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 BYTE
COVER STORY BUILDING NETWORK APPS
May 1998, vol. 23, no. 5

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FAST, EASY JAVA Cracker JDBC's The Road to

By Peter Wayner
Our tests will help you find 76 Tracking
112C
It's midnight. Do
you know who's
Growing Pains a Universal
112M Repository
Java Database Con- 1125
the right development tools for your nectivity: Develop- Componenttech­
trying to hack ers need more than no logy heats up
Java projects. your network? promises. an old idea.

MAN A GING DATA

Computers to Go
When Parallel Lines Meet SONA 1
81 By Russell Kay
By Ken Rudin What to expect in the future
Parallel databases can wring the best of portable computing.
performance out of parallel­
processing hardware.

NETWORK I NTEGRATION The Crypto Bomb Is Ticking

Breaking Bandwidth Bottlenecks 97
89 By Bruce Schneier
By Scott Mace Cracking encryption gets
Management tools can prioritize easier as computers get
traffic, guarantee bandwidth, and faster and cheaper. Now
cache data closer to use rs. what?

4 BYT E M AY 1 998
 EDITORIAL LAB REPORTS CHAOS MANOR
14 SO FT WARE HARDWARE Four Ways to More Storage
Nine Recipes 333-MHz Pentium lls: 131
for Fast. Easy Java Slow-Bus Swan Song By Jerry Pournelle
INBOX 76 11 4 Jerry tests five methods to
By Peter Wayner By Dan Tanner increase storage, from adding
17
Java tools are prolifer­ We test 19 NT disk drives, to RAID, to digi tal
ating. We sort them workstations video.
out with hands-on powered by Intel's
BITS testing of the top Deschutes
products. processor. WHAT'S NEW
Pentium II: Going Mobile 24
Unixes for Merced 25 155
Big backup on a budget, image­
Iris-Scanning Security 26 WEB PROJECT REVIEWS editing tools, easy Web access,
Build an E-Store Fast 32 Deploying Effective HTML LOW · COST PC s and PA-R1SC notebooks.
GartnerGroup: 98 or NT? 38 Forms Cheap PCs: Bargain
103 or Blunder?
By Jon Udell 125 IMPROBABLE
EVAL 10 tips for crearing the best By Robert L. Hum mel
Web forms you can . They cost less than a grand. The Click of Doom
PROGRAMMING TOOLS 160
Are they worth it?
Java for Windows By Marc Abrahams
41 JAVATALK UTILITY A Delete key that could save
Microsoft's Visual J+ + 6.0. Remote-Control Registry civilization and sanity.
Toplink Bridges Two Worlds
107 128
GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR
By Rick Crehan By William Wong
3D Labs Puts a Glint
A pure Java object-relational KeyVision removes a lot of SERVICE
in Graphics World's Eye
database system maps Java the hass le and lets you manage
42 Product Information
objects to relational databases. Windows 95 and NT registries
The Glint GMX 2000. http: //www.byte.com/
from afar.
hotbytes/
OPERATING SYSTEM
Unix Gears Up for Merced FUTURE VISION FIELD TEST :
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45
The Smallest Components Remote Access for Short Alphabetical Order 152
SCO's new UnixWare.
111 Attention Spans Editorial Index
NET MANAGEMENT By Udo Flohr 129 by Company 154
SMS: Ready for NT 5.0 Deep inside IBM's R&D labs, By Michelle Campana le
46 the futur e of computing looks We check out Covad' s
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QNX/Neutrino is a microker­ ColdFire Revisited BYTE (ISSN0360-5280) is published monthly by The
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www.byte.com MAY 19 98 BYTE 5

 CONTENTS BY PLATFORM
INDEX

Unix Gears Up for Merced 45

pure-Java object-relational ADSL . . . .. . .. . . . . .. . . . . . . . 129

WINDOWS

SCO's SVR5-based UnixWare

database system. Agents . . ... . ... . . . .. . ... . . . 49

More PC Power to Go . • . . . 24

7 offers faster networking, bet­

Atomic force microscopy . . . 111

BYTE tests show that the speed

ter reliability, and 64-bit fea­
NETWORKS Backup .. .. .. ....... ... . .. 155

of Mobile Pentium II note­

tures for Intel boxes.
How to Build
C++ ..... . ... ... .. ... . . . . . . 60

books will nearly match that of

an E-Store Fast . ........ . 32
CD-RW . .. . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

the fastest x8 6 desktops. Using Perl with Databases 5 7

You don 't have to host your CGI . ...... . ........ . . . .... . 55

The Royal Botanic Gardens

GartnerGroup Report ..• • 3 8

own Web site to open up an on­
takes on the task of publishing
Chips .. ... .. . .. 42, 51 , 111 , 114

With the real NT 5 about a year line store.

Access data on the Internet in a
ColdFire . . . .. . . . . ... .. . . . .. . 51

away, do you buy into Win 98?

Unix-only server environment.
Double Trouble
Compilers Oust-in-time) . . . . 60

Or stay with Win 9 5? Or ...

for E-Mail Security. . .... . 40
Covington .. .. .. .. . ... .... 125

Java for Windows . . • . . ... 41

DATABASES The director of the Internet Cryptography algorithms . . . . 97

Microsoft's Visual]++ 6.0 Using Perl with Databases 57

Mail Consortium discusses Databases ... .. . 57, 60, 81 , 107

blends an enhanced Visual Need to publish data, locked standards problems. Deschutes .. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 114

Basic IDE with Java's object­ up in a Unix database, on the Desktop PCs ... . . 114, 125, 131

SMS: Ready for NT 5.0 .. • . 4 6

oriented programming toolset. Web? This article shows you A look at the beta of Development tools . .... ..... 76

3D Labs Puts a Glint in Graphics

how, using Perl and several Microsoft's Systems Manage­ Digital Video Data Storage . 131

World's Eye . .. • . . • •. • . . • 42
inexpensive tools. ment Server 2.0 shows smarter E-commerce . . .. . ..... . . 25, 32

The first single-chip g!;!ometry Where Parallel Lines Meet 81

use of inventory management E-mail .. .. .. . .. .. .. ... 40, 1 55

and lighting processor screams Here's how to set up your data­ standards. Embedded technology . . . 47, 51

on NT. base system for speedier query Encryption . .. .. .. ..... . .... 97

What's Your Service? . • •·.. 49

333-MHz Pentium lls:

results. The Service Location Protocol Graphics accelerator . . . . . .. . 42

Slow-Bus Swan Song . . .. 116

Toplink Bridges
allows devices to advertise HTML. .. ........ . .. 41, 55, 103

Should you wait until the faster Two Worlds .... ...... ... 107
their functions and features on Holography. .. . . . .. . . . . .. . . 111

bus arrives? The linchpin of this object-rela­ an intranet. Computers and IA-64.. . . . ... . . . ... . . . ... . . 24

Cheap PCs: Bargain

tional system is a data structure other devices can automatically Internet/Web . .. 17, 24, 49, 55,

or Blunder? ........ .. .. 125

that maps the details of object find and use these services. 57 ,60, 103, 129, 155

Spend one thousand dollars structure (and object relation­ Java .. . 41 , 55, 60, 76, 107, 155

Servlets:

and what do you get? A good ships) to a relational database. Low-cost PCs . . . . . .. . . . .. . 12 5

CG! the Java Way . ... . .. . 55

PC or just deeper in debt? Merced . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 25, 45

Given Java's pointerless

JAVA nature, a Java-based servlet is Mobile Pentium ............ 24

Remote-Control Registry 12 8

Java for Windows . . .... . . 41

less li kely than a C + + plug-in Modems .... ............ . . 129

Windows 95 and NT applica­

New Windows Foundation to crash the entire Web server. Nanotechnology . . . . .... . . . 111

tions live and die according to

Classes make Microsoft Visual Networking .. . .. 17, 45, 46, 49,

their registry settings, but man­ Breaking Bandwidth

J + + 6.0 a good tool for run­ 57 , 60,89, 103, 129, 131 , 155

aging them has been a real Bottlenecks... . . . .... . ... 89

ning Java on Windows. Notebooks . . ... . . . 32, 114, 155

problem-until now. Technology can rush important

Operating systems . . . . . . 25, 38,

Four Ways
Servlets: CGI the Java Way 55
applications through a congest­ 45,47

to More Storage ........ 13 1

Servlets are Java programs ed network, or create the illu­
PCI . . . .. .. .. . . . . . . .. . . ... . 114

Our man at Chaos Manor finds designed to provide CGl-like sion of more bandwidth.
POSIX .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. ... 47

it's a breeze to add storage to capabilities. They offer better

Deploying Effective
Pentium II .. . . . ..... .. . 24, 114

Windows 95 or NT systems performance.

HTML Forms ........ .. . 103
Perl. . . . . . . . . .. .. . . . . . . . .. . . 57

and networks. How to Soup Up Java ••... 60

Everybody has seen a bad Programming . . . 17, 41 , 55, 57,

"It's Java, Captain. She canna HTML form. Here are 10 rules 60, 76, 103, 107

MACINTOSH go any faster." (Obviously for making your forms better. Protocols . . . . .. . . . . . . . .... . 49

More PC Power to Go • . . • . 24
Scotty hasn't read this month's
Remote-Control Registry l 28
Query techniques . . .. . . .. . .. 81

Wintel notebooks are getting a cover story.)

KeyVision uses ActiveX con­ RAID.. ... .... .. ...... 131 , 155

faster Pentium II. But

Nine Recipes for Fast,
trols within Internet Explorer RISC .. .. .. .... .. .. .. .. 51 , 155

BYTEmarks show that the G3­

Easy Java . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . 7 6
to provide remote batch man­ Registries .. ... .. .... ..... . 128

based Power Book is still faster.

We test development tools from agement of Windows registries. Remote control .. .. ... .. . . 128

UNIX Borland, Cosmo, IBM, Lotus,

Remote Access for Short
Security . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . 26, 97

OS Vendors Race

Microsoft, Sun, SuperCede, Service Location Protocol . . . 49

Attention Spans .•..• . . . 129

After Merced . . . .... • .... 25

Sybase, and Symantec. Servlets . .. . . . . . . .. . .. .. . . . . 55

Our reporter watches the

Unix proprietors are busy port­ Toplink Bridges
installation of Covad Commu­ Storage .. .... 1 7, 111 , 131, 155

ing their OSes to Intel's 64-bit Two Worlds •. .... . . .. . .. 107

nications' commercial ADSL Windows Foundation Classes 41

architecture. JavaTalk covers a 100-percent- service. Workstations . . . . . ... . 114, 155

6 BYTE MAY 1998 www.byte.com

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 May 1998, vol. 23, no. 5
EDITOR IN CHIEF VICE PRESIDENT/PUBLISHER HOW TO CONTACT

Ma rk Sch lack Kevin McPherson

Lexington, MA, 78 1-860-6020
THE EDITORS

Lexington, MA, 78 1-860-6827

[email protected] kmcphers @mcgraw-hil l.com We welcome your questions, comments, complaints,

kudos, and submissions.

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Lexington, MA, 781-860-6294, [email protected] Lexington, MA, 781-860-6 126 781-860-6336.

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EDITORIAL FEATURES ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER 03458, 603-924-9281.

EDITOR Senior Technical Editorat Lorge: Micha el P. Wa lsh Son Mateo: 1900 O'Farrell St. #200, San Mateo, CA

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Lexington, MA, 781-860-6298 Lexington, MA, 78 1-860-6302 mike_walsh @mcgraw-hill.com Frankfurt, Germany, +49 69 5801 123.

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Associate Publisher's Assistant:

EXECUTIVE EDITORS Senior Technical Editor: BYTE editors and columnists also have individual address­

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10 BYTE MAY 1998 www.byte.com

 266 MHz Intel " Pentium · II Processor
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 Reliability Counts

Speed thrills, but crashes kill. Time to focus on

quality code and never-say-die computing.

ith last month's cover story, Who needs MTBFs of hundreds of years
"Crash-Proof Computing," when computers are obsolete in four? Yes,
we put a stake in the ground but that M stands for mean; that average
for reliable computing. In the is a combination of happy clams and less
past, we've been as guilty as anyone of fortunate individuals whose hard drives
being dazzled by clock speeds and feature fail in the first year of operation.
sets. These are important, but reliability So, no more excuses. Time to get seri­
has become a critical issue, and at BITE ous about quality. I'm mad as hell and I'm
we're not closing our eyes to it anymore. not going to take it anymore!
In the aforementioned cover story, I have some definite ideas about where
senior editor Tom Halfhill took a bal­ computing has to go to become more reli­
anced look at the whys and wherefores able. I'll be on-line May 11-15 (http: //
of today's woefully crash-prone PCs. At www.byte.com/discuss/ discuss. htm) to
the top of this page, it says "Editorial," so talk about them with you. We'll put
I don't have to be balanced. In my opin­ together a Manifesto for Reliable Com­
ion, there's absolutely no excuse for com­ puting and lobby for it in the industry. As and take any appropriate actions.
puting that requires multiple reboots a first step, we'll add to our awards at PC 4. All computers should monitor their
each day. The typical excuses sound awful Expo and Comdex and our annual Edi­ own temperature and power consump­
whiney to me: Everything's so complex; tors' Choice Awards to recognize prod­ tion (for high and low voltage) and warn
people want so many features; it's a com­ ucts that contribute to this cause, if and of out-of-limit operations.
petitive market. when they appear. So, let me throw down 5. All peripherals should run a POST­
It's oft been pointed out that only in the gauntlet and get the dialog started: like diagnostic at start-up and have an
computing do we tolerate the shoddy
work that passes for mainstream operat­ I'm hard-pressed to think of any other piece of hardware
ing systems and apps. And I'm hard­ you can buy for $3000 that's as failure-prone as a PC.
pressed to think of any other piece of
hardware you can buy for $3000 that's 1. All OS and application installs invocable diagnostic routine that can be
as failure-prone as a PC. should have absolute rollback capabili­ run when trouble occurs.
Sure, the culprits are often the cut ties, for multiple generations. The PC will Beyond such a list of engineering prin­
corners that make PCs affordable: the never live in as small a universe as the ciples, we should all exercise stern judge­
cheap video card, the marginal memory mainframe, where packaged software ment in purchasing. Replace that smile
chip, the inexpensive drive controller. tends to be much better behaved. In with a frown when vendors say they pro­
But how often do PCs fail because of bad such a diverse world, rollback at least pre­ duced their app on "Web time"-what
cooling, improper voltage regulation, or serves workability. they mean is that it's late alpha code and
other fundamental design flaws? I'm bet­ 2. General-purpose computers need you're the beta tester. We all complain
ting pretty often. Preventing those fail­ some real-time capabilities. Specifically, about buggy software and unreliable
ures with better components would not what good is network administration if a hardware-now let's put our money
be that expensive. For example, while it's computer is so locked up that it can't where our mouth is.
nice that disk drive capacities have been communicate over the Net? All operat­
on a serious price/performance ramp-up, ing systems should keep a channel open
I'm sure we'd all take a slightly less steep to network admin traffic.
ramp if it were combined with increas­ 3. All OSes should be self-healing. If
ingly rugged and foolproof drives. Yet any component of the OS becomes cor­
several years ago, some in the drive indus­ rupted or fails (due to version conflicts, Mark Sch lack, Editor in Chief
try adopted the reverse tack. They said: for example), the OS should know that [email protected]

14 BYTE MAY 1998 www.byte.com

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Aladdin Kno wledg e Systems GmbH & Co. KG +49 8989 42 21-0, Fax: +49 89 89 42 21-40, Email: i11 fo@:il:uldi11.de
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Aladdin Japan Co., ltd. +8 142660-7191, Fax: +8 142660-7194, Em ail :salcs@:iladdin.co. jp
Aladdin France SA +3314 1-37-70·30. F:t.<: +JJ l 41·37·70-39, Em :i il: info@:tladdin.fr
BJ.tJl]l]lll
The Professional 's Choice
Benelu x Aladdin Software Security Benelu x B.V. +ll 24 648-8444, Fax: +3124645·1981 , En1'il: s:iles@aladdi n.11 1
Russ ia Al add in Software Security R.O. Li d. +7 095 923·0588, F:~: +7095 928-6781.f.m:ii l: aladdin@:iladdin.msk.ru

• Australla Coolab 03 98985685 • China (Beijing) Feitian 010 62567389 (Hong Kong) Hastings 02 5484629 (Shenzhen) Haslings 0755 2328741 • Czech Alias 02 766085 • Denmark Bercndscn 039 577316 • Egypt Zeineldein 02 3604632 • Finland ID·Systems 09 8703520
• Greece Unibia!n 01 6756320 • India Solution 01 1 2148254 • Italy Panner Data 02 26147380 • Korea Dae·A 02 8484481 • Mexico SiSolt 091 80055283 • Poland Systherrn 061 480273 • Portu gal FuturntaticaO\ 4116269 • Romania Ro Jnteract!ve 064 140383
• Singapore ITR 065 5666788 • South Africa D Le Roux 011 8864704 • Spain PC Hardware 03 4493193 • Sweden KordalJ 455 307 300 • Swllzerland 01rng 061 7169222 • Taiwan Teco 02 5559676 • Turkey Mikrobeta 0312 4670635 • Yugoslavia Asys 021 623920
" 1997BSAISPAStudy
Enter HotB YTEs No. 85 at http ://www.byte.com/hotbytes/
Kudos forced to use SQL tools, I fee l how well it works. For an
like I have entered a rime overview, see http://
Kudos to Scott Mace and his warp and come our around www.microsoft.com/
fellow authors. "Weaving a 1975. I want to get back to hwdev/pc98.htm. -Mark
Better Web" (March cover my 1997 integrated develop­ Sch lack, editor in chief
story) is timely, comprehen­ ment environment!
sive, and understandable. It Michael Nachison VBABashing
has provided me wi th a H orizon Real-Time Systems
clearer understanding of the [email protected] In "VBA and COM" (March
interrelated concepts of feature) , Mr. Gates repeated
Extensible Markup Lan­ Wake-Up Call his tired mantra: Buy Visual
guage (XML) , cascading style Basic for Applications and
sheets, and Dynamic HTML I was lucky enough to use use it to bludgeon other
than any other article or Sun workstations 8 years ago Microsoft products into an
book that I have read. Keep at university, and now my Intel, w ith input from others, application stew. After all,
up the excellent work. Pentium lI system is proba­ provides a sleep capability with the declining purchase
Thomas P. Chester bly equal in clock speed, if similar to that in laptops. cost of hardware, who cares
Chief technology advisor nor in MIPS, to those The problem with laptops is about such archaic concepts
Securities and Exchange machines. Yet, one thing is that not everything wakes up as speed, parsimony, and
Commission missing : power manage­ upon Resume; for example, efficiency? I do. Besides
ment. Those Sun monsters you may have to reboot to wanting to avoid bankrupt­
Limited were never switched off; it get modems and network ing my clients with perpetual
Vocabulary was essential that they were interface cards to work. PC equipment upgrades, I want
ready to kick in at the touch 98 is supposed to fix that. It to avoid bankrupting myself
Sorry, but I didn't get the of a spacebar. As a home also is supposed to have with the time-consuming
point of "Stored Procedures: user, with out a network, you "OnNow" capability, part exercise of trying to make
Threat or Menace?" (March would think that I have no ofwhich deals with LAN incompatible off-the-shelf
feature). Did the authors need of such a technology. wake-up events. A specific components do something
mean that we all should It's just for lapto ps, yo u say? set of packets sent across the productive together. Before
become SQL gurus? That I am convinced it would be LAN will turn the machine Microsoft talks about bash­
would be a step backward. welcomed by milli ons of PC on, enabling, for example, ing modules, it should get
The real reason developers users. For a start, my Win­ a network administrator to the infrastructure of its pro­
go back to the familiar way dows 95 machine is even install software on desktops gramming languages in
of doing things when they slower to boot than my old at night. A similar facility working order.
can't think of a simple way 486DX. Second ly, I wou ld could allow you to contact Jill McLeester
to solve a problem nonpro­ like to leave it ready to check your computer remotely Three Systems
cedurally is that SQL is limit­ my e-mail account, receive and turn it on. We 'll see j iI/@three-systems.com
ed, restrictive, and non­ fax messages, and possibly
;---·· . - -- -­ HOW TO CONTACT u-s
expressive in comparison to handle voice mail. I'd like to
c++, Delphi, Visual Basic, be able to do this without ON THE WEB BY E-MAIL SUBSCRIPTION
Visit The BYTE Site! Address letters to CUSTOMER
o r even plain old C, BASIC, having to listen to a noisy Search our archives. [email protected]. To SERVICE
or Pascal. SQL development fan, or have glowing LEDs Doumload articles. See reach individual U.S. only: 800-232­
environments are about 20 watch over me at night. industry press releases. BYTE editors, see The 2983; international:
j oin on-line confer­ BYTE Site on the Web 609-426-7676; or see
years behind the times. Please raise this issue with ences with other BYTE for a directory. Letters http://www.byte.com/
Interactive debuggers, trac­ a wider audience. readers! See http:// may be edited for admin/mpcstsvc.htm.
www.byte.com. p11blication.
ers, watches- all the things Christopher G D Tipper
For advertising and
that allow developers to Athens, Greece BY FAX BY POST other noneditorial
debug and validate today's [email protected] 781-860-6522 Editors, BYTE, contacts, see pages 10
29 Hartwell Ave., or 153 or click on the
complex applications- are Lexington, MA information links on
virtually absent. I work with The PC 98 specification, 02173 The BYTE Site.
Delphi 3, and when I am developed by Microsoft and

www.oyte.com MAY 1998 BYTE 17

One Disk to Another 1958, and the first laser was described as a system compo­ specified, but the client
built; by Theodore Maiman, nent, not an application-spe­ application is built for a spe­
Russell Kay's report on disk in 1960. Therefore, hologra­ cific component. I think it cific client-side ORB and is
drives ("15 Disks Cover phy is four years older than should be a system compo­ dependent on that ORB's API
More Data Than Ever," Feb­ the laser. nent, but unfortunately, it definitions. I agree with you
ruary Hardware Lab Report) John F Schlesinger isn't. -Jon Udell, executive entirely in cases where the
was good, but not as techni­ New York, NY editor, New Media client is something other
cally detai led as previous than Java. I would expect a
reports. In particular, the Gabor worked out the theory Java client to communicate
last time around you dis­ ofthe hologram in 1947, but via RMI, or RMI over IIOP in
cussed the issue of dynamic in connection with electron the future. In this case, the
recalibration interrupting microscopy. I was thinking APis will be standard, i.e.,
streaming data transfers oflaser holograms when I part ofthe Java definition,
from magnetic disks to opti­ wrote the sentence. You core, or extension. In the case
cal drives. This is mentioned make a good point that the ofnon-Java COREA objects
only in pass ing in this theory of holograms was in the client, there is a depen­
review. Do all th e drives now worked out for another tech­ Any ORB Will Do dency on the ORB environ­
handle it transparently? Or nology before lasers came ment. On the server side,
do the optical drives all have along. - Ed Dejesus, senior In "Making Components Enterprise ]avaBeans (E]Bs)
big enough buffers? technical editor Portab le with JavaBeans" are insulated by their use of
Stephen Leake (February fea ture), author Java-defined APIs to access
leakstan @erols.com To Be OT Not to Be David S. Renshaw states server functions. They do not
(A System "The basic model for the access ORB APIs directly. In
We didn't touch on this Enterprise Bean is one of a fact, there may be no ORB as
because there wasn't much
Component) client and server, where such; the E]B server environ­
new to say. In general, the I just got the latest Microsoft communication between the ment may be provided by a
newer magnetic drives seem Developer Network univer­ client ap plication and the procedural TP monitor such
to handle asperities better sal CD and it includes the Enterprise Beans executing as CICS. For the latest on
than older models, partly ActiveX Redistributable in the server is via remote E]Bs, see the ]avaSoft Web
because they are using some­ Installation IGt, which seems method invocation (RMI), pages at http://java.sun.com/
what bigger buffers. That to have an installer for the CORBA Internet Inter­ products/ej bl index. html.
said, ifyou want to deliver WININET.DLL and friends. ORB Protocol (IIOP), or the - David S. Renshaw
streaming, uninterrupted Perhaps using this installer fo rthcom ing RMI over
data, you're still advised to wi ll solve some of the reg­ l!OP." You also stress plat­ Correction
use an AV-rated drive istry setup problems you form -independence. Differ­
designed specifically for that described in " In Search of ent servers using IIOP and In "Three Vendors Make an
requirement. Some ofthe SSL Spidering" (February using different ORBs can Alpha Bet" (Febru ary Eva!),
newer 18- to 20-GBAV drives Web Project). communicate, but the API we erred in including the
we've looked at use 2-MB Spencer Low for them has not been stan­ Aspen Durango II, which is
buffers, and their firmware [email protected] dardized. This results in based on a 21164A processor
is optimized for streaming writing code for a particular and 164LX motherboard.
data. - Russell Kay, Thanks for the pointer. How­ ORB and might limit the To make amends, we asked
technical editor eve1; it's unclear whether it platforms available. Also, I the vendors-Aspen Sys­
would solve the basic prob­ would be concerned about tems, Polywell Computer,
Infinite Space, lem I referred to, which is the financia l health of any of and Tri-Star Computer- to
Fallible History that Microsoft Internet the software houses provid­ send in their systems for a
Explorer, an application, ing ORBs, given who they retest. To create a truly leve l
With regard to Edmund shares state information with are up against. I like the use playing fi eld, we asked for
Dejesus's otherwise excel­ WININET.DLL, a shared sys­ of RMI over JIOP the most, 533-MHz systems based on
lent "Infinite Space" (Febru­ tem component. Microsoft but it's not avai lab le yet. the 21164PC processor,
ary featu re), I should like to may now wish to argue that ]ohnMenarek 164SX motherboard, with a
point out that he is mistaken WININET is not a shared sys­ Lombard, IL street price of $2500 or less.
when he says "holography tem component, but rather Aspen sent us the $2383
itself was discovered shortly an application-specific com­ If I use COREA IIOP to com­ (minitower) Montrose sys­
after the invention of the ponent particular to MSIE. municate between the client tem with a 4.5-GB Wide/Fast
laser." In fact, if memory However, I remember the and my server, the ORB in the Ultra SCSI hard disk, 16x
serves, holography was pitch that was made at the client (or merely IIOP sup­ EIDE CD -ROM, and 4-MB
invented by Dennis Gabor in Microsoft Professional port classes) will happily talk Matrox Millennium II PC!
1954. The laser was first pro­ Developers Conference in to a variety of ORBs in the graphics adapter. Polywell
posed by Charles Townes in 1995: WININETwas server(s), as the protocol is turned in a $2499 PolyAlpha

18 BYTE MAY 1998 ww.byte.com

 ----
-----
-- ---
--- -- ---
----
---- -- ---
·- e
e-business Solu tions for a small planet"

Platform by Microsoft. Business results by IBM. Obviously,we're

not the only ones who can make Microsoft®Windows NT 0 work. What we do best is make it pay. Our software building blocks

include everything you need to create, deploy and manage the new apps yo u're countin g on for a business edge. The "back room"

functions extend seamlessly to legacy systems, leveraging enterpri se assets on Windows®desktops. And all IBM software for Windows

NT is Web-enabled, ready for e-business when yo u are. So yo u ca n exte nd critical functions to users, suppliers and customers

anywhere, without anybody's platform getting in the way. For the whole lineup and free b·ial code, visit www.software.ibm.com/ nt

The IBM home page is located at www.ibm.com. !BM. Solutions !or asmall planet. thee-business logo and other marks designated • or '"are trademarks o1 lntemational Business Machines Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Lotus and Lotus Notes are
trademarks al Lotus Development Cmporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Java is a tradema1k of Sun Mic1osystems. Inc. Microsoft. Windows and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoll Corporation. © 1998 IBM Corp. All rights resefved.
Enter HotBYTEs No. 1 02 at http ://www.byte.com/hotbytes/
_rm,
164SX, which housed a 4.5 - test. N ot surpr isingly, the
GB, 10,000-rpm , Ultra Wide three syst ems had similar
SCSI hard disk and an 8-MB performance n umbers.
Diamond FireGL lOOOa AGP Though all are solid
graphics card. Tri-Star sent a machines, we give our nod
$2383 StarS tatio n SXS, with to the $2383 Tri-Star, which
a 4.3 -GB, 7200-rpm, SCSI-3 had the right mix of config­
Ultra Wide hard drive, uration and p rice for
14/32x IDE CD-ROM, and performance. We also liked
4-MB M atrox Millennium II its large cabinet with easily
PC! graphics adapter. We replaceable cover, roomy
measured performance with inside fo r accessing RAM,
our low-level processor test, extra fa n, and space to sup­
BYTEmark, and BAPCo's port t hree high-speed
SYS mark 4.0 application drives.

