but several possible alternatives are under
evaluation.

The upgrades have 75 to 90 day availability and are priced as follows:

Upgrades for flat-top 3/50s:
  UG3/60-4F   Upgrade 3/50 CPU to 3/60 CPU w/4MB         $4,950
  UG3/60-8F   Upgrade 3/50 CPU to 3/60 CPU w/8MB         $6,650
  UG3/60-12F  Upgrade 3/50 CPU to 3/60 CPU w/12MB       $10,050
  UG3/60-16F  Upgrade 3/50 CPU to 3/60 CPU w/16MB       $13,450
  UG3/60-20F  Upgrade 3/50 CPU to 3/60 CPU w/20MB       $16,850
  UG3/60-24F  Upgrade 3/50 CPU to 3/60 CPU w/24MB       $20,250

Customers may install the upgrade themselves or call Sun to install.  It
is covered by a 90 day warranty. If a service agreement covers the system,
Sun will install the upgrade at no charge as a courtesy to the customer.

This upgrade offers customers the best solution to capacity constrained
3/50s. The 3/60 upgrade is a high quality, high performance solution.
Internal evaluation of 3/50 add-on solutions has indicated they may cause
possible reliability problems such as:

  a. Erratic and unpredictable failures due to exceeding the
     internal power supply capacity.
  b. Increased failures due to air flow restrictions and increased
     heat dissipation.
  c. Incompatibility of hardware and software with various
     of the CPU when married with an add-on product.
  d. Damage to CPU on installation and de-installation.
  e. Unforeseen difficulties due to past and future design changes.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
-------------------
1. How do I know if I have a dimple-top or flat-top system

   The older style dimple-top systems were built prior to July'87 and are
   attached directly to the 3/50 base with the ball of the monitor into
   the dimple of the base. These systems would have serial numbers
   beginning with numbers less than 730. The newer flat-top style have
   monitors resting atop the base unit.

2. What do I get with the upgrade?

   The upgrades for the flat-top offer the exchange of the 3/50 CPU board
   for the 3/60 CPU.  Also included is the installation documentation and
   3/60 feature tape.

3. Will other upgrades be offered for the 3/50?

   We plan to offer upgrades to future Motorola and SPARC based products
   as they become available. We do not foresee availability of these
   upgrades for 3-6 months after the base product is announced.

4. Why has Sun not come out with its own memory add-on for the 3/50 like
the ones from Clearpoint, Helios and SunFlower?

   Several designs were proposed and some actually were built and tested.
   Each and every one was rejected due to the lack of confidence in
   product quality and reliability that could be achieved when evaluating
   the complete system including the add-on memory.

5. What if we choose to go with one of the 3/50 add-on products?

   If the add-on product specially modifies the Sun product such as the
   soldering of components, Sun will not honor the warranty and will
   support the product on a T&M best efforts basis only. This applies as
   well to any service agreement covering the product.

   If the add-on product is reversible, then Sun will continue to support
   the Sun system and the Sun components, however the customer must
   properly install/de-install the add-on product for service to be
   performed. Also, should the addition of the add-on memory cause a
   failure or increase the failure rate of the Sun system, then the
   customer will be liable for T&M charges.

6. Will Sun be able to ship these upgrades in a timely manner?

   You should quote a 75-90 day lead time. We have a commitment from
   manufacturing for enough boards to meet our forecasted requirement.  We
   expect availability to be less than 75-90 days in Q4.

	William LeFebvre
	<phil at Rice.edu>