•!tH,f1i*'·'d·l·tJ~

COMING UP IN JUNE

COVER STORY
Available
separately.
The Truth About Windows
Scheduler Should you upgrade your company desktops to Windows
98, or wait for Windows NT 5.0? We look at the real
differences-as they now exist-between Windows 95,

dtst}nct
bSSSss
Free evaluation at
www.distinct.com
408-366-8933
Windows 98, NT 4.0, NT 5.0, and Windows CE.

FEATURES
What's New with IA-64
BYTE reports on developments that have come to light
since our December '97 in-depth analysis of Intel's
next-generation microprocessor architecture.

Scripting Languages
So you wouldn't trust your business to free

software? You may already, if you rely on Perl, Tel, Tk,

or other free scripting languages to tie together

the applications you deploy over the Web.

Here's what you need to know.

HARDWARE LAB REPORT

Multiprocessing Servers
The BYTE Lab looks at multiprocessor servers for
WindowsNT 4 Enterprise Edition and Unix. We test
servers that can scale up to 10 CPUs, with a special
focus on transaction processing.

REVIEWS
Lotus Notes 5.0
The groupware leader completes its transition to a
Webbed world. Our reviewer tests the redesigned GUI,
with its browser-like features and support for major
messaging standards, among other new capabilities.

LAB NOTES
The Real Deschutes
The BYTE Lab tests second-generation Deschutes PCs
with the new 100-MHz system bus, designed to take full
advantage of 350- and 400-MHz. processor speeds.

Enter HotBYTEs No. 105

20 B YT E MAY 1 998 at http ://www.byte.com/ hotbytes/ www.byte.com
Joe reboots
his PCeveryday.
That's a fact.

Conventional OS Architecture
The monolithic OS on Joe's machine
clumps all OS components into a single
address space. One subtle programming
error in just one driver, and whoomp!,
Joe has to reboot - again.
 Dave hasn't

since t994. That's a fact too.

Four years ago, Dave Gaw/field at Olin Chemicals replaced

expensive PLGs with OMNX Open Control Software and the
QNX Rea/time OS. "Since then," says Dave, "we've
upgraded the control system regularly with new hardware
and software - including parts of the OS itself. But not
once have we had to reboot."
For a handy 12-point checklist on OS reliability,
download Dave's paper, Which OS for PC-based Control?,
at www.omnx.com/productinfo/technical_papers.htm.

Build Reliable Embedded Systems with QNX

QNX"' Microkernel Architecture Most operating systems work fine - until they hit a minor software glitch. Or
The QNX OS on Dave's machine
runs every OS component in its until you perform asimple maintenance task, like changing an input device.
own MMU-protected address
space. So if a driver - or Then, like it or not, the OS goes down - and your application with it.
virtually anything else - fails,
With QNX, on the other hand, your system can recover from software
the rest of the system stays up.
faults, even in drivers and other critical programs. What's more, you can hot­
• Deterministic realtime performance
(1.95 µsec per context switch on a Pentium 133) swap peripherals. Start and stop filesystems and network services. Change
• Full MMU support for a// processes 1/0 drivers.Add or remove network nodes. Even access the OS after a hard
• Small memory footprint
disk failure. All without a reboot.
• Fault-tolerant networking
• Inherent distributed processing And here's the kicker: QNX scales seamlessly from handheld consumer
• Internet and mobile SDKs appliances to continent-spanning telephony networks. So you can use one OS
• Embedded GUI & Browser
to keep all your solutions running 24 hours a day, 7 days aweek - nonstop.
• POSIX certified
• Embedded OEM pricing And that's a fact.

www.qnx.com (don'tmissourdemo!)
call 800 676-0566 ext. 1064 ~-"'---­
The Leading Rea/time OS for PCs

Enter HotBYTEs No. 94 at http ://www.byte.com/ hotbytes/

 More PC Power to Go

Intel's new mobile processor brings

Pentium II power to portable PCs.

ntel has mobilized its Pentium

II processor, and the new CPU Notebook Performance
gives portable PCs a signif­
icant boost in performance.
on Five Photoshop Tests
Available initially at 233 and 266 MHz, the
Mobile Pentium II is built on a 0.25-mi­
cron process and shares the dual indepen­
dent bus (DIB) architecture of the desk­
top versions of the Pentium II. Compaq Annada 7800 t----'--~
Previous Intel notebook processors (266-MHz Pll notebook)2 ··~;;~
ran both system and L2 cache traffic
over the same bus. The Pentium II's DIB
architecture gives the L2 cache its own
private path to the CPU running at speeds
Toshiba Tecra 780DVD ---'---~
of 117 MHz in the 233-MHz version and
133 MHz in the 266-MHz version. That,
(266-MHz PU notebook)4 • • m;;;;;.
Ill Arllitrary Rotate
Apple G3 PowerBook ~~~~~­
plus other advantages of the Pentium II
D Default Unsharp Mask
architecture, such as dynamic execution (250-MHz PowerPC G3)5 • • •---' D Custom Unsharp Mask
(first used in the Pentium Pro), allows for • Gaussian Blur
notebooks with performance that ap­ Digital HiNote VP 765 --'--~ • CMYK Mode Change
proaches that of the fastest x86-compat­
ible desktop PCs.
(266-MHz Pll notebook)6 ~!!!!!!!!!----~--=======_J
BYTE's tests of several new notebooks 0 10 15 20
Seconds
with the 266-MHz version of the CPU
All systems except the PowerBook have 64 MB of RAM.
show about a 25 percent improvement in l Has 66-MHz system bus, 167-MHz l2 cache bus, 512·KB l2 cache, and NT 4.0.

BYTEmark integer performance over In­ 2Has 66-MHz system bus, 133-MHz l2 cache bus, 512-KB l2 cache, 66-MHz graphics bus, and Win 95.

tel's previous fastest notebook CPU, the 3Has 33-MHz system bus, 66-MHz l2 cache bus, 512-KB l2 cache, 33-MHz PCI bus, and Win 95.

Mobile Pentium with MMX, running at 4Has 66-MHz system bus, 133-MHz l2 cache bus, 512-KB l2 cache, 66-MHz graphics bus, and Win 95.

5Has SQ.MHz system bus, 100-MHz l2 cache bus, 512-KB l2 cache, 33-MHz PCI bus, and 96 MB of RAM.

266 MHz. In addition, we found almost 6Has 66-MHz system bus, 133-MHz l2 cache bus, 512-KB l2 cache, 33-MHz PCI bus, and NT 4.0.

a 40 percent improvement in BYTEmark

floating-point performance.
All three Pentium II notebooks we test­ is that the PC notebooks benefit from cer­ 95. We found similar results when com­
ed turned in very similar results on the tain operations in Photoshop that take paring the Photoshop performance of the
BYTEmark tests; there was no signifi­ advantage of Intel's MMX instructions, HiNote running NT and the other Pen­
cant difference in their scores. We also such as the Default Unsharp Mask and tium II notebooks running Win 95.
tested Apple's current-generation 250­ the Gaussian Blur tests. Furthermore, One thing is clear: The Pentium II of­
MHz PowerPC G3 -based PowerBook, three of the PC-compatible notebooks, fers significant performance improve­
and it beat Intel's desktop and notebook Compaq'sArmadas and Toshiba's Tecra, ments over the previous-generation Intel
processors in the BYTEmark tests. were running Windows 95. Digital Equip­ mobile processor, whether you run Win
The Power Book's performance advan­ ment's HiNote, however, ran NT 4.0. In 95 or NT on your notebook. And prices
tage was not nearly as decisive when we previous tests BYTE has performed, the for notebooks are coming down. The
tested the notebooks using Photoshop, exact same desktop system turns in slight­ price you pay for one of these new Pen­
which is available in 32-bit Windows and ly faster Photoshop performance in the tium II notebooks may be less than what
Mac OS versions. Here the results were Unsharp Mask and Gaussian Blur oper­ you would have paid for the first Tilla­
more mixed, for a variety of reasons. One ations when running NT instead of Win mook notebooks. (Tillamook was the

24 BYTE MAY 1998

 code name for Intel's first Pentium pro­
cessor to be built on a 0.25-micron pro­
cess .) " Man y of the first Tillamook
Geek Mystique

machines were in the $5000 price range,

and some cost even more," says Stephen CyberCommerce? No
major problem is still security: 70 percent
said it was the major reason why they were
O'Brien, product manager for Digital's On-Line Research? Yes
uncomfortable sending credit-card numbers
VP line ofvalue notebooks. (Digital's Hi­ Although many on-line users are still reluc­ over the Internet.
Note VP 765 will start at $3999; at press tant to buy products and services over the
time, Toshiba and Compaq hadn't final­ Internet, cyberspace has an important role Internet Buyers: Still Just Browsing
ized their prices.) in determining what customers buy. Ac­ More than 10 annual Net purchases
cording to a recent survey by Ernst & Young's
Donnie Oliphant, product marketing
Retail and Consumer Products Group (212­
4%
manager for Dell's Portable D evelop­
ment Group, agrees that prices for note­ 773-5299 ; http://www.eyi.com), few of the
850 people surveyed make 1O or more on­
book components are declining, but yo u
line purchases a nnually (see the chart at
can still pay a lot for a high-end system.
right). But almost one-third have purchased Research
"Prices on all key components are trend­ a product or service on the Internet at least on-line
ing down, especially for hard drives, but once, and 64 percent of users research prod­
most significantly for LCDs," he explains. uct purch ases on-line and then late r buy
64%
"Processor modules are not significant­ through traditi ona l channels.
ly cheaper today [than Tillamook], but I The abi lity to compa rison-shop was liked
expect prices will drop as the year pro­ by 56 percent of the responde nts who had
gresses and speed that downward trend." on-line access, and 50 percent enjoyed the Number of respondents lo phone survey: 850

For example, last year Dell 's Latitude ease ofnavigation and speed of the Web. The Source: Ernst & Young (http:// www.eyi.com}

CP laptop with a 233-MHz Pentium with

MMX, 32 MB of RAM, a 2.1-GB hard
drive, a 13.3-inch screen, and a 20X CD­
ROM cost $4700. But a Dell Latitude with
a 266-MHz Pentium II and a 3.2-GB hard OS Vendors Race After Merced

drive, a 13.3-inch screen, 64 MB of RAM,

Mac Still the BYTEmark Leader

T he race to port Unix OSes to Intel's
next-generation 64-bit IA-64 (aka
Merced) chip has reached full stride.
the market. But Digital, which is now
owned by Compaq, already has a high­
end 64-bit Unix OS . With Sequent's
Whi le jockeying for position by Unix large transaction-processing and data­
vendors- who wi ll compete with each warehousing capabilities, analysts say,
333-MHz other and Microsoft on IA-64- is far these partners could be well positioned
Pentium II from over, already some dark horses for Merced's launch, which is scheduled
and surprise contenders have emerged. for late 1999.
266-MHz IT managers who have ti ed their for ­
Mobile Pentium II Observers were somewhat surprised
tunes to the wrong OS may be out in the that Sequent chose Digital Unix, which
266-MHz cold when the chip emerges. will be renamed when it's introduced
Mobile Pentium SCO, the Unix market-share leader, on Merced. Sequent worked with Sun
250-MHz
has almost two years' worth ofwork in­
PowerPC G3 vested in a 64-bit port to Merced, while

4
Index
6 8 10
Hewlett-Packard has been at it for three
years. Sun and Digital Equipment an­ I
Contents

nounced their porting projects more

recently - in December and January, Security for Your Eyes Only

and a 20X CD-ROM starts at $3300. respectively. IBM remains committed

But Tillamook won' t go away quick­ to its own architectures and has not an­
26

ly. For one thing, vendors estimate that nounced a port to IA-64. Meanwhile, Build E-Commerce Sites

the battery life of a Pentium II-based Novell, at the Brainshare conference in for Less Money

notebook is about 10 percent to 15 per­ March, anno unced that after NetWare 32
cent less than that of an equivalent Til­ 5, its next release will be a new OS for
lamook (your m il eage may vary). And the IA-64 chip. GartnerGroup on Windows
heat dissipation is always a concern in Perhaps the most surprising state­ 98 vs. NT
notebook and hand-held designs. Pen­ ment to date regarding IA-64 was Digi­ 38
tium II designs that require a fan might tal and Sequent's joint announcement
be too bulky for a mini-noteboook, for that they are collaborating to port Dig­ Interview on E-Mail Security

example. But if performance is what you ital Unix to Merced. Today these com­ Standards

want, these notebooks deliver. panies occupy a niche position, joint­ 40

-Dave Andrews and Jason Krause ly laying claim to a mere 5 percent of

www.byteco MAY 1998 BYTE 25

 Sequent's IA-64 servers, and NCR users
Merced OS Scorecard will be faced with a migration to Solaris.
When Merced arrives, it will likely be
DIGITAL M ICROSOFT Cons:
supp orted by more software platforms
Pros: Pros: •Current OSes need improved

•Already has 64-bit Unix •Increasing popularity of NT scalability, reliability, and than previous Intel architectures, which
•Possible benefit from Sequent Cons: performance would mean more choices for customers.
relationship •Currently lacks 64-bit OS • UnixWare 7 has limited 64-bit
Cons: •NT needs improved sca lability capabilities
That means every OS vendor will need to
• Late sta rt on porting efforts and reliability for enterprise provide a smooth migration path to Mer­
•Weak Unix market share SUN
THE SANTA CRUZ OPERATION Pros:
ced or risk losing customers. -J. K.
HEWLETI- PACKARO (SCO) •Now working more closely
Pros: Pros: with Intel
•Already has 64-bit Unix •Leader in Unix-server licenses Cons:
•Close ties with Intel
•Three-year head sta rt
•Two-year head start
•Recent support from Compaq,
• No 64-bit OS
• Solarisfor Intel currently
Security for
Cons:
•Only big-endian OS on Merced
• Has not signed key ISVs
Data General, ICL, and Unisys
• 64-bit capabi lities
not equal to SPARC version
Your Eyes Only
for 12 months and nearly signed on to
collaborate on a similar effort for Solaris,
ch itecture in favor of IA-64. This relation­
ship bodes well for HP-UX on Intel, but
A new method that identifies peo­
ple by analyzing their eyes might
soon be coming to a bank, store, or
but it backed off at the last minute. HP is challenged by the fact that HP-UX building near you. Iriscan (Mt. Lau­
Solaris is a leading contender on Mer­ will be the only big-endian OS on Merced rel, NJ, 609 -234-7977; http://www
ced, with a strong market share, indepen­ (Merced will be bi-endian, supporting .iriscan.com), whose identification
dent software vendor (ISV) partnerships, big- and little-endi an OSes). This might technology can recognize the unique
and a reputation for reliability. But, ac­ scare off some ISVs. pattern in the iris of the human eye,
cording to Jeff Pancottine, vice president Of course, Windows NT w ill also be is partnering with technology and fi­
of marketing for Sequent, "Sun's focus is competing with the vario us flavors of nancial organizations to market prod­
on SPARC, and while Solaris on Intel and Unix o n Merced. Microsoft believes it ucts for app lications that require non­
Solaris on SPARC share a common source will release a 64-bit NT almost concur­ intrusive, noncontact, and extremely
base, Solaris on Intel is not equal to Solaris rently with Merced's introduction and accurate electronic identification. Iris­
on SPARC." Today, Solaris on x86 lacks says it wi ll provide SDKs by the end of this can is also currently developing a low­
the scalability, partitioning, and hot-swap year. NT continues to evolve, and Micro­ cost version of its solution for the PC
capabilities of Solaris on SPARC. soft believes it will be competitive with market.
Sun officia ls respond that Solaris on more high-end Unix OSes. "SMP [sym­ Iris technology id entifies people
Merced will have advantages that Solaris metric multiprocessing) scaling, graph­ th rough an electron ic analysis of pat­
onx86 never had. "Sun has reached a lev­ ics performance, 1/0 subsystems, mem­ terns found in the iris of the human
el of cooperation with Intel for Solaris on ory support, ATM [asynchronous transfer eye. Scientifically accepted as a per­
Merced that we never had on x86," says mode] supp ort, and all the necessary sonally unique human characteristic,
Brian Croll, director of product market­ pointers are ready for a 64-bit implemen­ th e iris, th e colored ring of tissue that
ing for Solaris. Unlike previous x86-based tation of NT," says Ed Muth, group prod­ surrounds the pupil of the eye, fea­
development efforts, Sun has early access uct manager for Personal Business Sys­ tures a complex combination of pat­
to Merced's inner workings, thanks to a tems with Microsoft. terns that can be recorded as a 25 6­
nondisclosure agreement. Sun has also OS vendors might be eager to port to byte "Iriscode." An iris-recognition
opened a porting center for ISVs, applica­ a chip that doesn't exist yet, but analysts product captures a photographic im­
tion developers, and OEM partners, such and IS directors are more blase. "We have age of the iris, analyzes its unique vi­
as NCR, to tune Solaris applications on a few applications th at co uld benefit sual structure, and then compares it
Merced simulators. from Merced, but probably not anytime to previously stored Iriscodes for au­
SCO had initially planned to develop soon," says Todd Wright, a system archi­ thentication of identity. The technol­
a single binary specificat ion for Merced tect with Wells Fargo in San Francisco. ogy can be used for access control,
with HP, but the company eventually set­ "First we've gotto take care of Year 2000­ point-of-sale (POS) solutions, and data
tled for a technology-sharing agreement, compliance issues. Maybe in 2001 we can protection.
which has since ended . Analysts point look at Merced." Sensar, of Moorestown, New Jer­
out that SCO's Unix Ware is a general­ "IA-64 is not a compelling reason to sey, is now using Iriscan technology in
pu rpose enterprise platform and must be lose sleep right now," admits Tom Henkel a test pilot program for the banking
upgraded in order to compete on IA-64 . of GartnerGroup. "But I would be uneasy industry. Pilot programs using iris­
UnixWare 7, announced in March, al­ if I were an IT manager committed to a recognition products in bank ATMs
ready includes 64-bit capabilities, and second-tier vendor and I had to migrate are under way with Citicorp in the U.S.
Compaq, Data General, !CL, and Unisys to a new OS in order to implement Mer­ and NCR and NationWide Bank in the
are today committed to Unix Ware. ced ." For example, Henkel points out U.K., and in cooperation with Oki In­
HP is Intel's parmer in developing Mer­ that Sequent customers wi ll have to mi­ dustry Co. and other financial institu­
ced, and it will phase out its PA-RISC ar­ grate to Digital Unix if they plan to use tions in Japan. Although Sensar's cur­

26 BYTE MAY 1998

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Ente r H otBYTEs No. 88 at http ://www.byte.com/hotbytes/

rent pilot program requires end users to
carry an access card (but doesn' t require
them to remember a personal identifica­ Banks Eye New Security
tion number [PIN]), lriscan can also be 0 A person walks up
dep loyed in an application that doesn't Cash machine
to a cash machine
use such a card (see the figure "Banks Eye
N ew Security" at right).
Current Iriscan solutions can be a bit
and looks into the
camera.
with camera

t
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Ill •IH
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pricey. For example, the company's Sys­ I •• • • •• - I I • • l•t I •••I ••11 al
• I 1• - I•• I I I I •1111
•I 11• • Ill • I I 1111 I I
tem 2100, which includes a comp uter,
a frame grabber, and other components
needed for access contro l, costs abo ut
$5 000 . "The costs assoc iated with iris
recognition are high compared to other
forms of authentication," ex plains Erik
Bowman, biometrics analyst with Ca rd­
Tech/SecurTech, an indu stry watc her
based in Bethesda, Maryland. "In addi­ @ Foraccess
control and other
ti on, there are issues with social accep­
applications, the
tance. The ge neral public wi ll need to be­ code can be stored
come more comfortable with it." at a networked
Despite th ose drawbacks, Bowman central database,
says Iriscan has advantages over oth er ac­ eliminating the
need for a card.
cess soluti ons that are based on sma rt­
cards and fingerprint analysis. "Iris recog­ 8 The camera captures an image of the
nition represents the least intrusive fo rm person's iris and assigns a 256-byte lriscode.
An x86-based PC that's on-site compares the
of biometrics ava ilable today," he says. new code to the code stored on the access card.
The nonintrusive, noncontact natm e of
iris recognition, coupled with an extreme­
ly low error rate, makes the technology
attractive. According to IEEE studies on lriscan technology can be used for a variety of security
the technol ogy, the proba bility of two applications, including digital certification.
irises producing the same iriscode is ap­
proximately 1 in10 78 . merce transactions are also biometrical­ card purchases and securing informa tion
In addition, a proj ect under develop­ ly secured, requiring the sender and recip­ contained in e-mail. According to Iriscan,
ment between Iriscan and GTE, known ient to possess the digital-certificate keys !CS prototypes are expected to be oper­
as Iris Certificate Security (JCS), adds a and a personal iris-recognition lriscode ational in the third quarter of this year.
security element that might increase the to access data. Another advantage is that iris recog­
tec hnology's appeal. res binds the iris­ Targets for this initiative range from nitio n isn 't burdened with the negative
recognition process to digita l certificates. busin ess-to-busin ess e-com merce a nd stigmas associated with other forms of
In essence, encry pted electro nic-com- stock and commodity trading to credit- biometrics, such as fingerprinting. " Iris
recognition has never been associated

Bug ofthe Month wi th the criminal-justice system, the way

fingerprinting has," says Iriscan spokes­
woman Kel ly Gates. "We fe el this will
Not Clear As a Bell make social acceptance of the technology
easier to attain. "
Because of a problem with programs were involved. Even more frus­ The company is also addressing the is­
authentication, approxi­ trating was the fact that some users were sue of price. A prototype of an inexpen­
mately 10,000 Bell Atlan­ occasionally able to get access, often dur­ sive hand-held imaging device is expect­
tic customers recently had ing periods of limited network use.
ed this fa ll. The device wi ll be bundled
to go for days without any Eventually technicians found the source:
e-mail or Web access. The problem, which
with software for PCs and could be priced
A software bug resu lted in the slow authen­
first hit customers in the Pittsburgh area tication of passwords, causing the system as low as $200. If the company succeeds
in late February, took several days to solve. to "time out" and disconnect dial-up users in getting its products widely available in
According to a Bell Atlantic spokesper­ when they attempted to log on. Users with low-cost solutions, the possibilities are
son, the source of the problem was diffi­ dedicated access were not affected, ac­ endless. Some day, instead of fumbling
cult to pinpoint beca use several different cording to a Bell Atlantic spokesperson. for your keys outside your front door, you
might gain access by simply looking into
a camera and smiling. -Dan Coyle
Send yours to jason. [email protected]

30 BYTE MAY 1998

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Enter HotBYTEs No. 92 at http ://www.byte.com/hotbytes/

,_ _tm

How to Build an Electronic Store Fast

Y ou don't have to host your own Web
site on the Internet to have an on­
line store. Many ISPs are becoming com­
In stead o f d o in g all that yo urse lf,
you can have a CSP do it for you. If you
choose to partner with a CSP, a key cri­
a merchant can provide is limited by the
software that's used.
For example, PS!Net andMindSpring
merce solution p roviders (CSPs), which terion in choosing where to host yo ur e­ offer Web-store-creation software from
provide electronic store-hosting services commerce Web site is the store softw are M ercantec (http: // wwww. mercantec
for businesses that would like t o use provided to you . The functi onaliry that .com) that might appeal more to bigger
the Intern et as a new sales channel but
don't have the time or resources to build
and maintain their own Web site. E-commerce Solutions at a Glance
The tas ks involved in hosting such a

Web site can be daunting, es pecially to CSP PSI Net MindSpring NetCom GoSite

small bu sin esses : Yo u mu st bu y and

Web·store software SoftCart SoftCart ShopSite ShopSite
maintain n·umerous hardwm·e and com­
Storage space (MB) 100 100 200 75
municati ons equipment, includin g a
computer, a frac tional T l line fro m an E·mail addresses included 50 virtual None 75(POP3) Unlimited
ISP, and a router; yo u also have to in­ Monthly data transfer limit 1.25GB 4.5GB 4GB 3GB
stall the Web server and electro nic-com­ Cost per MB transfer 20¢ 10¢ 8¢ 3¢

merce software. Only then can yo u start over limit

developing and hosting yo ur Web store .

Dial·up account included? Yes No Yes No
The approx imate costs for such a proj­

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Setup fee $640 $225 $350 $349

ware, and connectivity, plus about $2000 Monthly fee $125 $350 $250 $189

in monthly connectivity charges.

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f -.......~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~--'==,.--"-=---.~~._..;"--~~~~~~n·'--~~~ -~ ~

~
.ii
"walk away" (i.e., get lost or th eir portability. But users have
i
What Users Dislike About Notebooks stol en) wh en users aren't look­ spoken, and th ere'sa lot th ey still
creens and price tag s. Those Power to Go" on page 24). re­ ing. Pricesarecurrently dropping don't li ke about notebooks­
S are the top two things users spondentsto the survey seemed for PC notebooks, but th e sys­ which wou ld expl ain why, in a
found not to like with PC note­ sa tsified wi t h th eir CPU perfor­ t em s are still more expensive situ ation wh ere they need to
bookswhen comparing them to mance overall. Inst ea d, th ey are th an equival ent desktops. givean employee asecond PC to
th eir desktop counterparts, ac- dissatisfied with inferior displ ays Perhaps users will always have work on at home, many respon­
I cording to a recent survey by (comp ared to th ose on desk­ to pay apricein exchangefor the dents buy anoth er desktop PC
i BYTE Research . Although Intel's tops); high pric es; sm all key­ most- liked aspect of notebooks, instea d of a notebook.
I new mobile Pentium II processor boards; lack of durability, relia­
addsa performance boost to th e bility, and expand ability; and
latest notebooks (see "More PC their unfortunat e tend ency t o Disadvantages of Portables Compared to Desktops
• . Display
Price
Strategies for Employees' Work-at-Home PC Durability/reliability
• Give portable lo complement desktop Keyboard
Expandability*

37.6% • Give second desktop for home

Too easily lost/stolen

21.5%
D Give portable instead of desktop ' I
Battery life

... · . CPU performance

'.'~
f • Employee uses own PC
I , Pointing devices
,1l
/f
~ Give spending allowance ' Hard drive capacity
.. ." '
11.3%•...•...
I Ji.
Other (m• •
. ' , (;#i l
• System comes from loaner pool
I
. ' • Other
'
10 20 30 40 50
4%
:
* Expandability refers to memory a:::::: :::~pondents~ ·)
Source: BYTE Research, telephone survey, 149 responses
-' Source: BYTE Research, 150 respondents (multiple answers accepted) .. )

"I
- - -- ··-.:..,,.....; __ _..._...__._ ---- _._. ..... _ -- - - - --------- -------- .... u
32 BYT E MAY 1998
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integrated. Hey, this whole distributed computing
thing gets quite a bit easier when you use what you
have, and more importantly, use what you know.
To find out more about building new solutions with
Microsoft Windows NT and Microsoft Visual Studio
go to www.microsoft.com/msdn

© 1998 Microsoft Corporutlon. Al! righ ts reserved. M icrosoft, Visual Stucllo, Where do }'OU wanr to go Coday? cind Windows NT arc {~ithcr regis tered trude1m:irks or trademarks of Microsoft Corpormion in the
United S t ~tes and/or other countries. Other p1oduct and company narnes mentioned herein may be the trndemarks of their respective owners. Boris Karloff licensed by Karloff Enterprises. Represented by
the Roger Richman Agency, Inc., Beverly Hills, CA. Frankenstein is a tr.:-tdemork and copyright of Universal City Studios, Inc. licensed by Universal Studios Licensing. Inc. All nghts reserved.
Microsoft·

Where do you want to go t oday?•

--
Microsoft·

BackOffice·

Microsoft•

VISUAL

stud i 0

Visual Basic'

Visual C++•

Visual lnterDev·

Visual J++·

Visual FoxPro

 co mpa ni es, w hil e Ne tCo m 's a nd Go ­ ly might be even mo re important, at least Eugene Mondrus is a senior product analyst
Site's partnership with iCentral, th e pub­ in the sho rt term. By using a CSP, yo u can for Progressive Strategies (http://
lisher of Sho pSite Express (http://www get started quickly, eve n if yo u' re o per­ www.progstrat.com), a technology­
.shopsite.com), might appea l to smaller ating o n a budget . assessment and research firm.
co mpanies. Bo th Me rcantec's So ft Ca rt
a nd iCe nt ra l's Sh o pSite Exp ress pro­
vide basic store functi onality, including a
virtual shopping cart, a collection of cred­
it-card in for mati o n, extre mely fl exibl e
calculati o n of taxes and shipping charges, ancing the IT portfolio for risk/return and
and no tificatio n of orders via e-ma il to
How to Invest in the
appraising the investment on a balance
both bu yer and me rchant. New Infrastructure
sheet.
But Sho pSite Ex press is des igned fo r nterprises everywhere are scrambling In today's evolving business environment,
merch ants w ith a small selectio n of items E to build an internal infrastructure to the enterprise infrastructure is directly tied
to a firm's strategic direction. It dictates the
(25 or less) and a li mited kn owledge of support the new
business reality: way in which a company does business and
HTML (i Centra l also offers progra ms,
virtu al store­ how quickly the company can respond to
such as Sho pSite Pro, fo r managing big­
front s, Web - competitive challenges and customer de­
ger e-co mm erce pro jects.) Yo u can eas­ mands. Given the essential role of infra­
based customer
il y se t up a Sh o pSite store usin g just a structure, the final investment decision be­
se rvices, inte­
Web browser, but this app roac h offe rs longs not to IT managers but to executives
grated call c en­
onl y limited fl exibility regarding Web­ ters, electronic at the very top of the enterprise. Leveraging
Howf.tar\:et l eaders Capitalize!
page layo ut; yo u'll p robabl y wa nt to use supply channels, - -o·nTnformalion 1"edinologyj the New Infrastructure will acclimate these
Sho pSite w ith an HTML edi to r, such as and shared data executives to the strategic issues and help
Adobe PageMill. Sho pS ite Ex press sup­ across business articulate a blueprint for a successful IT
po rts o n-line orderin g, inclu d in g pu r­ units. Three new •nd
investment portfolio.
books can help Two other books provide a practical,
chase o rd ers, bu t it doesn't support rea l­
IT managers create and implement tech­ "how-to" approach to buying and outsourc­
time credit-card au thorizati o ns.
nology strategies that best suit their or­ ing information technology. The Smart Way
One of Sho pSite's negati ves is that it r - - - - i• to Buy Information
ganization.
uses coo ki es to sto re a user 's sho pping Technology makes ex­
According to Leveraging the New In­
ca rt during sho pping. M a ny users elect tensive use of num­
frastructure, 50 percent of all capital spend­
to turn o ff th e cookies o pti o n o n thei r ing in the U.S. goes into IT investments. The bered lists and bullet­
co mputer beca use o f th eir co nce rn for authors, Peter Weill and Marianne Broad­ ed points to illuminate
privacy. T his is somewhat problematic to bent, offer a strategy for devising a success­ vendor negotiating,
the software. ful IT investment portfolio. contracting, consult­
M erca ntec's SoftCarr is design ed for The key to successful investments is ing, and strategic al­
more so phi sti cated ve nd ors with up to avoiding a hair-trigger technological re­ ""'"-"""'"""'=- liances. The book deliv­
sponse and instead following a focused ers a rich set of guide­
10,000 pro du cts and a n un dersta ndin g
plan that matches infrastructure to the firm 's lines for making IT pur­
of HTML. The package supports o n-line
strategic objectives, acc ording to the au ­ chases and developing
o rdering and real-time credit-card auth o­ vendor relationships.
thors. Using research results and case stud­
rizatio ns th ro ugh CyberCash. It also lets Outsourcing Informa­
ies, they analyze different types of IT invest­
shoppers printand fax or mail their ord er. ments and develop methods for assessing tion Technology, Sys­
SoftCa rt can ge nerate a transacti on log risk and return. tems and Services
fil e th at can be di rectly imported into In­ Their conclusions suggest going with the covers several issues:
tuit's QuickBooks. SoftCart does no t use right type of investment to meet company . whether or not to out­
11
cookies for sto ring sho pping-cart in fo r­ goal s. For instance, c ompanies seeking 1 source, what to out­
"revenue growth and fast response to mar­ source, outsourcing trends, writing re­
matio n. Instead, it stores this data o n the
ket shifts are better served by more infra­ quests for proposals, negotiating contracts,
merchant's host server.
structure;' while a successful strategy "to and managing th e' transition to an out­
Limited space preve nts us fro m cover­
maximize short-term profit is to minimize sourced IT infrastructure.
ing all the CSP optio ns a nd e-store soft­
infrastructure investments and focus on Stanford Diehl is a freqent contributor to
ware ava ilable. Eac h CSP offers a vari ety
transactional uses of information technol­ BYTE and former director of BYTE reviews. You
of hosting plans to suit yo ur needs, so
ogy:' The book details a framework for bal- can reach him at [email protected].
yo u sho uld sho p aro und a nd compare .
And if you ca n' t find exactly what yo u're
leveraging the New The Smart Way to Buy Outsourcing Information
looking fo r, as k the CSP if it can custom­ Infrastructure by Peter Weill Information Technology Technology, Systems and
ize a plan fo r yo u. and Marianne Broadbent; by Brad l. Peterson and Services by Robert Klepper
H osting yo ur ow n e-commerce solu­ Harvard Business School Diane M. Carco; and Wendell 0 . Jones;
Press, 1998; AMACOM, 1998; Prentice Hall PTR, 1998;
ti o n might be a better idea for yo ur or­
ISBN 0-87584-830-3 ; ISBN 0-8144-0387-5; ISBN 0-13-281578-8;
gani za tio n in th e long term, especiall y if $29.95 $35 $39.95
yo ur e-co mm erce bu sin ess grows . But
getting in fro nt of yo ur customers qui ck­

36 BYTE MAY 1 998

www.byte.com
Up to 12 meters of cable. 4 times more

th an befo re. No t quite as exciti ng as

doubling yo ur burst rate from 40Ml3/sec
to SOM B/sec. Or boostin g yo ur ove ra ll

system perfo rm ance by 40% or more'.

But if yo u're addi ng lots of drives or
config ur ing clustered servers, th at ex tra

cab le co mes in pretty handy. And we

made th e transition to Ultra 2 SCS I easy
in oth er ways as well. V\Thile th e kit
includes all th e cables yo u'll need for
both legacy and Ultra2 dev ices, th e card

in co rp o rates Speed Flex'" tec hno logy,

which makes Ultra2 SCS I completely

bac kward s co mpat ible.

As always, th e bes t way to increase

perfo rm ance is th e simplest way. The

A d a ptec~ way. Get trained on Ultra2 SCSI

at www.GoSCS l. co m/ ultra2/ byte. Or

fo r pro du ct tes tin g and evaluat ion
info rmation, call l-800-804-8886 x9486.

·~

BandWidth
"ADAPTEC.
 GartnerGroup Report
Win 98 or NT for the PC Desktop? It .Depends
his year will mark the peak of the hype cycle for the next itera­ Group expects Win 98 to be the last Windows release to be based
T tions of Windows 95 and NT. Although Windows 3 .xwas adopt­ on non-NT code. Organizations deploying Win 98 for better appli­
ed by many companies as a single enterprise-wide standard, Win­ cations compatibility need to begin their 16-bit applications migra­
dows 98 and NT 5.0 will coexist in most enterprises through 2001 . tion. Enterprises that have limited dependency on legacy applications
GartnerGroup believes that NT 5.0 will become generally available will be much better candidates for NT 5.0 when it ships.
in the second quarter of 1999. In addition, we recommend that you Issues of PC hardware diversity and mobile computing also play
shouldn't deploy NT 5.0 Workstation until the first service pack is an important role in choosing among the different versions of Win­
released and proven to be stable, which GartnerGroup believes will dows. NT 5.0 and Win 98 offer robust support for a wide variety of
be six to nine months after NT 5.0's initial release. new hardware, but many systems purchased prior to mid-1998 will
Win 98 will become generally available in the second quarter of be unable to take advantage of at least some of the new features
1998. However, because Win 98 is very similar to Win 95, OSR 2, planned for Win 98 and NT 5.0, such as Advanced Configuration and
and Internet Explorer 4.0, we believe that organizations will be able Power Interface (ACPI) support. Although the new Windows Device
to deploy Win 98 upon its release, without having to wait fora service Driver Model will alleviate some of the issues associated with hard­
pack. ware working on both Win 98 and NT 5.0, it will apply only to new
With these time frames in mind, how does an organization break classes of devices, such as universal serial bus (USB) or IEEE-1394
through all this noise and decide which OS is appropriate for its par­ (also known as FireWire). Drivers for older devices will still need to
ticular needs? Defying the conventional wisdom, GartnerGroup be­ be created individually for both Win 98 and NT 5.0.
lieves that both Win 98 and NT 5.0 will be applicable to business and PC laptop users in particular will face a greater hurdle in deploy­
consumer markets alike. Organizations should consider the follow­ ing NT 5 .0. Although NT 5.0 will finally support such mobile fea­
ing considerations before deploying Windows 98 or NT 5 .0 : tures as advanced power management, it w ill do so only on systems
that are purchased after the second half of 1998. GartnerGroup
•The importance of legacy (16-bit) Windows and DOS business
believes that existing mobile systems running NT 4.0 will not migrate
applications that are running on the desktop.
smoothly to NT 5.0 and will be hampered by compatibility and per­
•The diversity of PC hardware that must be supported. formance issues. As a result, those older mobile PCs should contin­
•The organization 's desktop-management strategy. ue to run NT 4.0.
One of the key features of NT 5.0 will be support for a wide variety
Although Win 98 and NT 5.0 share a common 32-bit applica­ of management technologies aimed at lowering the total cost of own­
tions architecture, Win 98 retains a significant amount of legacy ership (TCO) through better centralized control. Known as the Zero
16-bit code that helps it achieve better reliability running 16-bit leg­ Administration Initiative (ZAW), its features will exist on both NT 5.0
acy applications. Organizations that continue to rely on these older and, to a lesser degree, W in 98. Features available only on NT 5.0
applications will be better served by Win 98 than by NT. This back­ that enable the best manageability and TCO reduction include true
ward compatibility, however, is expected to be short lived. Gartner- server-based roaming profiles; side-by-side machine replacement,
which provides simplified moves and installations; and better sys­
tem stability. This stability is due to the use of ZAW-enabled and brand­
Which Windows? ed applications that will have a much more restricted installation
process and no access to the system directory.
Stay with Windows 95 Despite the attractiveness of the ZAW features set, NT 5 .0 will
•if your PCs use older (e.g ., 486) CPUs incorporate a host of unproven technologies. As a result, Gartner­
•if your PCs have modest (e.g ., 16-MB) RAM Group recommends that you should wait at least six to nine months
•if you don 't want to upgrade your older hardware until the first NT 5.0 service pack is released and proven stable before
•for mobile-computing support deploying.
•if you still rely on 16-bit legacy Windows and DOS
Windows NT Workstation and Win 9.x are both powerful 32-bit
applications
OSes that can meet a variety of business-computing needs. Orga­
nizations should not be swayed by marketing hype; instead, they
Upgrade to Windows 98
should choose the OS that best fits their computing requirements
•if you need support for new features, such as ACPI, USB,
based on the three major areas outlined above.
multiple displays, and FAT32
Although NT technology will eventually become the standard for
•for improved mobile computing with new notebooks that
all Windows users, this change will not happen for at least three years,
support ACPI, USB, or Card Bus
with the major impediments being legacy hardware, software, and
•if you rely on legacy 16-bit Windows and/or DOS apps
mobile-computing needs. Organizations should not withhold deploy­
Migrate/stay with NT 4.0 ment of a 32-bit OS waiting for NT 5.0 but should instead proceed
•if you're running 32-bit applications exclusively with migration efforts to Win 98 or NT 4.0 as appropriate. This will
•if you need better security and stability than Win 95's help them reap the benefits that 32-bit OSes bring to the desktop
Upgrade to NT 5.0 and avoid the death throes of 16-bit Windows and DOS.
•if you need improved security, performance, and reliability Michael Gartenberg is a research director for GartnerGroup, where he focus­
•if you're running 32-bit Windows applications exclusively es on end-user computing, particularly the implications of personal comput­
er technologies on end users and enterprises alike.

38 BY TE MA Y 1 998 w w byte.com
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 I NT ERV .I E W

Blasts from
Double Trouble for E-Mail Security
the Past
Paul Hoffman, director ofthe Internet Mail Consortium,

discusses e-mail security-standards problems, the prospects for merging,

Years ago in BYTE

and what to do when merging doesn't happen.

BYTE: So, if I'm managing a network of

Intel's new Pentium was initially found trusted individuals or companies, I have
mostly in PCs and servers starting at prices two options- get people to convert to
of $5000 and up, but many systems sold one standard, or somehow juggle both ?
at prices closer to $8000. Today you can
easily get that much PC computing for Hoffman:Yes, and this is the big
about one-tenth the price. dilemma. Unfo rtunately, there are actu­
ally a very small number of signed
and/or encrypted messages traversing
the Internet today, because there's
Years ago in BYTE more than one standard. If we had
picked a standard a few years ago and if
you were an IT manager, yo u would
The DisplayWrite 4, MASS-11, Multi Mate, buy certain products that you knew to
Office Writer, Samna, WordPerfect, Word­ be interoperable.
Star, and XyWrite word processors were Instead, yo u're looking at a huge
reviewed (which was yourfavorite 10 years BYTE: It doesn't look like we're going hassle. The current versions of
ago?), along with Microsoft Word, which to see one single standard anytime soon S/MIME and PGP/MIME, which are
back in those days required only 256 KB
for e-mail security. also not interoperable, are being used
of RAM.
within organi zations in which a man­
Hoffman: Everyone has known all ager has been able to specify one or
along that we need secure e-mail. the other. PGP/MIME has a fa ir number
Years ago in BYTE E-mail is easy to intercept over the of people using it because you get it
Internet, which is why we need private free with Qualcomm's Eudora, which
e-mail. And the need for authentication is a popular mail p rogra m. H owever,
Tandy's amazing TRS· is also strong because it's easy for some­ S/MIME has a lo t mo re people using it
80 Model 100 porta­ one to spoof your e-mail address. because yo u get it free fro m both
ble computer (prices Two protoco ls have been submitted N etscape and Microsoft . You can buy
started at$ 799 for an to the IETF for consideration as stan­
plug-ins for Eudora that also do
8 -KB system), which dards for adding authentication and S/MIME, but when yo u have to deal
weighed 4 pounds privacy to messages: S/MIME v.3 and
and included built-in with someone w ho's outside yo ur
OpenPGP. The problem is, these two organizati on, the answer is you shrug
text-editing and com ­
protocols don't interact at all. You can't a lot in these situati ons.
munications software, was to prove popu­
read messages from one to the other. The simple fact is that there's often
lar for years to come .
nothing you can do. If one of the stan­
BYTE: What is the status in the IETF dards becomes dominant-and it
for the two?
appears that standard will be S/MIME­
Years ago in BYTE it's most likely that people who really
Hoffman: Both working groups had
their fi rst official meetings in Decem­ want to use PGP (because of some of
l he majority of this issue was devoted to ber. N either of them is yet a standard, the features it has that S/MlME doesn't
color and 3-D graphics. Editor in chief Carl and they both have a fai r amount of have) would get clients that do both
Helmers wrote that he spent a day during work to be done, although S/MIME is PGP and S/MIME at the same ti me. I'm
the infamous B lizzard of 1978 (which hit in well ahead of OpenPGP. OpenPGP has not aware of any clients that do that
February) updating his documentation, cre­ been going ve ry slowly; they've only yet, but there will be products that do.
ating a new 1-KB EROM with low-level disk put out one draft, whereas S/MIME has Some vendors have announced that
drivers for interrupt-driven block transfers their clients that do PGP today will also
revised the draft a couple times. So, it's
between memory and disk, implementing do S/MIME in the futur e.
very likely that S/MIME v. 3 will be out
a "primitive" physical 1/0 OS, and working
on other projects in the basement labora­
much sooner than OpenPGP. S/MIME
tory in his home. v. 3 should be ready by this summer. For more on. these standards, see http://
OpenPGP will probably be ready by the www.imc.org/smime-pgpmime. html.
end of the year.

40 BYT E MAY 1 998 e o

 Java Programming Tool

Microsoft Visua l J + + 6.0 ties Java ever more tightly

into the Windows platform. By Steve Gillmor

Java for Windows

• • •• h a t happens w h en an irre­
sistible force meets an im­
movable object? With Micro­
soft's Visual]++ 6.0, th e
result is fireworks. Technology Preview
1 of VJ6 makes Java into a potent Win­ public void InitializeBinding~()
(
dows too l, blending an enhanced Visual dataBinderl .setDataSource(dataS
Basic integrated development environ­ this .dataGridl.setDataSource(da
II setu p simple bindings
ment (IDE) with Java's rich object-ori­ ~Bitton dataBinder1.ArlrlRin~in~f ~hi~ .~rl1

ented programming too lset. 0 Panel dataBinde.

dataBinde!
Rlli!l!ll!!lllJ!lll•••
At VJ6's core is the new Windows P" CheddJox
lo' R~ton
Foundation Classes (WFC) app lication ~ eomtxieox
framework, which builds on Microsoft's ~ Ust8ox
]/Di rect technology to access the core Im Ched<.edistllox
~11 HScrolllar
Win32 AP! via Java. Visual Basic (VB) pro­
~ VScrolBar
grammers wi ll feel right at home drag­ ISi Plcture6ox
ging and dropping list boxes, tabbed pan­ {i) Tmer
e ls, and other GUI elements from the '121 MainMenu
Toolbox to the WFC form designer. llJ ContextMer>J
VB's fami liar Properties Window has
been extended with custom property edi­ VJ6's IDE lets you drag and drop objects and code between
tors th at I used to apply layout effects the Toolbox, Code, and Form Designer windows.
such as anchored and docked objects.
Gone, too, is the laborious menu ed itor, er:itors in seconds. Similarly, visual data RATINGS
rep laced with a MainMenu control (writ­ contro ls can open multiple data sources
ten in YB5) that let me visua ll y design a nd bind WFC, HTML, ActiveX, a nd TECHNOLOGY * * * *
menus, submenus, and keyboard accel- Component Object Model (COM) con­ IMPLEMENTATION * * * * *
trols via Microsoft's new AcriveX Data
Objects (ADO) 2.0 framework. I was able to set up breakpoints and step
TECH FOCUS To test VJ6 's packaging and d eploy­ through HTML, script, and Java code on
WFC and DHTML ment tools, l configured an NT server both browser and remote server.
Besides allowing direct Java manipulation with BackOffice 4.0 a nd assoc iated a VJ6 does nor overtly support Java­
ofWindows APls, t~e Windows Foundation deployment target ar its URL ad dress. You Beans, though you can use its extensibil­
Classes (WFC) framework provides a Dy­ can package an y comb in at io n of Java ity features to add JAR packaging as a
namic HTML class library to create appli­ class files, Windows EXEs and DLLs, and menu item. With wizards like the Class
cations thatsupportthe W3C DHTMLstan­ HTML pages into COM DLL, cabinets Builder, which automates COM, Distrib­
dard. Java developers can use the wfc.html (CABs), self-extractingEXEs, an d ZIP files. uted COM, and Microsoft Transaction
classes to generate DHTML code that can CABs genera red by \!]6 conrain an Open Server component creation, Windows
either be hosted in the browser via the Software Distribution (OSD) description developers may not miss Beans support.
<OBJECT> tag or on the server via ASP that le rs J ava app lets be installed and up­ An easy migration path for VB pro­
code. In an Internet.Explorer 4.0-only envi­ da red on a local machine, much li ke grammers, an attractive alternative to
ronment, you can intermingle DHTML and AcriveX components. C+ +, encapsu lated server-side DHTML
Windows GUI calls line-for-line, staying in If yo u are deploying ro Internet Infor­ for rhe thin-client world-VJ6 is hard to
one place and writing all UI logic across the mation Server, you can push server-side put down. Ill
disparate boundaries of HTML, scripting, components, includingActive Server Pages
and graphics routines. (ASP), COM servers, and]ava classes. With Steve Gillmor (sgillmor@southerndigital
my server as the active dep loyment target, .com) is a consultant in South Carolina.

***** Outstanding ****Very Good ***Good * * Fair * Poor MAY 1998 BYTE 41
 Graphics Accelerator

The first single-chip geometry and lighting processor, 3D

Labs' Glint GMX 2000 screams on Windows NT. By David Em

3D Labs Puts a Glint in Graphic World's Eye

he latest grap hi cs accelera­
tor from 30 Labs, th e G lint
GMX 2000, features a single­
chip OpenGL geometry and
lighting processor called Gamma. Con­
taining more than 5 million transistors
and a million gates, Gamma dramatically
improves the real-time performance of
such comp ut ation-intensive graph ics
tasks as lighting and vertex transformation.
I tested a 3 D Lab s' GMX reference
board on a 300-MHz Pentium II with 96
MB of RAM. The board conta in ed two
Glint MX graphics processors, eac h of
which can have up to 40 MB of nonlocal,
extended data out (EDO) DRAM fram e
buffer, one G lint Gamma chip, and a VGA
boot chip. The GMX reference board
took up a sing le PC! slot, had a 16-MB
Processing duties from the CPU are off-loaded to the Gamma's
frame buffer, and a 250-MI-Iz RAMDAC.
Three-D Lab s claims th e GMX wi ll dedicated silicon, through either an AGP or a 33- or 66-MHz PCI bus.
support up to 2000 by 2000 pixels in true
color. But our refere nce board displayed T he GMX 2000 achieved impress iv e excelled at 2-D, so it's likely this one wi ll
wavy lines at 1600by1200 pixels, a driver scores o n the OPC Vi ewPerf 5 be nch­ ship with more refined 2-D drivers.
problem that shou ld be resolv ed in the marks, wh ich measure 3-D renderin g per­ The GMX 2000 encompasses 100 per­
shippi ng vers io n. formance under OpenGL. T he CDRS-03 ce nt of a ll key 3-D API functionality,
test returned a geo metric mea n average
RATINGS
TECH FOCUS of76.5, more than 50 percent faster than
a Si li con Graphics 195-MHz Octane TECHNOLOGY ****
OpenGL Visualization
RlOOOO. Also, the DRY wa lk-through test IMPLEMENTATION * * * *
Under Windows NT
return ed a mea n of 9.6, compared to the
True real-time photo-realism is still a few Octane's 8.2 . Given that NT-based GMX including Gouraud shading, texture map­
years away, but with the latest imple­ systems will likely cost less than $1 0,000, ping, trilinear texture filtering, antialias­
me ntations of OpenGL coupled with and that Unix-base d systems with sim il ar ing, a nd d estin ation Alpha bl en din g
boards such as the GMX 2000, the gap capabi liti es cost t hr ee to five tim es as under OpenGL 1.1, D irect3D, Heidi, and
between previsualization and high-qual­ much, these are compelling numbers. QuickDraw3D. Along with competitive
ity output rendering is rapidly narrowing. I ran a numb er of 3-D mod eling tes ts products such as HP's Kayak and Inter­
To test this, I used the GMX 2000 with using Ki netix 3D Studio MAX R2, w hi ch graph's RealiZm II VX 113-GT, the GMX
Evans & Sutherland's Glaze program. was stabl e in its performance. I loaded is redefining desktop 3-D. The GMX chip
Using a model of a turtle, the GMX 2000 very comp lex models made up of thou­ set is a price/performance breakthrough.
maintained frame rates that varied be­ sands of polygons, di splay ed them as The company expects production boards
~<
tween 1O and 100 frames per second shaded surfaces, lit th em with 16 lights, with the chip set to ship for $2 000 to
"'z
while using various combinations of bilin­ app li ed textures to them, and perfo rmed $3 000, depending on configuration. lil Gl

ear and trilinear texture mapping, anti­ a variety of transform ations on them with ~
z
aliasing, multiple light sources, fog, trans­ excellent results. The 2-D perfo rmance David Em (Sierra Madre, CA) is a digital ill;u
Gl
parency, and reflection. on the refere nce board was adequate but artist and writer. You can contact him at
"'
sluggish. Previo us 3 D Labs chip sets have davidem @earthlink.net.

42 BYTE MAY 1998 ***** Outstanding ****Very Good ***Good **Fair * Poor
 s&K Faxmodem
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3C509B-TPC Etherlink Ill coax ISA............. 69.35 ElherPower 11 10/ 100 PCI ............................ .46.13
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SyJet 1.5GB SCSI exlernal PC/Mac .......... 299.99 3Com 33.6K cellular w/XJACK .. 228.99
61200 32MB 4.3GB BX 10BT Enet ...........2825.00
61200 32MB no hdd BX 101100 Enel ........3068.00
61200 32MB no hdd BX 10/ 100
Quantum EPSON" 3Com 33 .6K cellular ................................... 228.99
3Com 33 .6K 10BT LAN+modem ...............259.1 6
Fireball ST 2. 1GB Ullra ATA ...................... 155.31 Stylus Color 400 .... .. . .. ...... 179.00
P~~~lta~~t~~g ~ae~~;;~del ........................ 3295.00 Fireball ST 3.2GB IDE ... ........ . ................. 189.30 Stylus Color 600 .................................... .. .. 249.00
3Com 33.6K 10BT LAN+modem combo .... 299.83
3Com 56K w/ XJACK........................... ........214 .66
Fireball SE 4.3GB Ultra ATA ....................... 219.80 Stylus Color 800 .............................. ...... ..... 349.00
233/Pll 32MB no hdd 10/ 100 Enet ...........2859 .00 Fireball SE 6.4GB Ultra SCSl-3 ..................375.70 3Com 56K cellular w/XJACK ...................... 214.66
Stylus Color 1520 ...................................... .799.00 Hayes ACCURA 56K ........... .............. ...... .179.52

~
HP NetServer E 45 servers
['i] ~!~:ri
0
2.1GB ID E ..... . .............. ............................. 135.91
Stylus
Stylus
Color 3000 .... ............................... 1999.00
Photo .... . .... ...................... ............. 399.00
Hayes OPTIMA 56K ............. ..................... .. 199 .24
Hayes OPTIMA 56K w/EZjack ............ ... .. ... 199.24
Intel EtherExpress PR0/ 100
233/Pl l 32MB no hdd 24X 10/100 Ena! .... 15BB.68
233/P ll 32MB 4.2GB 24X 10/100 Enel .. ... 1998.57
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266/P ll 32M8 no hdd 24X 10/ 100 Enet .... 1898.37 9. 1GB Ultra SCSI........................................ 796. 09 Simple 33.6K Communica tor
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w/SimpleJack ............................................ 139 .89
266/Pll 64MB 4.2GB 24X 101100 Enel ..... 2345.58 HP OeskJot 672C color prinler ... ..............199.00 Simple 33.6K cellular ..................................1 49.53
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HP DeskJet 722C color printer ................299.00 Xircom 56K ... . . .. .. . ... .. .. .... ................... 165.84
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233/P ll 32MB no hdd BX ........................... 2399.58 HP LaserJet 5Si printer ............................ 2438.03
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266/Pll 64MB no hdd BX .......................... 2699.56
DIGITAL IMAGING .. .489.25 HP LaserJet 6Lse printer ............................ 399.00 MODEMS
HP LaserJet GMP prinler ...........................877.26
266/Pll 64MB no hdd ex
rack model ........ 3179.87 .. .828.33
HP LaserJet 6Pse printer ........................... 799.00 ,!!!!!
PC Server 330 servers ... 299.00
... 499.00 HP LaserJet 4000se printer .................. 1149.00 56K x2 Internal
61200 64MB no hdd BX. .. ................. 3718.27
HP PhotoSmart photo printer ...................... 399.00 56K x2 external ...................................... .
233/Pll 64MB no hdd ex .......................... 3345.47
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266/Pll 64MB no hdd BX .......................... 3528.57
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ll'.@ffillfj@®itzW
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...... ........... 844 .80 Optra S 1250 ............. .. ............................... 999.94
10BT 5-port workgroup hub ................ ....... 42 .74 Voice V.34 33.6K Internal w/fax .................. 109.44
EtherFast 10/ 100 LAN PC Card .. . ....... 11 5.4 1 1216 .69 Optra S 1650 ........ ...... ........................ ...... 1089.28
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EtherFast 2·port 10/ 100 swi tch ................... 239.16 Op1ra S 2450 ................. .......... 1979.48 56K x2 internal.. . ......... .... 139.93
StackPro 8-port 1OOBTX desktop hub ........ 299.81 Optra SC 1275 .......................................... 3289.89
StackPro 16-port 1008TX rackmount hub .. 499.86 SCANNERS 56K x2 external ............. ...... ...... ... ............... i58.92
56K x2 Voice internal .................................. 155.62
Epson Expression 636 Exec..... . .... 799.00 Ol(IDAUX
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OklJet 2020 .......................................... .. 199.00
56K x2 Voice externa l ............................ ..... 169.68
56K Winmodem ................................... .. ...... .93 .69
101100 Fast Ethernet PC I adapter. ................ 35.97 Hewlett-Packard PhotoSmart photo scanner ..399.00
Okipage 4w .......................... 199.00 ISDN 128K terminal adapter ....................... 176.25
EN1 04TP 4-port 10BT slimline Ethernet hub ..42.26 Hewlett Packard ScanJet 5s scanner .......... 199 .28
Okipage 60 .. .. .............. .. ... .. ......... 299.00
EN108TP 8·port 10BT slimline Ethernet hub .. 56.58 Hewlett Packard ScanJet 5100cse scanner .. 299 .00
Okipage 16n ............................................. .. 899.00 (IlHayes
FE104 4·port 100BT Fast Ethernet hub .. .... 124.43 Hewlett Packa rd ScanJet 6100cse scanner .. 799.00
Logitech PageScan Color Parallel ... .. ............ 98.20 ACCURA 56K internal .................................135.06
FE108 8-port lOOBT Fast Ethernet hub ...... 209.19
Microtek Color PageWiz ............................ 154.83 MONITORS ACCURA 56K external ................................159.01
8£' seagate
Software Microtek ScanMaker E3 Ptus ..... 147 .93 MAG lnnoVision 410V2 14· 0.28mm .......... 159.68 ACCURA 56K speakerphone internal ......... 168.35
ACCURA 56K speakerphone external ........ 179.78
Backup Exec for Windows NT V7 .0 Microtek ScanMaker E6 standard .............. 277 .92 MAG lnnoVision DJ530 15" 0.28mm .......... 267.18
OPTIMA 56K external ................................ 289.30
~i~~~-~~~~~grd~?~d~~~i~'t ~.Po............249.76 Minol1a Dimage Scan Dual ................ 669.88
UMAX Astra 6 10S .. . ..................... 129.00
r
MAG lnnoVision DJ700 1 0.26mm .......499.29
MAG lnnoVision DJ800 19· 0.26mm ..... .. .. 679. 14
ACCURA ISDN ............................................229.04
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UPS SYSTEMS
UMAX Mirage Ilse w/MagicScan .. . ...2995.00 NEC MulliSync E700 17" 0.25mm .. ............ 668.17
single-server edition ................................ 428.17

~-·
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enterprise edition................... . ........... 789.88 Vlsioneer PaperPort 3100 flatbed ................ 149 .33 Philips Magnavox 105S 15" 0 .28mm ........187.78
Backup Exec for NetWare V7 .5 Visionee r PaperPort 6000 llatbed ..............199 .99
Philips Magnavox 107S 11· 0.28mm .......... 349.55 Back-UPS Office ........ ......... ...................... 104.76
25-user single-server edition ................. 307.58 Visioneer PaperPort Strobe ..................249.99
Princeton EOSO 1s· 0.28mm .....................238.64
cowsTELEPHONE HOURS Princeton E070 11· 0.28mm .................... 389.14
Princeton E090 19" 0.26mm ........ ............... 699.53
Back-UPS Pro 280 PNP ............................. 134. 14
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Back-UPS Pro 650 PNP ............................265.91
800-959-4239 Sales Samsung Sync Master SOOS 15" 0.28mm ...215.00 SurgeArrest Personal ..... . ............... .......... : 19.7 5
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~co'w
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 THINKING

OU

R for
your
MISSION-CRITICAL

data
0 Then THINK about this: many RAID storage vendors list the same
features, but not all companies implement those features in the
same way. Before you purchase a RAID system, ask each vendor
how their products provide the following features ...

@ Given Ultra SCSl's cable length restrictions, can the system maintain

@ Does the system support the new higher performance 10,000 RPM @]
and vibration requirements of these higher performance drives?

@ What if I need to reconfigure or add more storage capacity to the RAID

@ Does the system include free storage management software? If so, does
Does it include a common GUI interface to configure and manage bot

@ Can this system be upgraded to future technologies such as ©J

 Operating Syste ms

SVRS -based UnixWare 7. 0 offers faster networking, better

reliability, and 64 -bit features for Intel boxes. By Barry Nance

Unix Gears Up for Merced

• • •• ith UnixWare 7.0, SCO has
taken an important step on
the road to 64-bit Unix for
Intel CPUs, specifically the
upcoming Merced. Whether Sun Micro­
systems and Digital Equipment can catch
up remains to be seen, but the race is on .
Because this isn't designed as a desk­
top OS, I tested it on a Gateway NS-8000
with two 333-MHz Pentium II processors,
512 MB of RAM, and two 9-GB SCSI hard
drives. The OS exhibited eye-blinking
performance and rock-solid reliab ility. I
tried SCO's Java virtual machine (]VM)
and just-in-time (JIT) interpreter with
Pendragon's CaffeineMark Java bench­
mark. The interpreter had about 20 per­
cent better performance on Caffe ine­
Marks than the previous release.
T he new kerne l has a rewritten net­
working subsystem that handles LAN traf­ Un ixWare's Common Desktop Environment
fic quickly and efficiently. It integrates
is just as easy t o use as Windows.
no nuniform memory access (NUMA) and
supports up to 16 GB of RAM, 2-TB file sys­
tems, and 512 disks. The maximum pro­ cards and mirrored disks in case of fai l­ RATINGS
cess size is 3. 75 GB; fi le size, 1 TB. SCO ure. Topping off this impressive hardware
includes li mited support for 120 (see the support, UnixWare 7.0 can distribute
TECHNOLOGY * * *
Tech Focus), Compaq's PC! Hot Plug for work loads across up to 32 processors.
IMPLEMENTATION ** * *
hot-swapping controller cards, and mul­ PERFORMANCE * * * *

tipath l/O technology, which lets a system Just 64 Bits More

automaticall y fai l over to alternate I/0 SCO owns the AT&T Unix source code, IP interfaces, but SCO's SkunkWorks CD
including System V release 5 (SVR5), contains an ipalias utility along with many
which introduces a 64-bit fi le system, other useful administrative aids.
TECH FOCUS libraries, commands, and AP!s. SCO says SCO's DOS emulator, Merge 4.0, lets
Off-Loading 1/0 you can simply flip a compiler switch to Windows 95 or 3.x applications run on a
120improves1/0 bandwidt h by letting sys­ invoke the 64-bit extensions. They use Unix system, but SCO d idn't have a com­
tems off- load device drivers and their work the LP64 standard to represent pointers patible version ready for my tests.
load t o intelligent 1/0 processors on t he and give even 32-bit CPUs access to a 64- UnixWare 7.0 is SCO's best effort to
mothe rboard. SCO says UnixWare will bit long data type. The new APIs also have date to unify and conso lidate its Uni x
eventually support the entire 12 0 st and ard, code libraries for Secure Sockets Layer products. Wi t h its improved perfor­
including the Block Sto rage Ope rat ing (SSL), Posix-based threads, and LDAP. mance and reliabi lity, Un ix Ware 7.0
System Service Module, SCSI Ope rating O lder versions of UnixWare had few should help SCO reta in its dominance in
System Service Module, Message Module, graphical tools. Here, we get a beefed-up the Intel-based Unix market. l!J
and Transport Module. UnixWare 7.O has Common Desktop Environment (COE)
12 0 Host Bus Adapter (HBA) support but and heavy reliance on a Web-browser Barry Nance, a computer analyst and consul­
interface. There's still no tool for admin­ tant, is a BYTE consulting editor. You can reach
istering network addresses for configured him at [email protected].

***** Outstanding **** Very Good *** Good ** Fair * Poor MAY 1998 BYTE 45
 Network Management Software

Microsoft SMS 2. 0 has better inventorying and distribution,

but upgrading might be tricky. By Gary Monti and John Clay

SMS: Ready for NT 5.0

icrosoft's Systems Manage­
ment Server 2.0 beta 1 rook us J;;onsole ~indow t!elp
back to th e days when ven­
• • •• dors re leased upgrades w ith
new features requested by customers,
instead of bug fixes and marketing ploys.
SMS 2.0 delivers enhanced capabilities for
J .,. Action .,. View f] !itfil 8 ~ ~ (!;) [ii'
software distribution, comp lementing
the intelligent mirroring technology ~ u Systems Management Server
expected in the upcoming Windows NT $ ·D Security Rights
5.0 (see the Tech Focus). B-~ ' '
i lE • All Systems
The hardware-invenrory function now
e .~ All Users
uses data from more so urces, such as $-·~ All User Groups
Win32, SNMP, and DMJ. The software­ , rB · ~ All NT Systems
inventory function has shed its package­ ! $ ··~ A11Win95 Systems
based approach, instead searching every i ·lJrB All Machines With Hardware Inventory Collected
executable on a client machin e for ver­
·Ql
ffi Queries
ffi ~ Packages
sion information. Software distribution B·OlJ Sites
is now based on NT group affiliation, $..
! ~ INS : Hartford (Central Site]
TCP/IP network segments, and user name. 8rJ
ttJ.. Site Status
Also new is rule-b ased distribution . l±J.. Advertisements
SMS's software-m etering function now
monirors shared servers and loca l work­
SMS 2.0 administrative tools snap right into the new
station applications, and network­ Microsoft Management Console architecture.
attached and mobile clients must check
out a license for each metered app lica­ offer native support for managing Win­
, RATINGS
tion. Microsoft says a later beta will also dows clients that authenticate through
Novell Direcrory Services (NOS). TECHNOLOGY * * *
TECH FOCUS Installation now supports secondary IMPLEMENTATION ****
site setup, which you previously cou ld
Intelligent Mirroring deploy only as a system job from a pri­ Control, so client program gro up con­
With intelligent mirroring, Windows NT 5.0 mary site. In our tests, we encountered trols are lost. You must create a target col­
will mirror information about a client's sys­ SQL Ser ve r setup, which d etected an lection that advertises the same programs
tem files, applications, data, and adminis­ invalid machin e name, aborted, a nd and assigns them to run when the client's
trative settings onto NT 5.0 servers. If a returned control to SMS installation­ code is being upgraded to SMS 2.0.
user's machine becomes unstable or non ­ which also aborted. Neither of the resu lt­ We like this rearchitected SMS, which
functional, administrators will be able to ing partial SMS and SQL in stal lations enhances its classic services while adding
use the stored image and NT 5.0's lntel­ uninsta ll ed properly, so we had to man­ nice new features. Companies with big
liMirrorto compare and repair the offend­ ually clea n up the fil e system and registry. investments in SMS 1.2 may pay a price,
ing components, or to redeploy on anoth­ SMS upgrad e insta ll ations went off but Microsoft promises migration wizards
er platform. Administrators can deploy without a hitch, courtesy of the upgrade and support for interoperability between
client configurations for mobile users, or wizard, but w e recommend carefu ll y 1.2 and 2.0 in the second beta. Iii
execute mass changes brought about by planning upgrad es of existing sites. The
reorganizations. lntelliMirror complements setup program migrates SMS l.x machine Gary Monti (gary_ [email protected]) is man­
SMS software distribution by stabilizing groups into SMS 2.0 co ll ections, and a agillg consultant and John Clay (john_clay@
and standardizing the client environment. new client agent replaces Package Com­ ins.com) is network systems engineer for
mand M anager and the Program Group International Network Services.

46 BYTE MAY 1998 *****Outstanding ****Very Good *** Good ** Fair * Poor
 Operating System s

QNX offers a small resource footprint and real-time processing

power, all while using familiar Unix APIs. By Robert Krten

ATiny OS That Scales Up

NX Software Systems, Ltd. interrupt redirector and scheduler over­ same interfaces and calls (there are no
(QSSL) created the QNX OS in see thread-leve l sc hed uling, interrupt hidden system AP!s), QNX /Neutrino is
the early 1980s. QNX started handling, and timing, as illustrated in easy to extend: just write a service-pro­
life as an embedded real-time the figur e "QNX OS Architecture" below. viding module, which is a process that im­
OS. You accessed its services through stan­ The kernel itse lf is never scheduled for plements a new service.
dard Unix AP!s instead of a set of pro­ execution; it's only entered through ker­ Furthermore, device drivers are th em­
prietary AP!s. A decade late r, QNX 4 was nel calls that are invoked by a process or selves processes and can be either sys­
introduced, which built upon the capa­ fr om a hardware interrupt. tem or standard processes. A driver 's in­
bil ities of the earlier versions. Notably, it
supp lied many Posix features, had a Posix
AP!, and was Posix-certified. QNX OS Architecture
Last year saw the introduction of QNX/ System space
Neutrino, which offers a Posix-based rni­
crokernel; Posix support, such as Posix File System
threads and rea l-time processing; and Manager
better scalability. This third capability
makes QNX / Neutrino readily adapt­ 4>
u
able-through the addition of extensi­
ble service-providing modules- from a
a
Cl)
Network
interface
Network
Manager
small kernel suitable for embedded sys­ 'ii
tems up to a full-blown OS with network­
ing, a file system, and a GUI that handles
c...
4>
::.:
Sdleduler
t
jobs on large, high-end systems.
The key to QNX / Neutrino's ability to
offer both real-time performance and
scalability is its design. What follows is a
look at the OS's architecture that will re­
veal how its designers man aged ro ac­
Standard
process aSystem
process

complish this feat. (It's important to note

that the OS reuses existing code wherever The microkernel handles a ll message- passing a nd process states,
possible for reliability.) which permits it to coord inate a nd synchronize processes.
A Quick Tour The kernel orchestrates the operations terrupt handlers are part of a driver 's
QNX/Neutrino is a preemptive schedul­ of cooperating processes. Some of these process, but they execute asynchronous­
ing, multitasking OS with configurable processes implement other QNX system ly from it.
memory protection. Its microkernel oc­ services, such as process creation (the Pro­ The Process Manager is the only pro­
cupies only 32 KB of memory. The kernel cess Manager), file-system support (the cess that operates inside the microker­
was written from the ground up aro und File System Manager), networking (th e nel 's address space. The Process Manag­
Posix real-time snmdards, including ANSI Network Manager), and device 1/0 (the er adds only 32 KB to the OS's memory
and the Posix 1003.1, 1003.la, 1003.lb Device Manager). footprint while adding memory alloca­
(real-time), 1003. lc (threads), and 1003. ld These four managers are system pro­ tion, process contexts (i.e., memory pro­
(draft) real-time extensions. It manages cesses, as opposed to standard processes. tection), resource-manager namespaces,
two fundamental operations: m essage­ The only differe nce between the two and other extensions to the kernel. This
passing and scheduling. types is that syste m processes manage dispels the myth that any usefu l Posix­
The kernel's interprocess communi­ services that are traditionally associated compliant system must be big.
cations (IPC) and optional network ser­ with the OS, whil e standard processes While QNX 4 had rudimentary thread
vices handle message passing, while th e don't. Because both process types use the support, QNX /Ne utrino's thread su p-

www.byte.com MAY 1998 BYTE 47

 Core/Operating Systems A Tiny OS That Scales Up

port was conscientiously added to the

design as the minimal unit of schedulable Process States

execution. This greatly simplifies the

kernel design because the kernel has to
concern itself only with the scheduling
of threads.
This threaded design pervades the
QNX/ Neutrino architecture and so pro­
vides the fast response times necessary for
a real-time OS. For example, the Process
Manager uses a loader thread that copies
a process image into memory. This allows
the Process Manager to service other re­ 0 Client asks for senice using MsgSend().
quests while programs load. QNX /Neu­ Microkemel SEND blocks dienl
trino also uses prioriry levels when sched­ 8 Sener reads message with MsgRecein().
uling time-critical processes, so when the Microkemel REPLY blocks client
Process Manager creates a new process, 8 Sener processes request and returns results
it inherits the prioriry of its parent. using MsgReply(). Microkemel unblocks dienl
0 Microkemel sends identical request over the
The Message Is network lo another processor or remote system.
the Medium
All QNX OSes emp loy message-passing Local or remote task coordination is possible when
for process coordination. Message-pass­
ing refers to the mechanism used by one processes block and unblock in response to messages.
thread to comm un icate with another.
Messages have no special format; they ing for a reply from the server. that clients use the same server interface
are just packets of bytes. A message's con­ The server thread performs some pro­ whether they're on the same system or
tent is determined solely by the client and cessing, depending on the message con­ on different nodes. For examp le, when
server threads. The important point to tent. When it's finished, the server replies writing data to either a local or remote
remember here is that the two threads can to the client with the results, using a Ms g­ hard drive, QNX/Neutrino uses the same
be part of the same process, in different Rep l y ( ) call. Now the client becomes open and write messages. These messages
processes on the same machine, or even unblocked and runs. Note that the ker­ can be transferred to a thread located on
on different machines that are connect­ nel not only modifies the state of the pro­ the same or another CPU, or to another
ed by a LAN. cesses but performs the message transfers node on the .n etwork. QNX/ Neutrino
QNX/Neurrino employs the same form between the client and server. On reflec­ thus permits you tO easi ly construct sym­
of message-passing as previous QNX ver­ tion, this makes sense, because in a mem­ metric multiprocessing (SMP) or distrib­
sions, with minor revisions. As the ele­ ory-protected model only the kernel has uted applications.
ments of the microkernel architecture access to both threads' memory. The QNX/Neutrino OS is easily adapt­
show, message-passing is the underlying This arrangement has several advan­ able to a variery of uses. Because it sup­
infrastructure of the OS. In fact, some tages. First, processes that are bl ocked ports execute-in-place (XIP) code, the OS
of the supplied Posix and ANSI C library don't consume processor time, which en­ and its applications can execute out of
functions, such as fopen ( ), l seek() , ab les the kernel to load-balance the needs ROM or flash memory. Unneeded system
write () ,and others, transparently use of high-prioriry processes in a more effec­ processes can be trimmed from the OS
message passing on your behalf. tive manner. for embedded applications. Conversely,
. Second, the message-passing and pro­ you can write service-providing modules
Different States cess states allow you to design your tar­ that extend the OS for specialized appli­
Threads send messages synchronous ly get application as a set of cooperating cations or devices.
between each other. It's easy to imple­ processes. Each individual process has a QSSL has created a demo disk that
ment process synchronization because fixed area of responsibi lity and can pro­ you can download for evaluation from
threads change states during such trans­ vide and/or request services to or from the company's Web site (at http://www
fers. As shown in the figure "Process other processes. This lets you design a sys­ .qnx.com). The entire OS, GUI, TCP/IP
States" above, a client thread constructs tem where programs are decoupled from package, and Web browser all fit on a sin­
a message and sends it to a server thread each other, resulting in easier integration gle 1.44-MB floppy disk. llJ
via the kernel call MsgSend( ). and unit testing, as well as distributed pro­
At this point, the client thread becomes cessing support. Robert Krten is an independent software/
SEND-blocked: It's waiting for the serv­ Finally, message-passing works consis­ systems consultant with Parse Software De­
er thread to rece ive the message. The tently, regardless of the location of the vices, Ltd. (Kanata, Ontario, Canada). You
server thread fetches the message using two threads that wish to perform a mes­ can contact him by sending e-mail to rk@
a MsgRecei ve() call,andnowtheclient sage-passing operation. parse.com or to the Parse Web site, at http://
becomes REPLY-blocked, since it's wait­ The advantage to this approach is www.parse.com .

48 BYTE MAY 1 998

 Networki ng

A new protocol enables computers to automatically locate a

network's resources. By James Kempf and Charles Perkins

What's Your Service?

he Service Location Proto­ ing the service the y need . Directory der common administrative control can
col (SLP) is a new, broadly agents function as inter mediaries be­ be logically grouped rogether into a scope.
applicable protocol for con­ tween user agents and service agents, Scopes enab le you to organize services
necting service providers to aggregating advertisements so that user into separate administrative domains that
service cl ients . It's a TCP/IP-based pro­ agents can find services without search­ allow a single directory agent to adver-
toco l designed for advertising and locat­
ing network services on corporate intra­
nets. In this context, advertising means Service Location Protocol (SLP) Agents
that a network device describes its func­
ti ons and capabilities to other clients.
Using SLP, a computer can automati­
cally discover and use network resources,
such as printers and e-mail servers. In
addition, SLP supports th e attribute­
based description of services, so clients
can browse through services and select
exactly the one they want. Existing ser­
vices that might be advertised through
SLP include Web servers, fax machines,
printers, and mail servers, among others.
SLP is well suited to low-cost adminis­ ___ ...
C&ent
application
• ~1o-...--~ ,
[J
~1
tration designs because the setup and ad­
ministration of an SLP-enabled netwo rk
requires a fraction of the effort necessary
for solutions based on direcrory services.
Several processes, or agents, help clients discover
SLP's simplicity allows it to be built into and query devices about the services they offer.
firmware, so network-enabled devices
can advertise themselves as soon as they ing all the networks where services might tise these services. An example of a scope
are plugged into the network. be located. is the collection of services availabl e ro a
SLP is complementary to Hewlett­ The figure above illustrates the various marketing department. User agents can
Packard'sJetS end protocol (see "HP Jet­ roles played by agents in an SLP-enabled be configured to include a scope name
Send: Off-the-Cuff Communication," network. The fax machine is connected in their SLP requests, so directory agents
April BYTE). While JetSend allows clients directly to the network; it functions as its reply on ly to requests that include the
rouse network devices without requir­ own service agent through the SLP in its scopes that they support. To continu e
ing a special driver, it offers no support firmware. The printer and the storage sys­ with the company example, th e market­
for \ocati ng services, except on a peer­ tem advertise their functions through ing department's directory agent won't
ro-peer level. SLP can handle device loca­ proxy service agents running on servers. respond to requests for color-printer ser­
tions spanning a corporate intranet, and SLP is very flex ible in that the user agent vices issued by a user agent in the account­
it offers some security and management and the service agents in the 11.0.0.x sub­ ing department.
features that JetS end lacks. net can directly exchange data. Through
the intervention of a directory agent, It's in the URL
ATrio of Agents agents outside the subnet can more effi­ SLP uses text to specify service informa­
As described in RFC 2165, an SLP-enabled ciently locate services within it. tion, which allows it robe both readable
network contains three different active As an enterprise grows, it might no and sent via e-mail. (Note that not all the
entities, or agents. Service agents adver­ longer be convenient to let user agents data in SLP packets is text; some of it is bi­
tise services. User agents seek service search the entire network for services. nary. ) Because the URL has become a stan­
agents based on attribute queries describ­ When this happens, services that are un­ dardized way of describing resources on

MAY 1998 BYTE 49

 Core/Networking Wh at's Your S er vic e?

the Internet, SLP uses a particular URL the table below for a brief description of tory agents, and user agents that share a
scheme, called a service: URL, for service these messages. public-key cryptographic algorithm and
advertisements. It consists of the string a public key. Every service advertisement
serv i ce :, followed by a string describ­
Inter-Agent in a protected scope is validated twice­
ing the kind of service, followed by infor­ Communication once when it registers itself with a direc­
mation indicating how to contact the ser­ Inter-agent commun ication in SLP is tory agent and once when the user agent
vice. An example of a service: URL is designed to efficiently scale from net­ validates the URL received in a service
works containing very few nodes up to reply. This protects the use r against mali-
service : printer : lpr : //printserver
. fiction . org/colorprint
This service: URL designates a print SLP Messages

se rvice that uses the Internet LPR pro­

Every message is prefixed with a head­ vice: URL or a service-type name and a list
tocol. The service is contacted through
er that identifies the protocol version, of attribute tags that identify the attributes
the DNS-resolvable name pri ntserver of interest.
message type , packet length , natura l
. f i ct i on . or g, and the particular print­
language, transaction identifier, and Attribute reply-Contains a status code and
er queue is col orpri nt. flags . a list of attribute tags with their values, along
The string follow ing serv i ce : desig­
Service request-Contains a query in which with authentication information if the scope
nates th e kind of service and is called a
the service type, scope, and a predicate de­ is protected.
service type name. Service rype names are
scribe what kinds of service advertisements Registration request-Contains a service:
standardized by being registered with
the client is interested in. URL and a list of attributes for advertise­
the Internet Assigned Numbers Author­
ment, along with authentication information
ity (!ANA), but unregistered names can Service reply-Contains a status code and
if the scope is protected.
be used by tacking a naming-authority a list of service : U RLs that match the predi­
token onto the service-type name after a cate , alon g with authentication information Deregistration request-Contains a ser­
period. An examp le is video.exp, which if the scope is protected. vice : URL and an optional li st of attribute
tags to remove. If the tags are missing, the
might designate an experimental video Service-type request-Contains a naming
entire service : URL is removed. Authentica­
service. authority and scope.
tion information is also required if the scope
The service rype is defined by a service­ Service-type reply-Contains a status code is protected.
type template, which is also registered and a list of service-type names registered
with the !ANA. The template contai ns in­ Service acknowledgment-Acknowledges
in the naming authority and scope.
registration or deregistration with a status
formation identifying the service's type
Attribute request-Contains either a ser­ code.
name, version number, syntax of the
service: URL, and a short description of
the type in human-readab le form. At­ large, enterprise-wide networks. Direc­ cious directory agents as well as malicious
tribute definitions form the bulk of the tory agents act as th e pr im ary sca li ng service agents. Other security needs, such
template and describe the service. They mechanism. When they start up, agents as access control, user authentication, and
can describe a service's dynamic charac­ discover directory agents on a network privacy, can be provided by the IP Encap­
teristics, such as a printer's current work through three mechanisms: static con­ sulating Security Payload (ESP) protocol,
load and queue length, as well as stat­ figuration, DHCP option 78, or a multi­ as described in RFC 1837.
ic characteristics, such as its reso lu tion cast service req uest.
and color support. User and service age nts must either try Valuable Uses
The SLP protocol is base d on mes­ DHCP or multicast a serv ice request to SLP offers companies the ability to con­
sages where user agents query available the directory-agent discovery-mu lticast struct intra nets that can d yna mically
service types and attributes and then re­ address, 224.0.1.35. Periodically durin g change as the business's needs change .
quest services based on the values of the operation, they can multicast a request Clients can automatically query the net­
attributes. A client searching for a service for directory age nts to the directory­ work for services, which minimizes net­
formulates a query based on the attrib­ agent di scovery-multicast address and work-configuration and management
utes of a service and the desired values. passively listen for di rectory-agent adver­ problems. D irectory agents can act as in­
The query is sent to SLP, and matching tisements on the service-location gener­ termediaries, which reduces multicast
service: URLs are returned. al-multicast address, 224.0.1.22, to detect traffic. Authentication is possible by con­
For example, suppose one of the print­ any directory agents that have appeared figuring the agents for protected scopes.
er-service type attributes is co ntr ol _ in the interim . SLP is well suited for today's business­
language . A client searching for a Post­ The only security mechanism specified es that have a mobile workforce and ad
Script printer cou ld formulate a query by SLP is the protected scope. An exam­ hoc workgroups. llJ
with control _l anguage=postscript ple of a protected scope is a manager who
to find printers that support PostScript. wants to print out workers' salaries. To fa mes Kempf and Charles Perkins work in
To support changes in an intranet's ser­ prevent tampering, the manager needs Sun Microsystems' Technology Development
vices, SLP has add itional messages that let to make sure the printer is availab le from Group (Palo Alto, CA) . They can be reached
service agents add (register) and remove a protected scope. A protected scope is at [email protected] and Charles
(deregister) service advertisements. See impl eme nted by serv ice agents, di rec- [email protected], respectively.

50 BYTE MAY1998
 CPUs

This third-generation embedded processor offers better

performance and peripheral support. By Susan Shimshock

ColdFire Revisited
he microprocessor has made customers to leverage the 19-year legacy employs a variable-length RISC instruc­
its mark on the world since its of code, tool sets, and engineering know­ tion set that maximizes code density
introduction three decades how from 68 000-based designs. Repre­ (the "packing efficiency" of instructions
ago. It has changed not just senting a major upgrade, the MCF5307's and operands he ld within registe rs,
the electronics industry, but how we V3 ColdFire core continues its prede­ buffers, and on-chip memory) . The core's
work, communicate, and play. While cessors' goals while boosting processing fruga l use of system memory greatly min­
desktop processors routinely get the throughput. This was accomplished imizes the need for off-chip memo ry,
lion's share of ink, the market for embed­ through arc hitectural improvements, which in turn lowers a product's cost
ded processors (often called microcon­
trollers) has grown to titanic proportions:
It literally dwarfs the desktop computer 5307 Architecture
market. Hundreds of millions of embed­
ded processors are used each year in a
wide variety of applications ranging from
communications devices, business ma­
Multiply·Accumulate
module (MAC)
MCF5307
General-purpose
1/0 h Para8el ilterface

~ Serial interiace
*:r
Coldfire V3
DUART
chines, and automobiles to toys, home core

appliances, and consumer electronics.

L
Debug module rmers rnner support
Lasting Legacy OMA module OMA interlace
System designers today look at the whole
8-KB unified cache
12c module ~ l2c interface
picture regarding an embedded product's
life cycle . Issues such as price, system I 4-KB SRAM I .-~..-----.._.._
la" _ _ _controler
DRAM _ _... DRAM interiace
development environment (i.e., devel­
opment tools, debugging tools, OS sup­ ~':tace~ !TAG I j'.i .,__...___..
Interrupt controUer lntenupt support
port, and modeling support), reuse of ~s External bus
existing software, ease of integrating cus­ ~~ --;I Clock-nwltiplied PLL I ilterface External bus
tom logic, and the ability to migrate to
newer processors in the future are impor­
tant factors when selecting a CPU.
Moto;ola's 32-bit RISC ColdFire archi­
The processor fe atures an optimized core
tecture re adily addresses these issues, and a wide variety of pe ripheral interfaces.
because its instruction set is founded on
the venerable 68000 architecture. Since better mathematical performance, and because. memory is one of the m ost
many 32-bit embedded app lications the addition of DSP-like functions . These expensive elements of a design.
today use the 68000 processor or its enhancements, alon g with sufficient The 5307's primary performance in­
descendants, ColdFire lets designers pre­ built-in peripherals (as shown in "5307 crease comes from the clock-m ultiplied
serve their investment in time-tested, sol­ Architecture" above), enable the 5307 to V3 core, which boosts data throughput
id code. The latest progeny of this fami­ implement a single-chip system capable to 70 MIPS at 90 MHz. When using the
ly, the MCF5307, combines a third version of handling a wide range of consumer and same external memory subsystem, this
(V3) of the ColdFire core, along with an business electronics. It is a 3.3-V part represents nearly a twofold improvement
integrated package of communications fabricat ed using a 0.35-micron TLM over the 68040 processor, and a 2.5 to 3
peripherals. CMOS process, and it is available as a 208­ times increase over the MCF5202 (which
The previous-generation ColdFire pin quad flat pack. uses the ColdFire V2 architecture).
core (V2) was designed to address two Besides a faster CPU clock, the 5307
complementary goals. First, it enabled At the Core also sports other V3 core performance­
the rapid, low-cost deployment of new Fundamental to the 53 07's design is its related upgrades. A four-stage instruction
embedded systems. Second, it allowed compact and modular ColdFire core. It fetch pipeline and a two-stage execution

www.bytc.com MAY 1998 BYTE 51

 Core/CPUs ColdFire Revisited

pipeline combine to create a more bal­

anced instruction load in the 5307, thus
enabling high-frequency operation.
Ink-Jet Printer Design
Branch-prediction hardware reduces the
Converts PC~ Code/variable Swath Boot
penalty of change-of-flow operations processes raster data, storage storage code
(such as branches or jumps). services interrupts
The 5307 also embodies specialized
execution engines in the form of a ded­ 64-to 256-KB DRAM I 256-KB ROM
I
icated multiply-accumulate (MAC) unit
and a hardware divider. These modules
t t
significantly augment the processor's
performance in target systems such as
l To print head
printers and mass-storage devices. Comnwnications
Pixel-processing logic
ASIC

Depending on the specific code that's

LED/lCD control
implemented, the signal-processing
Manages USB, 1284, Pulse-width modulation
algorithms for a servomotor control can or fast lrDA interface
be accelerated by as much as 70 percent
Digital-to-analog converter
using the MAC unit, while the hardware Controls user display;
divider can accelerate raster-image pro­ transfers data to print OMA
heads; controls stepper
cessing in printers by as much as 15 per­ motors. SHAM
cent. The 5307's glueless memory inter­ To st1111per
motors
face and specialized processing power
make it ideal as a printer controller, as
shown in the figure "Ink-Jet Printer The 5307's glueless memory interface and processing
Design" at right.
The 5307 maintains two isolated clock power make simple, low-cost designs possible.
domains: one for the processor core and
memory, and one for the other on-chip or cycle steal mode. It supports 8-, 16-, saved externally-the approach taken by
modules such as external bus controllers and 32-bit block-transfer sizes, with inde­ the ColdFire debug module. In addition,
and peripheral logic. This simplifies the pendent widths for source and destina­ this debug unit enables system designers
integration of slower peripherals (e.g., tion addresses. It can also perform 128­ to perform real-time traces during the
the on-chip DUARTand timers) and min­ bit bursting block transfers and manage dynamic exec uti on of instructions,
imizes power consumption, while allow­ a dedicated UART service. allowing them to observe and identify
ing the core to operate independently at The 5307 has an on-chip debug mod­ code bugs.
higher frequencies for best performance. ule that supports background debugging,
rea l-time tracing, and real-time debug­
Compatibi Iity
Potent Peripherals ging. The debug module provides a com­ and Upgradability
Supp lementing the 5307's accelerated mon interface for consistent emulator The 5307 is code-compatible with previ­
throughput is a host ofintegrated periph­ support across the entire ColdFire pro­ ous ColdFire cores, which makes it an
erals. An on-chip, 8-KB, four-way set asso­ cessor fami ly. This internal debug capa­ ideal upgrade for existing designs based
ciative unified cache and 4 KB of SRAM bility provides direct observation of inter­ on the MCF5206 (an earlier member of
help reduce external memory accesses for nal registers at any point during code the ColdFire fami ly). Because ColdFire
tight code loops. The 5307's external execution, simpli fying and speeding up is based on the 68000 instruction set, the
bus provides a direct interface to exter­ software/hardware integration, as well as MCF5307 is suitable for upgrading lega­
nal 8-, 16-, and 32-bit memory and 1/0 final testing and verification. cy embedded designs based on Motoro­
devices . A DRAM contro ll er provides Where the debug module really shines la's 68340 or 68EC040 parts.
glueless support for up to 256 MB of syn­ is that it facilitates the debugging and Embedded applications will continue
chronous, extended data out (EDO), or testing of embedded devices. Static to multiply and evolve, and system
page-mode DRAMs. The integrated 5307 debug monitors are limited because they designers must examine their choices
also includes two 16-bit general-purpose must halt an application's execution to closely. The features of ColdFire cores
multimode timers, serial and parallel read internal kernel resources or change have found them homes in applications
communications interfaces, and an r2c­ a task's state. Unfortunately, servomotor such as set-top boxes, printers, network
compatible bus. contro ll ers, or other time-critical hubs, video games, GPS units, cellular
The 5307's programmable OMA con­ mechanical parts, can be damaged if their base stations, and storage devices. llJ
troller supports four fully independent operations are suspended. While real­
OMA channels, including two that can be time systems may not withstand com­ Susan Shimshock is a technical marketer in
invoked by external request pins to ini­ plete stops, they can tolerate small inter­ Motorola 's Consumer Systems Group. She is
tiate transfers internally or external ly. rupt routines inserted into their working with the design team for the Version
The OMA controller handles single- and execution streams that allow register val­ 4 ColdFire core. She can be reached at editors
dual-address transfer operations in burst ues and other memory variables to be @byte.com.

52 BYTE MAY 1998

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 Programmin g

These server-oriented Java classes offer system independence

and better performance over CGI programs. By Paul Clip

Servlets: CGI the Java Way

• • •• hen Web servers made their are Java classes loaded into and invoked Finally, servlets inherit the advantages of
appea rance on the Internet, by a Web server. They're the server equiv­ the Java language, such as cross-platform
they were built to serve Web alent of ap plets on the browser side. Once portability, garbage collection, multi ­
pages and nothing mo re. load ed, they become part Web server. threading, and synchronization.
Now, server-oriented Java classes, known This provides improved performance
as servlets, give Web servers the abi lity to because they load only once, instead of Servlet Architecture
exchange information with applicati ons being spawned at every request. Although this article mostl y discusses
without sacrificing speed or reliability. Given Java's poinrerless nature, aJava­ servlets from the point of view of replace­
Early Web servers had no way to access based servler is less likel y than a C++ ments for CGls, they play other roles in
a database and return th e results of a
query as HTML. This was soon remedied
with the introduction of the CGI, a rather
Servlet Architecture
unwieldy specification that defines how
Web serv ers exchange information with Client Server Server
external software. repository
Using CG! programs (or CG!s), it then
became possible for Web servers to spawn db_seri
these programs (i .e., start running a new
copy), communicate with them via the Database
CGI, and perform ar bitrary yet useful
functi ons, including accessing databases.
While CG ls represented a major break­
through in extending the Web's capabil­
ities, many problems are associated with
th em. The chief one is performance.
Every time a request is made t o a Web 0 Intranet client makes HTTP request e Senlet accesses database.
server that requires runnin g a CG!, the f} Dispatcher has senlet loaded from repository if it 0 Results are passed to next senlet in the dlain.
server must spawn it and suffer the per­ is not present
0 Senlet formats rWts as HTML and sends them
formance impactofhavi ngthe CG! load, e Senlet is given the request to the c&enl
initialize, execute, and final ly return
HTML. Fielding many simultaneo us
CG! requests can quickly bring a high­ You can load servlets on demand and pipe

traffic server to its knees. their results to other servlets for more processing.

Improv ements to CG!s have since

appeared. Both Microsoft and Netscape plug-in to misbehave sufficiently to crash the enterprise Java world. Servlets are
released AP!s to enable Webmasters to the entire Web server. Also, most servlet­ considered a ge neral mecha nism for
write CG!s as libraries that load as part capable servers allow running servlets in extending the capabilities of services, a
of the Web server itself. This greatly a "black box" isolated from the rest of the generic name for Web servers, m a il
improves performance because the li­ server to en hance stability and security. servers, and so forth.
braries don't require a spawning opera­ Because they effecti vely become part Thus, a servler is nor only cross-plat­
tion . But it places more responsibility of the Web server, servlets can save state form thanks to J ava, it also provid es a
on the programmer. A badly written li­ between invocatio11 s. In th e state less measure of independence from propri­
brary can easily crash the whole server. nature of HTTP, this is an important etary servers a nd protocols. In other
advantage. For example, a servlet could words, assuming that yo u are willing to
Meet a Servi et track a surfer's actions for statistical pur­ write your custom logic as servlets, you
Servlets are an attempt to address the poses and /or generate custom HTML will be able to "plug" them into differ­
problems of speed and reliability. Servlets based on the behavior that it witnesses. ent vendors' products, whether they are

wwwbyt .c MAY 1998 BYTE 55

 Core/Programming Servlets : CGI the Java Way

Web servers (HTTP) , file servers (NFS),

mail serve rs (SMTP), and so on .
The figure " Servlet Architecture" illus­
ASimple Servlet
trates some of th e more impo rtant fea ­
publi c c l a ss Brow s erCounter ex tends Http Servl et
tures a nd co ncepts. In this hypothetical
exa mple, an intranet client (e.g., a Web Hashtabl e browserHash =new Ha s htabl e () ;
brows er) makes an HTTP reque st to a
se rvlet-capabl e Web server. publi c sy nc hronized void s ervi c e

The dispatcher, the part of the server (Http ServletReque s t reque s t, Http Servl e tRe s pon s e

that ass igns threads to incoming requ ests respon se )

throw s ServletE xc eption, IOE xc eption

and dispatches them to vario us servlets,

di scov e rs th a t th e r e quir e d se rvl e t String brow s er = reque s t.getHeader("User-agent");
(d b_ s e r v) to invo ke is not on the serve r. Integer hits;
In this case, it is loaded fr om a centra l
servlet rep ository (potentially a nother i f ( br ow s erHa s h. co ntains Key(brow s er))
Web se rver) and give n the requ est. This hit s= (Integer ) brow s erHa s h.g e t ( brow s er);
shows ano th er strength o f servlet envi­ hit s= new Integer(hit s .intValue( ) + ll;
ro nments: th e ability to load servlets from e l se (

a re mote site as well as fr om local storage. hit s= new Integer(ll;

Pres um abl y, vario us co mpa ny systems

brow se rHa s h.put ( br ows er, hit s) ;
use d b_s er v ex tensively, a nd th erefore
it is worth centra lizing. r es pon s e. se tCont ent Ty pe ( "te xt / plain" ) ;
Db_ serv carri es o ut th e requ est and, Servl et Output Stream out = re s pon se .getOutput Stream( ) ;
in the process, accesses a company data­ out. pri ntl n("Your type of brow s er ha s ac c essed this
base fo r in for mati on. Its results are passed s ite"+ hit s +" time s ");
to p r etty _ serv , a servlet that for mats
db_ serv 's o utput into HTML and sends
it to th e browse r. This entire operati o n publi c String get Servl et Info()
return "R e turns numb e r of hi ts by type of brow s er" ;
is cal led servlet chaining. The servlets a re
configured in se ri es, with each process­
ing the o utput of the previo us link and
sending its o utput down the chain.

A Sample Servlet in a server's administra ti o n interface. case, this is a socket back to th e client, but
Th e sampl e co d e Bro 1vse r Cou n ter , Th e ser vi ce ( ) meth od is called each had thi s se rvlet bee n p a rt of a chain, I
shown in th e listin g "A Simple Servlet," time a servlet is invo ked. Two parameters wo uld have written ro th e next servlet's
determines what ki nd of browser accesses a re passed in . T he first, request , encap­ input stream tra nsparentl y.
th e site. It returns a line of tex t sta tin g sul ates th e in for mati on abo ut the HTTP
ho w o fte n th e site has bee n hit by tha t requ est (e.g., the cli ent's IP address, host Future Services
type o f browser. Th is shows how servlets na m e, a nd r eq ues t para m e t ers ). Th e Servlets a re set fo r a br ight futur e. The
can maintain state across invocati ons and second, response , contains meth ods fo r servlet classes a re no w pa rt of th e J ava
generate custom HTML. BrowserCounter settin g the type of data we are return ing Develo pm ent Kit (JDK ) 1.2 distribution
is invo ked by embedding the foll owing (e.g., tex t or HTML), findin g th e o urput as the first of JavaSoft's Sta ndard Exten­
servlet ta g in a n HTML fil e : <serv l et stream we sho uld write to, and-in o ur sions. Servlets are also being combined
class= ' ' BrowserCou nter ' ' > </ser v­ case- sendin g HTTP-spec ific heade rs. withJavaBea ns to fo rm Servlet Bea ns.
1 et> . Yo u can al so invoke se rvl et s as N o tice th at becau se servlets are inhe r­ These servl ets have the add ed advan­
CGis via URLs or as part of a chain. e ntl y multith rea d ed , I mad e th e ser­ tages of serializing their state and enab­
Bro wserCou n ter is a s ubcl ass o f vi ce ( ) meth od synchro nized to prevent ling their insta nce variables to be modi­
HttpServl et, w hich adds HTTP-specific the data in Browse rCou nte r's has h table fi ed via co nfi gura ti o n inter fa ces . This
meth ods to the generic servlet interface. var iable fr om being corrup ted . would have let Browse r Counte r 's hash­
In this exa mple, o nly two m etho ds a re The se rv i ce ( ) method wo rks as fol­ table be saved to disk wh en the server is
sh o wn: service() and getServl et­ lows. I d ete rmin e th e client's brow ser shut down, preserving a ny statistics gath­
Jnfo( ) . Oth e r s (e.g., init<) a nd ty pe, or User - a ge nt in HTTP parl ance. ered. Serv lets' simple interface, perfo r­
destroy ( ) ) are prov ided by superclasses N ex t, I ch eck w heth er this type has an mance, and th e independence they pro­
and can be overridden as necessary. For entry in the hashtable. If it does, I incre­ vide are likely ro prove attractive to many
in stance, db _ serv mi ght co nn ect to a m e nt its co unt er (a simpl e Integer develo pers. Ill
database in in it ( ) and release th e con­ o bj ect). If it doesn't, I create a new entry
n ec ti o n in destroy(). And get­ in th e has h ta bl e, wi t h th e n ew typ e's Paul Clip ([email protected]) is a Java-certified
Servl etlnfo() e n a bl es a se rvle t t o co unter set to 1. Finall y, I print the m es­ consultant wo rking at Sapient 's San Francisco
return a sho rt description that's displayed sage ro res pons e's o utput stream. In my office.

56 BYTE MAY 1998

 Databases

Getting a database connected to the Web need not be an

expensive and time-consuming task. By Tony Cox

Using Perl with Databases

cientific environments have for different sorts of database systems. Monty Widenius. Not only does it have
always generated large num­ Equally important, DBI lets you write a Perl DBI, but ODBC (Unix/Win32) and
bers of databases, and office database-independent scripts. The DBI Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) dri­
software such as Microsoft layer uses database drivers (DBD) to trans­ vers are also avail able.
Access has fueled an explosion in small­ late DBI AP! calls to database-specific MySQL is available as so urce code
er data repositories. I'm often asked by commands. If your Perl script conforms and as prebuilt binaries for most flavors
colleagues if it is possible to make these to the DBI specifications, it can manipu­ of Unix. Don't assume it's not a serious
databases available on the Internet. Until late any database for which a Perl DBD RD BMS just because it's free-MySQL
recently, my answer has been "not easi­
ly," for the simple reason that we don't
have an NT server. For organizations The Database Interface (DBI) Layer Connections
wedde d to Unix, installing and main­
taining an NT system to host an Access DBI scope Databases
database makes poor economic sense.
However, I decided to investigate fur­
ther. How difficult (and therefore expen­ -- . . . . --L::l

sive) might it be to publish Access data on

the Internet, using a Unix-only server
environment? I would need to transfer
Access data to a relational DBMS running
Perlsaipt
using DBI
methods
{)
Bl .+­ API
s
w
i
t
--c-.. .).-.L::)

-- . .~... --L::l

under Unix, use a Web CGI to pass SQL

queries, and forma t the query results for
an HTML browser. Since the project had
zero budget, any software would have The switch dynanically

to be free, and ideally I'd want to exploit loads the driveis and

dispatches DBI method ..,._ Other drivers

my modest Perl programming skills. calls lo the proper driver.
As I beli eve in starting simp ly and
adding complexity later, I chose a small
Access database for my prototype system.
It consists of two tables with about 4000 A single Database Interface-conforming script can
rows of data detailing the amount of DNA
("4C") stored in the nucleus of different access any database that has a DBI driver module.
plant species. My aim was to duplicate
Access functions as far as reasonably pos­ module exists. A single script lets you per­ can administer databases containing mil­
sible and be able to select and sort DNA form the same operation on major lions of entries. It's very fas t, supports
data by combinations of various fields RDBMSes such as Oracle, Informix, and all standard data types, including binary
and numeric ranges on an HTML form . Sybase, plus a host of smaller ones. DBI large objects (BLOBS) , and implements
also allows you to manipulate multiple practically all the ANSI SQL92 specifica­
Assembling the Tools databases at the same time, as shown tion (plus a number ofuseful extensions).
First, I had to find what tools were avail­ above in "The Database Interface (DBI) MySQL has a sophisticated privilege sys­
able for accessing databases via CGI. All Layer Connections." tem that all ows managers to control
roads led to the Perl Database Interface The most attractive packages fitting my access to database functions according to
(DBI), written by Tim Bunce. The DBI project criteria were inexpensive Unix database, user, and location. I set my
furnishes a constant Perl API with which RDBMSes for which a DBD module was DBI scripts to run as the user "webclient,"
to manipulate databases. Source for DBI available. A litrl e research focuse d my for which I gave read-only access to my
is available at http://www.hermetica.com attention on the freely available MySQL test database.
/technologia/DBI/. Versions of DBI exist package (http://www.tcx.se/ ), written by Compiling and installing the MySQL

www.byte.com MAY 1 998 BYTE 57

 Core/Databases Using Perl with Databases

database application was straightfor­

ward. Installing DBI and the MySQL DBD
(in that order) was similarly uneventful;
all come with helpful installation instruc­ De.fa.Jlt= all

tions and test scripts that check that

Dehu~== •II
everything works correctly. MySQL r-------~r-'--;::=========~===i r=r=========;;;;;----')1 ,----~---1
provides a simple command-line utility j Defafllt =~II
program for creating databases, setting r=::c;=====:::::;:---=--·.,D•f~tt = ~JI J
permissions, defining tables, and con­ ~~~~_.;....:;
- [ Ploidy le ve l Defa11tt =all
structing fields . I duplicated the Access
table structures in mySQL, and trans­ o lsu bclass o.mtt=hot•
ferred data from Access into M ySQL by
importing files saved in either tab-de lim­
0 \Voucher available? \a.m~ =6ot• !
ited or CSV format.
0 ILife cycle type o.f...lt= •"

0 !Estima tion method <!i All met hods 1~f-tt=•ll ]

Building the User Interface
So that Web browsers could query the An HTML form serves as the front end to a SOL database,
database, I needed to construct an inter­
so users can make queries from a browser.
face th at passes queries to the database
via the DBl/DBD layer. I created a Web is th e first modifier field. Scripts must been constructed, DBI passes it to the
form, shown in the screenshot at right, therefore react dynamically to the fields database. DBI database operations are
that acts as the main query interface. A found selected and always produce cor­ encapsulated in objects that are manipu­
Perl script takes information from this rect SQL syntax . Notice also how the lated via handles. A successful DBI co n ­
form and constructs a SQL query that's range of fo u rc is exp li citly given an nect ( l function loads the appropriate
forwarded to the database. upper limit, even though this is not spec­ driver, establ ishes a connection, and
BuildingSQL queries properly requires ified in the form field . Numeric fields returns a database handle. Once a handle
careful consideration of the Web form 's shou ld have upper and lower limits that object has been obta ined, its member
field types, combinations of se lected can be inserted when fully qua lifi ed functions may be called. The exec ut e ( )
fields, and how data from fields may be expressions are not provided. This type function passes a string containing a
validated or otherwise sanitized prior to of defensive coding is essential for pre­ SQL query to the database. A successful
submission to the database. I found Perl's venting unexpected errors when users query returns a handle to a statement
associative arrays excellent for mapping enter incorrect data into a field. You can object. This handle provides convenient
form field names to database field names. ex ploit Perl's powerful regular expres­ access not only to query results but also
I used checkboxes to a llow users to sion engine to correct such errors. to metadata such as column names. Mul­
choose which database fields to include tiple f etchrow_ a rr ay() function calls
in the SQL SELECT statement. These Using DBI retrieve references to query resu lts, a
checkboxes set internal flags that ensure A DBI script can be coded to use a specif­ single row at a time, and can be used to
inclusion of fields in the SE LECT state­ ic database/drive r combination, or else place them in an array. This makes it sim­
ment; they also cause the contents of any find all installed drivers and load each in ple to present the returned data in an
associated modifier fields to be checked. turn to discover any databases availab le HTML table.
If modifiers exist, they are added to a list on th e local machine. This latter feature
of items to be included in the subse­ can be used to great advantage: By cycling The Cost Advantage
quent WHERE clause. through installed drivers, the first one Making information in desktop PC data­
To preserve SQL syntax , a field must capable of accessing a requested database bases ava ilable on the Internet in the
"know" if it is the first modifi er to a can be used. Should the database crash or absence of an NT server proves to be far
SE LECT statement, which requir es a need to go off-line, and a copy is available from an insurmountable task. Many
lYHERE keyword, while subsequent claus­ via another driver, then the DBI script excellent tools are available to help you
es require AN D keywords. For example, automatically selects the next driver that achieve this goal. While you might need
the processed form in the screenshot will can service the request. This capability to spend some money on writing Perl
yield the following SQL statement: helps imp lement fault tolerance and scripts and building an HTML form for
improve database availability. This is pos­ the front end of the database, most of the
SE LE CT ge nu s . spec i es . family , sible on ly because DBI-compliant scripts process can be done for free. A sample
fo ur c FRO M ma in are database-independent. Perl script is available for downloading
WH ER E genus = • Tul i pa · Once a suitable SQL query string has from the BYTE site at http://www.byte
AND fourc <= '1 0 · AND fourc >= .com/art/download/download. htm . Ill
' 600' WHERE TO FIND
OR DER BY species ; Dr. Tony Cox works at the jordell Laboratory,
MySQL
T.c. X DataKonsultAB
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, U.K. He can be
SQL syntax must be maintained, how­ http ://www.tcx.se/ contacted via e-mail at a.cox@rbgkew
ever, if gen us is n 0 tselected and s pee i es .org.uk.

5B BYTE MAY 1998 www.byte com

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 HOW TO

OUPUP

JAVA
PARTI
Will Java always be noticeably slower than C+ +?It's a

matter of debate, but many experts say no. They're

working on nine ways to boost Java's performance.

By Tom R. Halfhill

BYTE Lab Testing By Al Gallant

oftware tends to get slowe.r over time, not faster. Otherwise,

our applications could still be cruising on a 4.77-MHz IBM PC.
But]ava is bucking the slothware trend, at least for now. Thanks
to the brute force of global research and development, Java is experi­
encing a growth spurt that will bring it very close to the performance of
languages such as C+ +.
Competitive performance is crucial to fast enough for many purposes. Often, Java
Java's success. Java tool vendors and devel­ applets are merely the front end for a cen­
opers agree that sluggish execution is thei r tralized process, such as a database man­
customers' biggest complaint-both th e ager, that's running on a server. It's the
customers who are using Java and those database's stored procedures, the server,
who are still evaluating it. Indeed, poor per­ or the network that's the bottleneck, not
formance is second only to the problem of the applet. However, it's more often the
inconsistent cross-platform compatibility, case that Java is simply too slow for appli­
another annoyance of Java's youth. cations that cou ld benefit from its advan­
"There's been a lot of buzz in the mar­ tages: multi platform compatibility, devel­
ketplace about Java performance, and the oper productivity, and run-time safety.
fact that it's not as fast as C++, which is the The same barriers stunted the popular­
benchmark," says Colette Coad, a part­ ity of earlier object-oriented, dynamic lan­
ner at Ernst & Young who leads its Java guages, such as Smalltalk and Eiffel. Even
development in the U.S. "It's holding some more successful languages, such as Visual
people back from building enterprise­ Basic and Power Builder, have been limited
level, server-based Java applications." by their less-than-C performance. But the
Despite those misgivings, Coad adds, tremendous hype over Java is generating
Java continues to score major design an unprecedented amount ofR&D at com­
wins, especially at large organizations panies and universities all over the world.
whose need for cross-platform solutions In general, researchers are exploring
overrides other factors. (See "Java Gets nine approaches to higher performance:
Down to Business," October 1997 BYTE.) • Better Java compilers. These are the
It's happening because Java is already compilers that translate Java source code

60 BYTE MAY 1998

 Cover Story How to Soup Up Java

(.java files) into Java bytecode (.class files) • Static native compilers. These tools the first place. One reason is that Java is a
for execution on Java virtual machines translate Java source code or bytecode into dynamically bound object-oriented lan­
(JVMs). native object code at design time, just like guage. Java programs don't bind their
• Faster JVMs. The JVM is the software compilers for CIC++. classes until run time; only then can they
layer in a Web browser or OS that inter­ • Native method calls. Java applications resolve polymorphic method calls inside
prets Java bytecode and handles run-time can invoke native executable files, includ­ their deep hierarchies of inherited objects.
operations such as garbage collection. ing DLLs written in C+ + and services in When a method in a child class overrides
• Bytecode optimizers. These tools the native OS. (See the text box "Calling a method in a parent class, a dynamically
apply additional optimizations by recom­ Native Code" on page 68.) bound program won't discover which
piling the bytecode produced by other Java • Java chips. A new breed of micro pro- method takes precedence until run time,

Java Chips:

The Hardware Solution

he Java virtual machine (JVM) isn't virtual anymore-it's real. New Java
T chips can execute Java bytecode as their native machine language,
making it unnecessary to interpret or compile the bytecode into some
other CPU 's machine language.
In theory, this could allow Java to run as fast as native code on other
CPUs-if Java chips were as powerful as other CPUs. In practice, most
Java chips will be sub-$50 processors, because they're designed for
network computers (NCs), TV set-top boxes, smartcards, and other
embedded devices. Only one company, Sun Microelectronics, is known
to be developing a high-end Java processor (ultraJava).
Nine companies are working on Java chips: Sun, NEC, IBM, Fujitsu, LG
Semicon, Rockwell , Siemens, Patriot Scientific, and International Meta
Systems (IMS). Seven of them (Sun, NEC, IBM, Fujitsu, LG Semicon,
Rockwell, and Siemens) are designing their chips around Sun's picoJava
core, which is available for licensing. Patriot modified an existing pro·
cessorto run Java, and IMS is working on an independent design.
Sun plans to ship its first Java chip, the microJava 701 , in the second
half of this year. Later, Sun plans to introduce additional 700-series
microJava chips, plus some lower-end 500-series and 300-series chips.
For the high end, Sun is designing the ultraJava for 1999 or later. It's for
graphics workstations and will compete against high-end CPUs of other
architectures, says Harlan McGhan, technical marketing manager.
So far, nobody has shipped actual products with Java chips. Sun has
announced the JavaBlaster, a $99 ISA card that turns old PCs into Java· Java chips execute bytecodes directly, without
based computers, but it won't appear until after the microJava 701 ships.
the need for interpreting or compiling.
Siemens is designing a picoJava·based smartcard. Rockwell might use
its JEM 1 chip in navigation and communications systems. Patriot has that generate bytecode. The picoJava architecture defines about half a
shipped more than two dozen development kits for its PSC1 000. dozen extended bytecode instructions to support CIC++ and low-level
Java chips aren't limited to running software written in Java, any more hardware functions, such as memory writes, on-board cache control ,
than other CPUs are. Programmers can use any high-level language that access to control registers, and power-up/power-down diagnostics.
has a bytecode compiler. In fact, Sun is introducing CIC++ compilers Is this heresy? No, says Sun. Java chips must support those functions

compilers, yielding faster class files that cessors can directly execute Java bytecode and the precedence can change i£ the pro­
still consist of standard bytecode. as their native machine language. Most gram loads another class. (A method is the
• Just-in-time (JIT) compilers. W hen a of these chips are designed for low-cost Java counterpart to a function, procedure,
JVM loads a program's classes, a JIT com­ devices. (Seethe text box "Java Chips: The or subroutine in other languages.)
piler quickly translates the bytecode into Hardware Solution.") C compilers statically bind a program
native machine code and then caches it in • Writing better code. (Last but not during compilation by inserting pointers
memory. JIT compilers are common in least!) Developers can follow good pro­ to the function calls, so the program does
Web browsers. gramming practices and exploit Java's not have to resolve those references at run
• Dynamicoradaptivecompilers. These idiosyncrasies. (See the text box "Speed time. But c+ + allows virtual methods that
high-tech compilers intelligently translate Tips for Java Coders" on page 72.) are late-bound and polymorphic like
Java bytecode into native machine code at Java methods, and C+ +also suffers from
run time based on profiles of how the pro­ Why Java Is Slow the hierarchical nesting of objects. That's
gram is running. An example is Sun ' s To grasp how these techniques work, it's why c+ + is generally slower than c, a clas­
upcoming HotSpot technology. crucial to understand why Java is slow in sic procedural language.

62 BYTE MAY 1998

 How to Soup U p Java C ove r St ory

To recover some of the efficiency of consumes more CPU cycles. Fortunately, alty applies even to single-threaded pro­
static binding, Java defines a bytecode that penalty is largely hidden by a parallel grams that call synchronized methods­
instruction called INVOKE VI RT UA L trend in hardwa re : Moore's law. The cir­ and hundreds of methods in Java's stan­
_OU I CK that a smartJVM can substitute at cuit density (and thus the performance) of dard classes are synchronized.
run time for the more common INVOKE CPUs rough ly dou bles every 18 months. Don ' t forget Java's dynamic loading.
_VIRTUAL instruction. The quick version Java carries abstraction to a new height. The JVM can load new classes at any time
bypasses a few table lookups after the JVM It's a progra mming language that's also a while a program is running, which means
has already resolved a method call. In gen­ platform. The JVM contains a software it needs resources to load, verify, and ini­
eral, though, dynamic binding and object representatio n of a CPU, complete with its tialize the new class. Most native platforms
hierarchies play a relatively minor role in own instruction set. (Java chips turn that can dynamically load and link, too- that's
virtual CPU into rea l hardware.) The byte­
codes in Java class files contain instructions
so developers can write OSes, device drivers,
for the virtual CPU, and the classes will run Java's Run-Time Overhead
and other low-level programs. Regular Java
can't do it because Java source compilers on any native platform with a compatible Bytecode execution
don't generate the extended bytecodes. Even JVM. Bywritingto theJavaAPis and com­ If a compiler converts all or part of a
if they did, the bytecode verifiers built into piling to bytecode, developers don't have program into native code, the JVM has little
or no run-time interpreting to do.
JVMs would reject the extended bytecodes to worry about th e nati ve CPU or OS.
as illegal. This preserves the safety of Java
applications while permitting developers to
To make this work, the JVM has an inter­
preter that translates bytecode instructions
l . ./~!.~:,.,.
&/;; ~Y'i ~Wi::'T:::~
write low-level system software for Java chips. into native CPU instructio ns at run time.
Patriot was the first company to demon­ Interpreted programs always run slower
strate a working Java chip (November 1997).
than natively compiled programs, because
Instead of licensing Sun's picoJava core,
Patriot took an existing Forth chip and repro­
a compiler has already turned a native pro­ ~~f~~@ -·;(~itJ.izr.\·: ~~~!~~~ is using
grammed the microcode to recognize byte­
gram into a binary executable file at design
time. No run-time translation is necessary. ..,, ·:;i~:~ Thread
codes. The PSC1000 already had a stack
Run-time interp reti ng alone would synchronization
architecture, because Forth , like Java, is a
Varies according to
stack-oriented language. Patriot's PSC1000 put J ava at a disadvantage, but there's the thread monitor's
costs less than $10 in volume. much more. Java removes another burden Miscellaneous
Includes class loading, efficiency and how
Marc Tremblay, a chip architect at Sun, pre­ from programmers by automatically han­ bounds checking, many threads a
dicts that low-end Java chips based on the program is spawning.
dling memory manageme nt. In CIC++, exception handling,

picoJava core will run Java about 20 times programmers are responsible for allocat­ reflection, and native­

faster than interpreters running on a Pentium method translation.

ing memory, using the memory properly,

at the same clock frequency. Tremblay thinks
and releasing the memory when they ' re
the chips will deliver about five times as much
done with it. M emory leaks and pointer JVMs spend only about half of th eir
performance as a just-in-time (J IT) compiler
running on a Pentium. bugs are the most common reasons why tim e executing program instruct ions.
Is that fast enough? By the time the chips CIC++ programs crash. Java avoids those
come out, the best JIT compilers might deliver headac hes by using a garbage collector­ how Windows DLLs work - but pro­
more performance on fast CPUs than low-end an automatic backgro und process th at grammers have to explicitly write a pro­
Java chips. However, that won 't threaten the frees up memory when a program no gram that way. In Java, dynamic class load­
two most important markets for the chips : longer needs it. But ga rbage collection ing demands no extra effort, because a
inexpensive devices that can't afford a adds more overhead to execution. program can automatically load any class
Pentium-class CPU but still need to run Java The JVM eliminates another common file whenever it's needed . There fo re,
at acceptable speeds and low-memory
hazard of CIC+ + by automatically check­ dynamic loading happens more ofren.
devices that lack the resources for a full-size
JVM and aJITcompiler.
in g for array-b o und s exce ptions- at­ Finally, there are Java's restrictive but
tempts to reference array elements th at effective security measures. Web browsers
don' t exist. The JVM also checks for null imp lement a Java security manager that
Java's poor performance. A much larger pointers, divisio n-by-zero errors, illegal normally stops applets from reading or
factor is Java's almo st unpreced ented string-to-number conversions, invalid type writing to local disk drives, calling native
degree of hardware abstraction. casting, and a host of other exceptions that executable files , connecting to servers
Higher levels of abstraction have been threaten to crash a program. other than the host, and doing some other
a trend in software development for half Java's powerful multi threading adds sig­ potentially dangerous things. Checking
a century. Starting from the hard-wired nificant overhead . Threading is easy in for those violations soaks up more CPU
logic of ENIAC, computer programming Java, and programmers can prevent thread cycles. But Java applications don't suffer
has advanced to machine language assem­ conflicts by using a built-in keyword (sy n ­ as much in this regard. Unlike applets,
blers, high-level-language compilers, high­ c h r a n i zed ) that ensures only one thread they're stand-alone programs that can do
level-language interpreters, 05-levelAPis, at a time is executing a particular method . virtually anything a native program can do.
and object-oriented class libraries. Each However, calling a synchronized method It's a trade-off. In return for multiplat­
step up the ladder makes it less necessary takes longer, because the JVM's thread form compatibility, greater safety, the flex­
for application programmers to bother monitor must check to see if any other ibility of dynamic loading, and higher pro­
with hardware details. But each step also threads are using the method. This pen­ grammer productivity, users pay th e

wwwbyt com MAY 1998 BYTE 63

 Cover Story How to Soup Up Java

price of slower execution. Of course, like tors, thanks to pioneers who faced the memory consumption. Because most Java
all software, Java will ride the coattails of same problem with Lisp, Smalltalk, and vendors license their ]VMs from either Sun
Moore's law. But even if CPUs never get other languages. Later this year, the JVM or Microsoft, these advances will ripple
any faster, Java's performance would still that includes Sun's HotSpot technology through the entire Java community.
get better. will introduce a new collector based on an Thread synchronization is another run­
advanced generational algorithm. time task that's ripe for improvement. Like
The Garbageman Generational collectors are more effi­ garbage collection, it might account for 15
To begin with, JVMs are getting faster. cient because they sweep smaller parts of percent to 25 percent ofa]VM's work load.
]VMs based on Sun's Java Development the heap more often. They're called gen­ Symantec licensed Sun's JVM and exten­
Kit (]DK) 1.1 are about twice as fast as erational because they base their sweeps sively modified the thread monitor-and,
those based on ]DK 1.0.2. One reason is
that Sun streamlined the event model.
into method A. This makes it unnecessary
The old model would "broadcast" AJava Glossary for A to call Bat run time, thereby speeding
events (e.g., mouse-clicks, mouse move­ up execution-at the expense of code size.
ments, and keystrokes) throughout an
entire program until an object trapped the Bytecode: Java's object code or machine Polymorphism: The ability of methods in
event with event-handling code. That was language. A compiler turns Java so urce object-oriented programs to override meth­
code into bytecode and stores it in a class ods of the same name in other classes. If a
very inefficient, especially for high-vol­
file . Java chips can execute bytecode di­ child class has a method whose name is
ume events such as mouse movements.
rectly, but all other CPUs require an inter­ identical to a method in a parent class, the
Under the new event model, objects can child method takes precedence.
preter or a compiler to translate the byte ­
register with another object called a lis­ code into the CPU's native object code.
tener to hear only those events in which Thread: A process within a program. A mul­
they're interested. For example, a button lnlining: Copying the body of a method into tithreaded program can execute two or more
the body of another method . Exampl e: If threads by distributing time slices from the
might want to listen only for mouse-clicks.
method A calls method B, a programmer or CPU , so the program appears to be exe­
From the button's point of view, all other
compi ler can copy the code of method B cuting multiple operations simultaneously.
events are like trees falling in an uninhab­
ited forest: They don't make a sound.
Changing the event model might seem on the "age" of objects. "Most objects die according to Al Bannon, Symantec's direc­
like a small thing, but it makes a big dif­ young," explains Tim Lindholm, a senior tor of developer relations, thread syn­
ference at run time. ]VMs spend roughly staff engineer atJavaSoft. In other words, chronization is now 80 percent to 150
50 percent of their time interpreting a program tends to use an object briefly percent faster. Symantec licenses those
bytecode (assuming there's no JIT com­ before discarding it. Sun's new ]VMkeeps modifications to other companies.
piler), so anything that speeds up that pro­ the references to newly created objects in Sun improved the performance of its
cess yields big gains in performance. a special part of the heap called the "nurs­ own]VM for Solaris by rewriting itto map
]VMs may spend another 15 percent to ery." The garbage collector sweeps the individual Java threads onto native OS
25 percent of their time on garbage col­ nurser y often to make room for more threads. The earlier version piggybacked
lection. Why so much? Because object-ori­ infant objects. all Java threads on a single Solaris thread,
ented languages such as Java make heavy Objects that outlive a few sweeps in the which meant the OS couldn't dispatch Java
use of memory. nursery move on to another part of the threads to different CPUs on multiproces­
Classes are templates that define objects. heap reserved for middle-aged objects. sor systems. Microsoft's JVM for Windows
A program can create any number of The garbage collector doesn't visit them NT also maps Java threads directly to
objects from a class, and each instance of as often. Longer-lived objects eventually native threads. But it isn't feasible with an
an object stays in a memory heap until the graduate to a third area of the heap that OS such as Windows 3. 1, which has little
program no longer needs it. The garbage the collector sweeps the least often of all. or no native support for multithreading.
collector in Sun's current]VM uses a sim­ And to optimize the technique still further, This is one area where application pro­
ple mark-and-sweep algorithm that peri­ Sun uses different collection algorithms grammers can make a difference, too.
odically marks all unreferenced objects for each region of the heap. For example, Sun's HotJava browser used to require the
and sweeps them away in a single pass. the collector sweeps the oldest region with JVM to spend 25 percent of its time mon­
If you chart the memory usage of a a "train" algorithm that divides memory itoring thread synchronization in the pro­
JVM with this kind of garbage collector, into chunks called "cars." If the collector gram, says Peter Kessler, a senior staff engi­
you'll see a jagged sawtooth pattern (see is pressed for time, it can sweep individual neer at J avaSoft. By rewriting the browser
the screen on page 66). The memory cars instead of the whole train. to optimize threading, Kessler says Sun
consumption goes way up , then way The garbage collector in Microsoft's reduced that work load to 10 percent to 15
down, then way up again. The ]VM could JVM uses similar techniques, according percent.
smooth out those jaggies by scavenging the to Joe Herman, Microsoft product man­
heap more often, but it would steal CPU ager for Internet platforms. It keeps a Better Compilers
cycles away from other processes, includ­ dynamically ordered table of objects and Despite the ongoing improvements in
ing the program's execution threads. collects only part of the list at a time. As ]VMs, that's not where Java will realize the
Luckily, JVM vendors can draw on two with Sun's new garbage collector, it tends greatest gains in performance. Interpreted
decades of research into garbage collec­ to level out the jagged peaks and valleys of execution simply isn't fast enough for most

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 Cover Story How to Soup Up Java

purposes. That's why computer science ognizes that Java's virtual CPU has a stack ing for child methods. Drawback: There
graduates who are pondering their uncer­ instead of registers. When a program will be a problem if the program dynami­
tain futures should consider compilers. swaps the values of two variables, an ordi­ cally loads a class that tries to override
There are five types of compilers rele­ nary Java compiler generates three pairs the inlined public methods.
vant to Java: source code compilers, of stack load and store instructions. DashO • Method desynchronization. Tyma says
bytecode optimizers, ]IT compilers, dy­ uses the stack in a smarter way to generate a future version of DashO will use this
namic/adaptive compilers, and static only two pairs of stack loads and stores. Java-specific technique to fix the thread­
native compilers. It's possible for a single • Loop unrolling. This is a classic opti­ synchronization problem described ear­
Java program to undergo as many as three mization that replaces short loops with a lier. DashO will analyze the bytecode to
different levels of compilation with these series of instructions that duplicate the see if a synchronized method really needs
tools. And because today's Java compilers
are relatively primitive, the potential gains ~Memory Usage: jcla.ss.bwt.exa.mples .multiColumnlist ~ lfi!!~
are enormous. File
Source code compilers turn Java source
1200

files into class files of bytecode, ready to

1000

run on any compatible JVM. By modern

standards, Java source compilers don't do
800

§ 600
Allocated
much optimization. The JAVAC compiler
in Sun'sJDK-th~ benchmarkJavasource 400 • Available
compiler-has only one command-line 200

optimization switch (-0), and it applies 0

30 50 70 90 110
only a few simple optimizations, such as Seconds
method inlining. (See "Better Java Pro­
gramming," September 1996 BITE.)
Other Java tool vendors have their own Available: 345 Kb, Allocate·d: 103 Kb
source compilers. Most vendors concen­
This sawtooth pattern is typical of mem~ry usage when Java's
trate on making their compilers work
faster, rather than making the compilers garbage collector disposes of objects en masse.
produce faster code. Fast compilers
shorten the edit-compile-test cycle for pro­ function of the loop. It's faster because it to be synchronized; if not, it removes the
grammers but do nothing for users. Tool eliminates a compare instruction and a lock. For example, if method A is the
vendors are just starting to add the opti­ branch instruction for every iteration only method that calls method B, and if
mizations found in mature compilers for through the loop. method A is synchronized, there's no need
other languages. • Loop-invariant code motion. Some to synchronize B. Removing the lock on
There's nothing especially new about loops contain statements that execute dur­ B reduces the overhead of calling the
those optimizations-most of them are ing every iteration but always yield the method without compromising the thread
straight out of computer science text­ same results. (Example: a+l=b, where safety of the program.
books. It's just a matter of bringing Java neither variable is a loop variable.) Good It's possible that these optimizations and
compilers up to date. For those who can't compilers move this code outside the loop more will eventually find their way into
wait, one alternative is a bytecode opti­ so it executes only once. Java source compilers, reducing the need
mizer. This tool recompiles bytecode (you • Common subexpression elimina ­ for a recompiler such as DashO . But tool
don't need the source code) into optimized tion. Given a statement such as x= (y+ 5) vendors seem to be focusing on three
bytecode that's still platform-indepen­ + (y+ 5), a smart compiler will re use the other types of compilers: ]IT compilers,
dent. Some examples are DashO and result of the first expression rather than dynamic/adaptive compilers, and static
DashO Pro, from Preemptive Solutions. evaluate the second expression. native compilers.
DashO is the brainchild of Paul Tyma, • Tail-recursion elimination. In some
president and chief scientist of Preemp­ rec ursive algorithms, only the tail portion Going Native
tive, who's writing his doctoral disserta­ is recursive. Often, it's more efficient for At some point, bytecode must become
tion on Java performance at the Univer­ the compiler to transform the recursive native machine code so it can execute on
sity of Syracuse. Tyma says DashO can algorithm into an iterative algorithm. a real CPU (unless the real CPU is a Java
speed up typical logic code by about 30 • Statically analyzed polymorphic in lin­ chip). The slowest way is to let the JVM's
percent, with loops and matrix multipli­ ing. This lets an optimizer inline public interpreter translate the bytecodes one
cation showing even greater improve­ methods. (Java compilers can inline pri­ by one, over and over again. A much faster
ment. DashO applies several classic com­ vate, final, and static methods, but they way is to bypass the interpreter by com­
piler optimizations to Java bytecode, and can't inline a pub lic method, because a piling the bytecode into machine code and
Tyma says future versions will introduce polymorphic method might override it.) then to cache the machine code in mem­
some of his own Java-specific optimiza­ First, the optimizer ana lyzes the byte­ ory. The main difference between ]IT com­
tions. Here are some examples: code to find public methods that aren't pilers, adaptive compilers, and static native
•Transient variable caching. This tech­ overridden. Then it inlines those methods, compilers is when they do that translation.
nique (for which a patent is pending) rec­ eliminating the JVM's overhead of check­ The first two types do it dynamically, at run

66 BYTE M A Y 1998 www.byte.com

 Cover· Story How to Soup Up Java

time; static compilers do it at design time. delay execution. That's the weakness of a Sym antec are similarly in tellige nt, an d
There's a fin e line, or perhaps no line, JIT compiler-it has to be quick and dirty. they're making rapid progress. Symantec's
between JIT compilers and adaptive com­ "A lot of optimizations take a lot of ti me," first JIT compiler appeared in M arch 1996;
pilers. Both are really dynamic compilers. notes Tyma. "JITs can't take too much time six months later, version 2. 0 was 50 p er­
The simplestJIT compilers translate byte­ or the user will say, ' Whoa, when is this cent fas ter, according t o several b ench­
code into machine code immediately after program going to start? '" marks. Sym antec says version 3.0, intro­
the JVM lo ads each cl ass into me m ory. The solution: smarter JIT compilers. duced last December, beats that by another
Then the JIT compiler steps out of the way Borland's JIT compiler can compile in di­ 50 p ercent. Depending on the n ature of
and lets the program run. If the JVM dy­ vi du al m eth o d s with o ut co mpil in g a the code, today's JIT compilers can run a
n amically loads an other class at a lat er whole class. It doesn't bother to compile program fr om five times to 20 times faster
time, the JIT co mpiler may compile the static init ializers (which a program calls than an inter p re t er. (See t h e t ext b ox
new class as well. only once per class), and it wo n't compile "Benchmarking Java" on page 70.)
H owever, a JIT compiler may decide not an object constructor meth od unless the Java p rograms that are compiled with
to compile every class, especially if a class program calls it more than once. M icrosoft's JIT compi ler can achieve 30
is so large that compiling it would seriously The JIT compilers fro m Microsoft and percent to 40 p ercent of th e performance

Calling Native Code

...........................................................................

Button c lass in Java's Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT), a class library

that maps cross-platform GUI components to native components.
Microsoft's WFC bypasses the AWT. WFC's Button class has a

S ome say it's cheating. Others say it breaks the promise of write
once, run anywhere. Could it even be a Communist conspiracy?
Nope, it's a native method call-a controversial technique for
constructor that uses J/Direct to invoke the button function in USER-
32.DLL, a standard Windows library that has basic GU I components.
According to Microsoft's informal tests, a WFC window with 12
squeezing more performance out of Java. Java applets normally can't miscellaneous components opens and closes about 600 percent
do it, because Web browsers have a security manager that prevents faster than an identical AWT window. Line drawing is about 50 per-
hostile applets from doing evil things to
your system. But stand-alone Java appli­
cations can do virtually anything native
appl ications can do, and that includes
calling native executable files such as
DLLs and OS services.
Critics say it threatens Java's integ­
rity. Perhaps they don 't realize Java has
always allowed it. Java has a built-in key­
word (n at i v e) that declares a Java
method as the gateway to a native bi­
nary. Java Development Kit (JDK) 1.1
defines a native interface called native
method invocations (NM ls), and JDK
1.2 will introduce a better one called the
Java native interface (JNI) .
NM ls neatly partition a Java program
into platform-dependent and platform­
independent modules. As Java gets
faster, developers can rewrite the native
modules until eventually the whole appli­
cation is pure Java. That's the vision.
Native methods are also a good way
to integrate Java programs with existing
systems-a big point for businesses that Microsoft's Windows Foundation Classes are faster than Sun's Abstract

have lots of legacy software. And they

Window Toolkit, butthey run only on Windows.

can tap the richer veins of native APls.

Microsoft's Visual J++ supports a Windows-specific interface cent faster. Filling a list box with 2000 strings is about 1 2 times faster.
called J/Direct. W ith J/Direct, a programmer merely precedes a Java What's equally important is that the WFC gives Visual J++ pro­
native method declaration with a compiler directive that identifies a grammers access to almost the entire Windows APL They can call
DLL by its filename. The Java native method passes any parameters functions thatJavaAPls don't duplicate: Multiple Document Interface
that the DLL function requires, and it receives any results the func­ (MDI) windows, graphics, animation, rich text c;:ibjects-the works.
tion returns . "We're always going to be able to give the developer full func­
J/Direct is easy, but Microsoft isn't finished. In Mawh, it planned tionality;• says Bill Dunlap, Visual J++ product manager.
to introduce the Windows Foundation Classes (WFC) for Java. This Of course, the resulting programs run only on Windows. That fits
is a library of Java classes that wrap major parts of the Windows API Microsoft's business strategy of promoting Java as a language, not
in Java code that handles native method calls automatically. as a virtual platform. ButJ/Direct and the WFC do offer a way to get
Let's say you want to create a push button. Normally, you'd call the higher performance and richer functionality.

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 Cover Story How to Soup Up Java

of native C+ +programs, says Bill Dunlap, execution, identify the performance bot­ cute. It balances the time required for com­
product manager of Visual]++. He esti­ tlenecks, and then compile or recompile pilation against the time saved by faster
mates that ]IT-compiled Java could even­ parts of the program to relieve the bottle­ execution.
tually attain 60 percent to 70 percent of the necks. This is the cornerstone of Sun's It can apply additional optimizations by
speed of native C+ + . Symantec is more HotSpot technology, which will proba­ recompiling code that's already been com­
optimistic, predicting that fast]VMs and]IT bly appear later this year in ]DK 1.2. piled. It can flush compiled code from
compilers could eventually match C + + . HotSpot (a code name) isn't new tech­ memory to make room for newly com­
To reach those goals, ]IT compilers are nology. It grew from research that began piled code. It can inline the parameters of
doing some am az ing things. Borland's at Stanford University in 1987, based on method calls if the program always calls a
]IT compiler doesn't stand on the sidelines earlier work on Smalltalk at Xerox Palo method with the same parameters. It can

Benchmarking Java
...........................................................................

the floating-point tests more than five times faster than the baseline.
Note that jBYTEmark is a fairly straight port from the C version of
BYTEmark. It's a CPU-intensive synthetic benchmark program that

T o demonstrate the dramatic difference a just-in-time (JIT) com­

piler makes, the BYTE Lab ran the Java version of our BYTEmark
program (jBYTEmark) on a Dell 90-MHz Pentium system with
uses a mix of algorithms found in modern applications. However, it
does not include any Java-specific tests to measure such critical per­
formance factors as object €reation/destruction, garbage collection,
Windows 95 and the two most popular Web browsers. We also com­ or thread synchronization. Actual performance could vary widely from
piled the jBYTEmark source code with two releases of the same Java these results.
development tool (Symantec's Visual Cafe) . The
results show that interpreters are no match for a
good JIT compiler.
Netscape Communicator 4.01 doesn't let you
turn off the JIT compiler, but Microsoft Internet
Exp lorer 4 .0 does. With the JIT compiler off, Ex­
plorer's performance was close to the jBYTEmark
reference baseline of 1.0. (We established the base­
line in 1996 by running jBYTEmark on the same Dell
Pentium-90 system with Symantec Cafe 1 .0 .) The
results were almost identical after recompiling
jBYTEmark with Visual Cafe 2.0, the latest release.
With the JIT compiler turned on, Explorer roared
through the benchmarks. It ran the integer routines
10 times faster and the floating-point routines nearly
six times faster. Again, recompiling the program with
Visual Cafe 2.0 made virtually no difference.
Communicator lagged behind Explorer, but it ran
the integer tests more than eight times faster and

after compiling part of a class-sometimes Alto Research Center (PARC) . Stanford even turn byrecode into buttered popcorn.
it compiles add iti onal methods later. researchers created an object-oriented lan­ (OK, that last claim was a joke.)
Microsoft'sJIT compiler performs a quick guage called Self to explore dynamic com­ Or maybe it's not a joke. Critics accuse
data flow analysis during the initial com­ pilation. Several of them later founded a Sun of overselling HotSpot. Last year, Sun
pile and then continues to analyze and small company known as LongViewTech­ specu lated that HotSpot could bo ost
compile parts of the program during exe­ nologies (or Animorp hic Systems). Sun Java even beyond the performance of
cution (except for small app lets, which acquired the company to make HotSpot. C+ +.Lately, Sun has been more conserva­
.ar-en 'tworth the trouble). Sun is using HotSpot as an umbrella tive. "We think it's going to be a horse
"I think we've only seen the tip of the term for several acceleration techniques, race," says J avaSoft's Peter Kessler. "But it
iceberg for ]VMs and J!Ts," says John Rob­ including the generational garbage col­ would be irresponsible to say at this point
bins, engineering product manager for lector described earlier and a new thread that a Java program will be faster than the
performance tools at NuMega. "There are monitor. But the most interesting part is same program written in C++."
a lot of smart companies working on this, adaptive compilation. One of the foremost authorities on
and I think the real breakthrough is going HotSpot is like a hyperactive ]IT com­ dynamic compilers is Dr. Craig Chambers,
to happen two or three years from now." piler-it profiles, it compiles, it recom­ an associate professor in the University of
piles. It can start compiling when the pro­ Washington's department of computer sci­
The Great Hype Hope? gram launch es or wait to see how the ence and engineering. Chambers worked
program runs. It can make decisions about on the Self project at Stanford in the 1980s
The bestJIT compilers are really adaptive which parts of a program to compile and continues to develop experimental
compilers. Adaptive compilers create a according to how often the code executes languages (such as Cecil) and adaptive
profile of a program before and during or how much time the code takes to exe­ compilers (such as Vortex). "There will be

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 Cover Story How to Soup Up Java

Java systems that match the performance pilers: virtually unlimited time to analyze They know which way branches are fork­
of C+ +,"he says. But he adds that some and optimize a program. Programmers are ing, how many objects the program is
programs-perhaps 5 percent-will accustomed to lengthy builds, while users creating, and the actual size of arrays.
always be faster inc++, because ofJava's are not. Besides that, static compilers usu­ Indeed, they can adapt to the different
run-time overhead and dynamic nature. ally work from source code, not bytecode, ways that different people use the same
Others, however, denounce HotSpot as so it should be easier for them to deduce program. Working from bytecode instead
an overhyped JIT compi ler. "Dynamic the semantics of a program before opti­ of so ur ce code isn't a huge problem,
processes like garbage collection are one mizing it. And static compilers can glob­ because bytecode isn't nearly as obscure
of the things that will keep Java from ever ally analyze a whole program, so they can as native object code. In fact, bytecode is
achieving the performance ofnative com­ app ly more aggressive optimizations. similar to the intermediate code generated
piled languages like C+ +," declares Micro­ Dynamic compilers are limited to peep­ by the front ends of some compilers, says
soft's Herman. hole (local code) optimizations. Jim Russell, manager of Java technology
But dynamic compi lers have a big for IBM Research.
Dynamic vs. Static advantage, too: They profil e a program Static native compilers for Java are avail­
Static compilers would seem to enjoy an while it's running, so they don't have to able from SuperCede, Symantec, Cosmo
enormous advantage over dynamic com­ guess where the actual bottlenecks are. Software (a Silicon Graphics spi n-off),

diately, even before you need them. Or delay class loading by not cre­
ating objects until later. - Stein

-+ It's possible to write better class loaders. B orland JBuilder,

J ava developers don't have to wait for fancy new compilers and
other whizbang technologies to make their programs run faster.
It's possible to achieve major gains in performance simply by writing
which is 80 percent Java, starts up faster because Borland improved
Sun 's class loader. - Jayson Minard, )Builder product architect
(surprise!) better code. -+ The new Java Foundation Classes (JFC) are faster than the
Strangely enough, Sun engineers discourage programmers from Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT) because th ey're not bogged
using too many clever tricks. As Java
evolves, some tricks won't work anymore,
they point out. "In effect, you're writing to
a specific VM implementation, and that
doesn't make sense. You're doing damage
to your code;• says Tim Lindholm, a senior
..1umme+@'"
staff engineer at JavaSoft and coauthor of
The Java Virtual Machine Specification
(Addison-Wesley, 1997).
This is especially true when the tricks
compromise good object-oriented pro­
gram (OOP) design. For example, liberal
use of Java's fi na l keyword does make
programs run a little faster, because the
JVM knows a program can't subclass final
classes, override final methods, or alter final
data members. But fin a l makes code
reuse more difficult-and code reuse is
what OOP is all about.
A profiling tool such as KL Group's JProbe can show which
"There's a lot of pretty rotten code being
written out there," says Collette Coad, the
classes and methods a Java program calls most often.
U.S. leader for Java-based computing at Ernst &Young. "People down by as much thread synchronization. Also, JFC components are
attend a few Java courses and then revert back to old habits. They're pure Java- easier to compile. - Minard and Tim Freehill, engineering man­
writing scripted Java programs or procedural Java programs. They're ager for Metrowerks Code Warrior
not embracing the concepts of 00."
You're better off studying good design and algorithms-classic -+ Don't create a lot of temporary objects; they make more work
computer science. However, if you absolutely must squeeze the for the garbage collector. Avoid creating objects locally within loops
last drop of performance out of Java, here are some tips from or frequently executed methods. - Paul Tyma, president and chie f scien­
experts: tist of Preemptive Solutions

-+ Strings are slow. Use StringBuffers or cha r arrays instead. String -+ If all objects of a class require some identical initialization
concatenation is particularly costly, because the JVM must convert the code, put that code in a static initializer, not a constructor method. It
String constants into String Buffer objects, join them together, and will execute only once. -Richard M. Fogel, technical product manager for
convert them back into Strings. -Doug Stein, an engineer at Active KL Group 's )Probe
Software, who created the GridBag Layout manager while at Sun
-+ Find bottlenecks with a profiling tool. Examples are JavaScope
-+ You have control over dynamic class loading. If you'd rather (SunTest), JProbe (KL Group), Optimizelt (Intuitive Systems), TrueTime
take the hit when a program first launches, initialize all objects imme­ (NuMega), Visual Quantify (Rational Software), and VTune (Intel).

72 BYTE MAY 1998

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 Cover Story How to Soup Up Java

IBM, Tower Technology, and the O pen no logy can make Java as fast as C+ +.But tomers won't tolerate it on their mission­
Group, with more on the way fro m Micro­ that isn't necessarily stopping them fro m critical servers, and they're growing more
soft, Borland, Instantiations, and others. developing static compilers. "The move is aware of what it's costing them on clients.
They target platforms as varied as Win­ toward native compilation," says Micro­ That's why mainframes are still popular:
dows (x86), IBM OS/2, AS/400, AIX, Mips soft's H erman. "We have to get to t he They really work. To build reliable sys­
RxOOO, HP-UX, and Linux (x86 ). point where we have performance com­ tems, PC developers must trade the guns
M ost of these compilers work from parable to native code, and we' re going and knives of C+ + for the seat belts and
bytecode, not source code, so developers to need native compilers to get there." air bags of a modern language.
can compile third-party JavaBeans and M eanwhile, users are learning the hard
class libraries that don't include source Fast Enough way that mission-critical code often lives
code. The compilers produce native-code Does Java really need to be as fast as C+ + for decades. Consider the year 2000 prob­
executable files- which are, of course, to succeed? H istory says no. lem or the U.S. government's troubles with
limited to a single platfo rm.
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checking, exception handling, and-ide­
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statically compiled Java program often Keep in mi nd the 50-year trend toward the air-traffic-control system.
isn't faster than the same program ru nning high er levels of hardware abst rac ti o n. Millions of lines of code written today
on a good ]VM with a smart JIT compiler. Al though Java needs competitive perfor­ will still be ru nning 30 years fro m now.
T hat may change as the compilers get mance to succeed, it doesn't need superla­ Nobody can predict what platforms will
better. M ost of them don't do much opti­ tive performance. When t here's a trade­ be popular at that time. A virtual plat­
mizing, and some are rather crude. One of off between raw performa nce o n o ne fo rm such as Java is cross-platform not
them converts Java bytecode into C source side and code productivity and portabil­ o nl y in t he horizo ntal dim ension, but
code, which then fee ds through a regular ity on the other, developers rarely choose also in the temporal dimension. N o mat­
C compiler to produce native obj ect code. performance. ter what new platforms appear, only the
Anoth er co mpiler ch okes o n fin alize () T he C language replaced asse mbly lan­ JVM and native compilers will have to be
me th ods, an d few of them ca n h and le guage for the vast majority of develop­ ported-not the applications.
dynamic class loading. ment, because it's an easier, more portable All those facto rs will outweigh Java's
Several sources told BYTE that static language than asse mbly language. C++ laggard performance, as long as Java can
compilers fo r Java could eventually out­ has been replacing C for the same reasons. achi eve at least 50 percent of C+ + native
perform the bestJIT compilers and deliver Likewise, Java will replace c+ +. Sure, performance. That's a much smaller gap
near-native performance. Those sources so me program mers still resort to C o r tha n th e di ffere nce b et wee n c + + and
include Tim Freehill, the engineering man­ assem bl y lang uage w hen t hey need to assembly language. Even Microsoft thinks
ager for M e t rowerks' Code Warrior; write low-leve l code, device dri vers, or Java can reach 60 percent to 70 percent of
Robert "Rock" H oward, chief technology critical loo ps. Java programmers can do native performance, and most experts are
officer a t Tower Techn ology; J ayso n that, too . more optimistic. The enormous amount
Minard, the product architect fo r Bor­ Besides high productivity and p orta­ of effort invested toward that goal and the
land's ]Builder ; Jim Russell, manager of bility, Java offers two additional advan­ numerous ways of getting there virtually
Java technology and applications at IBM tages that help make up for its slow per­ guarantee that if J ava fai ls, it won' t be
Research ; and Allen Wirfs-Brock, chief formance: run- tim e safe ty and co d e because it isn't fas t enough. Iii
technology officer at Instantiations. longevity. Both will become more impor­
On the other hand, Sun, Sybase, Syman­ tant in the future. Tom R. Ha lfhi ll is a BYTE senior editor based
t ec, a nd Microsoft are leani ng toward The PC industry gets away with buggy in San Mateo, California. You can reach him at
dynamic compilers or doubt that any tech­ co de o n cli ent systems to day, bu t cus­ t om .ha lfhi ll@b yte .com.

74 BYTE MAY 1998

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Software

A maturing Java brings

a wide variety of
programming solutions
How to Soup Up Java: PART 11 to developers.

Nine Recipes By Peter Wayner

forFast,EasyJava

ava has come a long way from tive code doesn't run everywhere, as good come complete with compilers and often
Sun's old javac compiler. To­ Java code should. While Internet-based with debuggers, ready for building Web­
day, all the major develop­ and cross-platform programming will based applets, while the high-end tools
ment-tool manufacturers are continue to drive Java development, Su­ include the client and server software
putting out serious Java efforts. All this perCede is too good for people building necessary to build complete enterprise
vendor activity is good news for anyone native app lications to ignore. applications. These usually include mid­
preparing to use Java. The available op­ Filling out the list is Sun'sJava Studio, dleware that sits on the server and access­
tions have never been better. a high-level Bean-editing tool meant for es the databases through more tradi­
We tested nine such products for this connecting compiled Beans rather than tional C++ interfaces.
report. At one extreme, Lotus BeanMa­ hacking Java source code. We tested all these products on a low­
chine might provide the easiest way for Each of these tools focuses, more or cost Cyrix Media GX system running at
someone with no programming skills to less, on simplifying the process of remote- 150 MHz with 64 MB of RAM and a 1.6­
produce sophisticated applets for Web GB disk. They all ran well on this system,
pages without writing any source code. although loading more than two or three
It shows how powerful the JavaBeans
model can be for making programming
BEST of these disk-intensive applications at a
time proved impossible.
accessible to a wide range of people.
At the other extreme li e Symantec's Borland's JBuilder Lotus BeanMachine 1.1
Visual Cafe for Java, Borland's ]Build­ J Builder stands out because it's fast; Lotus BeanMachine, deceptively simple
er, CosmoCode, and Microsoft's Visual crisp, and built around ASCII text.
yet surprisingly powerful, at first glance
]++,which all have a look and fee l simi­ Th ese are the hallmarks that made
seems to be an idiot-proof design tool that
lar to that of those companies' C++ prod­ Borland's Turbo Pascal so popular, and
lets you string together basic Beans to cre­
ucts. Traditional programmers will feel they shou ld serve Java programmers
ate slick Web sites. With tools for basic
well. J Builder's compiler is very fast and
right at home with these tools, which input and output and slick multimedia ef­
have a familiar look, focus squarely on well integrated with the debugger. This
fects such as animations, ticker tapes, and
source code, and have debuggers that are makes it easy to compile, tweak, test,
headlines, BeanMachine lets yo u join
much improved over earlier versions. and repeat again and again.
these widgets together and compile them
We also tested IBM's VisualAge for Java into applets for Web sites without touch­
and Sybase's Power], both of which offer ly accessing databases. Java looks like a ing source code. Lazy coders, neophyte
more elaborate tools that incorporate the great answer for custom programmers programmers, and even nonprogram­
source code into their own internal for­ looking to solve database-access prob­ mers will find it useful.
mat. Java is a highly structured language, lems in a heterogeneous world with a sin­ BeanMachine surprised us with its
and ASCII source files are far from the best gle piece of code. power, letting us inject source code and
way to store data internally, so these so­ That said, there are also big differences. invoke methods when an event was gen­
phisticated tools might be indicative of Lotus's BeanMachine is a low-cost tool erated. This simplifies generating forms
Java programming's future. offering rudimentary database access. that animate and do useful analysis. You
SuperCede's SuperCede Java Edition Aimed at large-scale enterprise develop­ can go a long way gluing in methods that
2.0 blends Java and c++ development ers, Sybase's high-priced Power] comes link into the event hierarchy.
into one package, making it easy to pro­ with a wide range of more sophisticated Still, there are limitations: BeanMa­
duce app lic ations that use both lan­ server and client tools. The others all fall chine lacks a debugger, so you must resort
guages- although the resulting x86 na­ in between. Most of the low-end versions to the usual black-box debugging tricks

76 BYTE MAY 1998

 Lotus Bean Machine lets you con­ Sy base PowerJ's editing window con­
nect Beans from a palette and edit stantly updates breakpoint locations, com­
their properties. The Gallery (lower ments, and basic blocks. Class properties
left) organizes images and stills and methods can be selected from the
from animation.._ ._ ._

teu;t.Fre.ae • new Ros\.llts,

......
- t.e (} [)

i nc I I 11
:
'
}

!lit....,<a:t,;
tes LFr a ae s ho w( ) .

Cosmo Software's - - - ... The main window in SuperCede consists

1
CosmoCode generator Sun 's Java St udio has the
~ ~ t·~~!;:~~~v 7~t~~~e' of a class browser (left) and an editor. You
lets you glue together most graphically rich tool for
int nnrinc;111 :
can directly access C++ files (not shown).
controls chosen from creating Java applets. You
floating menus. The connect Beans with "pipes"
source code is hidden that guide the events between
in this view, but you can objects. You can't debug
access it directly. source code, but you can peer
at messages flowing down .
the pipes. - _ _ _

I' I' HOUSE SUPPORT

// The J11ouseOow n () 11e thod
// vh1 l e the •ouse cursor i s ov
//- --------------------­
pubhc bool ean 11tou110Dcvn(Event.
{
/ / TOOO Pll!lce ~pplet 11touse
Q int i•23 ;
re t urn true:
I ' IBM 's VisualAge is the
/ / HOUSE SUPPORT .
The llOU!ieUp( ) ae thod l. C.
most aesthetically pleas­
/ / vhi le t he 111ouse cursor i s c v ing of the bunch, offering
I a sophisticated way to
The main windows in
browse code. The par­
Microsoft Visual J++
will be familiar to Visual
C++ users. The left
Scronun~ I"""'"}. I tially obscured window
on the left lets you
browse the entire object
window shows the
hierarchy.
code; the right one
shows the call ing stack.
'' ' llllUalClfl
~,-----
cat.c h (javo..b••n•. Prop•:

' symantec's Visual Cafe for

Java offers the best mixture
Borland JBuilder's visual design of source code and Bean-level
view lets you toggle between the integration.
Cuttomeoior
source code and a graphical layout
Rid: O"J
rm-ro of the application's main features.

Java tools differ mostly in the deg re~ to which they expose source code to direct manipulation.

to catch errors. Also, there's no easy way its limitations, BeanMachine can help you tions. The main product, a Java develop­
to subclass a Bean or wrap substantial func­ get plenry done. ment tool named Cosmo Code, turned out
tionaliry around it. We couldn't find where to be good enough to port to the Windows
it hides the source code for the applets, Cosmo Code 2.5 platform. The latest version, 2.5, includes
and it would be great if you could devel­ Si licon Graphics started its Cosmo Soft­ all the major features of its competitors and
op an applet here and extend it in a full ware un it to make it easier for people to provides them all in a richly detailed visu­
programming environment. But even with develop Java code for their SGI worksta- al-design environment. continued

WW MAY 1998 BYTE 77

 Software Lab Report Nine Recipes for Fast, Easy Java

The software incorporates all the infor­

mation in a standard integrated editor/de­
bugger environment that lets you see the fEl;J RATI NG RESUL TSI
ASCII text and step through it as you de­
bug. There's also a fairly sophisticated win­ BEST OVERAL L
dow that sorts the classes, methods, and Borland )Builder
other elements. This well-designed environment
The best feature might be a rich collec­ offers the best combination of
tion of widgets, controls, charts, graphs, code-level control and high-level
and other devices that make it easier to visual programming assistance.
thread together an application . The most
frustrating feature is the tiling windows, TECHNOLOGY IMPLEMENTATION USABILITY OVERALL
which make it difficult to open up a text Borland J Builder 1.2 **** ***** ***** *****
window to fill the whole screen. IBM VisualAge 1.0 ***** ***** **** *****
Lotus BeanMachine 1.1 **** *** **** ****
Symantec Visual Cafe 2.1 Symantec Visual Cafe 2.1 **** ***** ***** *****
Visual Cafe has become one of the domi­ Microsoft Visual J++ 1.1 *** **** **** ****
nantJava tools, and it's easy to understand Sybase PowerJ 2.0 **** ***** **** ****
why. It provides a strong visual design field Cosmo Code 2.5 **** **** **** ****
and well-integrated database-access tools. SuperCede 2.0 ***** **** **** ****
The JavaBeans standard is completely sup­
Sun Java Studio 1.0 ***** *** ***** ****
ported, and the wizards that help you lay ***** Outstanding **** Very Good ***Good **Fai r *Poor
out new source code are great.
Entry-level programmers might want to
start with Visual Cafe instead of a program in the visual part of ]Builder, the ASCII
Borland JBuilder 1.2
like BeanMachine, because its wizards source for initializing and positioning that
make it quite easy to spin up a good applet. Borland's Philippe Kahn created an iden­ button appears in the source file. This also
But the wizards leave the complete source tifiable style when he built the first Turbo works in the reverse direction.
code available, providing a growth path Pascal compilers, and this style lives on in ]Builder comes with a number of dif­
into full-fledged programming. ]Builder. This tool provides a fast and effi­ ferent Beans that Borland developed to
The greatest strength of Visual Cafe is cient way to produce Java code. work together and integrate with its visu­
its ample database support. We tested the ]Builder's approach might be termed al design environment. Some are plain Ab­
complete enterprise-level version, which classic. The code is kept in ASCII text files stract Window Toolkit (AWT) objects; oth­
comes with the tools and the middleware that you can edit with another editor. The ers are more intricate, including a num­
that make it fairly easy to create client ap­ binaries are stuck in separate directories ber of Beans for building business charts,
plets that access a central server. that correspond to the packages from spreadsheets, and outliners. It's a nice col­
Visual Cafe is one of the few products which they come. It's easy to write code in lection, but it could use some glitzier com­
to offer both a Macintosh and a PC ver­ ]Builder the way that you might in an old ponents, such as animators or ticker tapes.
sion. The Windows version also provides Unix environment. Some Bean devotees might not like
a native-code compiler that produces x86 Still, there are nice innovations. The ]Builder's visual approach because it's so
native executables for those who demand visual design tools are neatly integrated source-code-centric. Some of them believe
the best performance. with the source code. If you add a button that Beans should be manipulated at a
higher level by sending commands to real
objects, not changing the source code that
JAVABEANS
produces the Beans. So be it. If that's your
feeling, then a tool like BeanMachine is a
Invasion of the Java Beans better choice for you.
The most striking element of the tools in this roundup is their adherence to the Java Beans
model. Sun's decision to push everyone to write to JavaBeans was risky because it changed the
Microsoft Visual J++ 1.1
entire event model that was part ofthe early AWT. Buttools like Lotus's Bean Machine illustrate Microsoft is one of the big players in the
why this is such a good idea. C++ development world, so it's no sur­
A JavaBean is a lightweight Java object written to conform to a rigorous model that allows prise that it leveraged its marketplace
meta-programming tools, such as BeanMachine, to analyze the workings of the Bean. For in­ strength by extending Visual Studio to
stance, the names for functions to access variables are created by adding the suffixes "set" embrace Java. The result is Visual]++, a
and "get" to the variable name. Therefore, the method getAverage should return the value of tool with many familiar-looking features.
the variable "Average." The biggest problem with Visual]++
This makes it possible for tools like Bean Machine to use introspection and automatically de­ is it doesn't embrace the full JavaBeans
termine which variables are manipulated by which methods. This also makes it possible for a visu­ component model, which is now fairly
al tool to link up Beans without requiring the programmer to write source code. standard. This might change if Beans be­
come dominant, but for the time being

78 BYTE MAY 1998

 Nine Recipes for Fast, Easy Java Software Lab Report

JAVA DEVELOPMENT TOOLS FEATURES

Visual Sybase Borland Lotus Visual IBM Cosmo SuperCede Java
Cate2.1 PowerJ JBuilde* Bean- J++ 1.1 VisualAge Code2.5 2.0 Studio
2.0 1.2 • Machine 1.1 for Java 1.0 1.0
Price $99 ; $299 (Prof. $1995 $2495 $159 $1995 $1995 $329 $99 $99
Dev.version); $499 (Database
(Data Dev. version); Server
$1495 (25-user version)
database version)
Typical hard disk required (MB) 35 225 70 16 31 100 70 200 40
Bean-compatible V' V' V' V' V' V' V' V'

Wizards for development V' V' V' V' V' V' V' V'

Built-in components 100+ 300+ 150+ 22+ 100+ 120+ 120+ 70+ 50+
Code obfuscator V'
Native database gateway With top V' V' w/Enterprise V' V'

Database-access tools V' V' V' V' V' V' V' V'

Decompiler APl only

JAR publishing wizard V' V' V' V' V' V' V'
Open access to different VMs V' V'
Easy transitions between V' V' V' V'
1.02 and 1.1
ActiveX components V' w/Web Runner
C++ integration V' V'
Generates EXE and DLL files V' V'
Debugger V' V' V' V' V'
Debug in application V' V' V'
(like Netscape)
Macintosh version V'

* = BYTEBest V' = yes

J++ users will feel a bit behind the times. cution can be more controlled. the new code and drop it into place with­
There are still plenty of other reasons to There are downsides to this approach. out restarting the entire program. This is
recommend}++. Its Java virtual machine It's more complicated for developers to a great feature. We also like the fact that
(JVM) is one of the best in the industry, and use the best compiler or tools for advanc­ SuperCede registers its own special sounds
its tools come with extensive documenta­ ing a project. And you must export the Java for alerting you to breakpoints and errors.
tion. And the Visual Studio is a great envi­ source to use it with other tools. Tools like SuperCede will certainly be
ronment that provides a good breakdown part of Java's future. The language is too
of methods and code. SuperCede 2.0 good to be relegated to developing byte­
SuperCede might be the most advanced code for cross-platform use. SuperCede is
IBM VisualAge for Java 1.0 tool in this roundup because it integrates a great tool for leveraging these advantages
IBM's VisualAge takes a sophisticated ap­ Java projects with C++ so that you can and using them for serious development
proach to Java development. All the source mix and match code. This approach might for native Win32 platforms.
code is sucked into a central file, and the be the most attractive for developers who
bytecode is kept attached to it. When you want to produce native code for machines Sun Java Studio 1.0
want to publish the code on a Web site, like the x86 while leveraging the capabil­ Java Studio is not a complete development
you push a button and it emerges as a JAR ities of the Java language. It will likely be package like the others. It's more a visual
file or the class files. less attractive to developers who want to development tool than a compiler and
The advantages of this approach are produce cross-platform Java applets. source-code-editing environment. You
speed and flexibility. ASCII source code is In either case, the rapid application de­ drop components into a window, where
a pretty inefficient way to represent object­ velopment (RAD) tool incorporated with they appear as boxes with pipelike fittings
oriented software with many methods and SuperCede is excellent. It provides a so­ for routing the events. You then design an
variables. The source code must be contin­ phisticated graphical development envi­ applet's behavior by linking these boxes
ually parsed and reparsed as it's edited. If ronment and an excellent visual editor. with pipes.
the methods, classes, variables, and so on The compiler is fast and produces code This might seem like taking the saying
are kept in custom-designed data struc­ that can be hot-patched. If you find a small "a picture is worth a thousand words" to
tures, then searching, compiling, and exe- error and want to fix it, you can compile the extreme. But we found Java Studio ele-

ww .byt .com MAY 1998 BYTE 79

 S oftwa re L a b Repo rt Nin e Re c i pes for Fas t , Eas y Java

gant and easy to use, though a bit awk­

ward when the number of boxes and pipes major Java fonts, for instance, and you will
grows large. Also, we wish you didn't have The Microsoft Story: be able to invoke whatever TrueType fonts
to create another box to insert a line or two
of source code to tweak an event before it
Chapter Two are installed. Many of the highly tuned de­
tails of the Windows API will be open to your
reaches its destination. c ommands.
The dow nside to taking this route is the
Also, programmers will probably dis­
agree about the way applets are generat­ M icrosoft's next versio n of Vi sual J++
w ill p ro vid e Java develo pers with a
teasi ng trade-off by prom ising inc reased
loss of compatibility. Applets that call the
new classes w ill work only on computers
ed. In Java Studio, you push a button and
performance in retu rn fo r obeisance to the with a Microsoft OS, and cross-platform de­
answer a few questions, and the class files W indows pl atform. Bill Dunl ap, product velopment will be a memory. Says Dunlap:
appear somewhere. You can produce fair­ manager for Visual J++, says that's because "We're not going to go out and call ourselves
ly neat applets without ever typing a curly Microsoft's c ustomer surveys have shown 'the best pure Java tool' out there. We'll leave
bracket. Beginners and object-oriented­ that a large number of users love Java the thatto Cafe and JBuilder. We're going to be
programming (OOP) aficionados will like lang uage but are frustrated by its perfor­ the best tool for developing Java programs
this approach, but code-heads who have mance. for Windows:'
spent hours learning the idiosyncrasies of Microsoft's solution is to make it si mple Th ere will be incentives. The RAD tool
a compiler might feel disconnected. for people to code in Java and mix togeth er built into the new version will spit out only
more functional versions of controls and Ac­ Windows-capable code. You can still devel­
In all, Java Studio is a close cousin to
tiveX components. The company is working op c ross-platform pure Java, but you'll need
BeanMachine in approach. But it comes
on W indows Foundation Classes t hat , like to type the ASCII text yourself.
with substantially more components and The new version of Visual J++ is expect­
the Java AWT, wi ll enable users to w rite d i­
many more options for more-advanced rectly to the native W in32 API. Microsoft's ed to be available as a "Technology Preview"
users to manipulate. versio n, however, w ill provide more robust by the time you read this. See "Java for Win­
interaction. Yo u won't be limited to t he five dows" on page 41 for a hands-on report.
Sybase PowerJ2.0
Sybase's Power], like IBM's Visua!Age for
Java, takes a sophisticated approach to level package with a wide range of solu­ to pull together an x86 application if you
Java development. Like Visua!Age, it sucks tions for building databases and providing have some prewritten ActiveX controls.
all the code into its internal data structure client-level access to them. It comes with Power] wi ll appeal most to corporate
and manipulates it. The resu lting marked­ a fu ll toolkit and plenty of examples. developers who already use other Power­
up data structure allows more in-depth Power] is also one of the more M icro­ soft database.tools, such as Power Builder.
analysis than you typically get from tools soft-friendly products in the group, pro­
that store programs in ASCII text format. viding an easy way to integrate ActiveX Final Thoughts
Power] comes from Sybase, so it's no controls with Java. T his might not be what The top product of the bunch, Borland's
surprise that it's a full-featured, enterprise- Sun intends, but it might be the fastest way ]Builder, gave us the best feel of the raw
code, which might seem antiquarian to
moderns who hope that OOP and instan­
PRODUCT INFORMATION
tiation will take us beyond all that.
Borland JBuilder 1.2 Lotus BeanMachine 1.1 SuperCede Java Edition 2.0 It may be that this source-code-centric
$2495 (client/server suite) $159 (estimated retail price) $99 (for Windo ws 95, Nn
(for Windows 95, Nn (for Windows 95, Nn SuperCede, Inc.
view of programming is reaching its end.
Borland International, Inc. lotus Development Corp. Bellevue, WA BeanMachine is surprisingly powerful for
Scotts Valley, CA Cambridge, MA 800-365-8553 a product that doesn' t allow yo u to to uch
800-233-2444 800-343-5414 425-462-7242
408-431-1000 617-577-8500 http://www.supercede.com the source code that's fed to the compil­
http://www.borland.com fax: 617-693-0968 Enter HotBYTEs No. 1075. er. BeanMachine might be the best argu­
Enter HotBYTEs No. 1076. http://www.lotus.com/ ment for the Bean creation-and-linking
beanmachine Sybase PowerJ 2.0
Cosmo Code 2.5 Enter HotBYTEs No. 1079. $1995 (for Windows 95, Nn model imagined by the creators of Java­
$329 Sybase, Inc. Beans because it shows that the Bean mod­
(for Windows 95, NT, SGI) Microsoft VisualJ++ 1.1 Emeryville, CA
Cosmo Software $1995
800-879-22 73 el can be used to create a low-cost but pow­
Mountain View, CA (for Windows 95, NT, OS/2)
510-922-3555 erful tool for nonprogrammers.
650-933-6088 Microsoft Corp.
http://www.sybase.com/
http://cosmo.sgi.com/ Redmond, WA
Enter HotBYTEs No. 1082.
Finally, while our bias may be toward
Enter HotBYTEs No. 1078. 206-882-8088
the lower-end developer, there's no rea­
http://www.microsoft.com/
Visual Cafe for Java 2.1
IBM VisualAge for Java 1.0 $99-$1495

son why programmers with bigger projects

Ent er HotBYTEs No. 1080.

$1995 (Enterprise Edition)

(for Windows 95, NT, M acintosh)
and a bigger budget shouldn't use the rel­
(for Windows 95, NT, OS/2)
Sun Java Studio 1.0 Symantec Corp.
atively more expensive IBM Visua!Age for
IBM Corp.
$99
Cupertino, CA

Somers, NY
(for Windows 95, NT, Solaris)
408-253- 9600
Java or Microsoft Visual]++ . To a large
770-863-1234
SunSoft, Inc.
http://www.symantec.com/
extent, you get what you pay for. liJ
http://www.software.ibm.com/ad/ Palo Alto, CA Enter HotBYTEs No. 1083.

800-786-7638
650-960-1300 Enter HotBYTEs No. at Peter Wayner is a BYTE consulting editor and
http://www.sun.com/studio http ://www.byte.com/hotbytes/ writer based in Baltimore. You can contact him
Enter HotBYTEs No. 1081.
at his Web page: http : //www.access .digex
.net/ - pcw/pcwpage.html.

80 BYTE MAY 1998

 Computersto Go

What kind of portable will best suit your needs?

And what improvements can you ex pect

in the next couple ofyears?

By Russell Kay

ust a couple of years ago, if you

said, "mobile computing," ev­
eryone kn ew what yo u we re
talki ng about: laptops. T hese
densely packaged, battery-powered lit­
tle PCs were popping up everywhere. But '

the rapid increase in processing speeds and

chip densities, coupled with the advancement

of display technology, has lowered the cost

of compu ting power, sparkin g the deve l­

opment of whole new classes of computing

and communications devices.

Today we have no tebooks, subnotebooks,

mini -notebooks, hand-held PCs, personal
digital assistants, smart phones, and two­
way pagers. But we don' t need to tell you
that; yo u probably already have two or more
of these little devices. And we do n't need to tell
yo u which kind of device is good for particular
kinds of computing and communications; you've
probably got that down, too. Instead, this article looks
at how these devices are going to evolve into their next
stages-wh at techn ologies need to change and what
ki nds of devices yo u can expect to be able to purchase
du ring the coming yea r.

Balancing Act
Des igning a po rtable computer is o ne of the ultimate ex­
pressions of the phrase "engineering trade-offs"; when you
change x, you must also change y. If yo u want a larger mo ni­ portable com­
tor, yo u're going to add weight and power consumption. Con­ puter, looking at what is (and
versely, if you want a 2-pound computer, yo u're going to sac­ isn't) possible with today 's technology (see the
rifice things like battery life , moni tor size, and ke yboard size. text box " Pro posing the Perfec t Portable" on page SONA 2).
Everything must balance. As for what we ca n exp ect durin g
H ere are the 15 areas where most of the trade-offs hap pen : the next few yea rs, let's look at it while 1 Mitsubishi Amity CN
perform ing a modified versio n of that
1. Case design, size, 9. Storage 2 WinBook K6-233
hoary old party dance, the hokey-po key.
and weight 10. Comm unications
"'m 2. Processing power and networking HP620LX
~ You Put Your Data In...
0 3. Memory 11. Battery li fe PageWriter 2000
ffi Getting data into a computer is a neces­
4. Keyboard 12. H eat dissipation
z"' sary first step. Right now, fo r most pur­ 5 TI Avigo
UJ
UJ 5. Navigation devices 13. Conn ectors
c: poses, that means a keyboard. Some of
(!)
6. Display 14. Additi onal 1/0 n HPSojoum
~ the ultra-thin systems coming o ut this
a; 7. Video circuitry devices
l;; year have keyboards with a very short
;:
8. Video in put 15. Expandability
throw: a millimeter or two. This makes a keyboard fee l stiff. The
il::
~ We can examine so me po rtabl e-co mputi ng issues, including ultra-narrow systems have narrow keyboards-in many cases,
~ how these machines interact and where they might be headed, too narrow for touch-typing (witness Toshiba's Libretto and most
il:: by designing what at least one BYTE editor considers an ideal of the Wind ows CE hand-h eld PCs). IBM has exp erimented

WWW.byte. M A Y 1 998 BYTE S O NA 1

 Comput ers to Go

Proposing the Perfect Portable

·············································································································································

To get a clear view of what's

possible with mobile comput-
Memory
·I'll need at least 64 MB of syn -
dock it in side the portable unit's
case? No, not attached outside
Video Input
While we're getting ready for the
ing, let's indulge in a little fantasy. chronous DRAM (SDRAM), ex- with Velcro, but firmly located in- twenty-first century, let's also fit
I'm going to desi gn th e perfec t pandable to 1 GB. side the case's volume. in a small, aimable video camera
portable computer, on e that ful ­ to be used for conferencing-per­
fills all my needs and wants, with Keyboard Display haps similar to the unit Tosh iba
a little regard (but not too much) A small package means a too- G iven the case size that I've de- uses, but built into the case . And
for what's doable with the current small keyboard. Here's the per- fined, it's poss ibl e to fit about a let's put it on a pull -out cable or
technology. feet place for a newer, more rigid 9 ~-inch display (active-matrix, of arm so that one can also use this
version of IBM's "butterfly" unfold- course). However, that 's sim ply video-input device for limited doc-
Case Design, Size, ing keyboard, one th at grows at not big enough for a lot of use rs, ument scanning or capture.
and Weight least 2 inches wider when the case who need to run at SVGA or XGA
Clearly, I want a computer that's is opened . Good key switche s resolution without squinting. Let's Storage
small and light, but I need to be with t actile feedback are a must, face it, I really want a 14- or 15- I' ll accept no less than a 4-GB
able to type on it and read its dis- and th e key tops must be thick inch screen. hard drive (and might as well go
play. So, let's say I want the final enough to provide decent sepa- I've seen a keyboard that gets for today's laptop limit of8.4 GB),
package size to be a bit smaller ration between adjacent keys so bigger; how about an expanding plus a built-in combo DVD/floppy
than the current subnotebooks - that your fingers can find their or unfolding display? But the stan- drive that occupies only one bay.
roughly 8 inches wide, 6 inches proper places. dard display panel, whatever its I'd like this to be a rewritable DVD,
front to back, and under 1 inch size, must be bright and clear, with but that will have to wait out a stan­
thick. Weight, under 2 pounds. Pointing Devices the imag e clearly visible from at dards battle. Users should be able
I want a good-size, built-in, re- This is such a personal and non- least 60 deg rees off-axis horizon- to hot-swap in an additional mod-
tractable handle for easier, more rational choice that I'd like to see tally and vertically. ule for an extra hard drive, a CD
secure carrying . Any little doors several options available: a track- writer, or a high-capacity remov­
used to cover connectors should point-type stick in the middle of Video Circuitry able drive.
retract into the case, not be re- the keyboard, plus a touchpad be- I want 8 MB of high-speed video
movable (and thus prone to loss). low that's replaceable with a track- memory, M PEG -2 and zoom-vid- Communications
And can I please get this in some ball, as in the original Compaq eo support in hard ware, fast 2-D and Networking
color that's not gray or black? Armada 4100. Hewlett-Packard's and 3-D acceleration, and support The very minimum is a built-in 56K
mouse-on-a-stick might be an op- for an external display at a differ- modem meeting the new interna-
Processing Power tion, but what I'd most like to see is ent resolution than what's simul- tional standard, plus a·10-/100­
Of course, I'll want the fastest a retractable platform on the sid e taneously being used on-screen. Mbps Ethernet connection, both
CPU I can get-say, a 400-MHz to be used with a real mouse (with If this were a desktop , not a lap - with no need for any add-in cards.
Pentium 11, with as much L2 cache a wheel, of course) . And when I'm top, I'd specify at least two moni- Third , let's include a normal digi­
as the CPU can support. not using the mouse, can I please tors side by side. tal cellular phone for both voice

with its "butterfly" collapsing keyboard. tappable on-scree n key board grids, like already good enough, big enough, and
All these examples have drawbacks, and the T9 keyboard in Texas Instruments' bright enough for most users; they don't
no "savior keyboard" is on the hori zo n. Avigo, or handwriting recognition, like need significant improvement. "The 14­
But speech recognition, already surpris­ the Graffiti alphabet in the 3Com Palm­ inch TFT [thin-film tra nsistor] display is
ingly effective, is developing fast, and some Pilot. But this works simply because yo u actuall y significantly better than most 17­
full-size laptops now come with built-in don't enter much data that way. According inch CRT monitors," says Greg Munster,
software. Micron, for example, bundles to several vendors, a stylus will be aro und product marketing manager fo r Hewlett­
Dragon Systems' Naturally Speaking with for some time in sma ll-screen dev ices, Packa rd 's mobil e-com puter division,
its notebooks. Speech will likely become simply because fingers are too big and "a nd thus it's all most users really need
much more widespread in the future, but regular pens damage display screens. For or want." But the big screens don't cut it
it's unlikely to replace the keyboard com­ serious data entry, such as getting 1000 in terms of price and power consumption.
pletely in the foreseeable near term-ei­ addresses into a PDA, yo u down load the Ironically, the worst problem of all might
ther on the road with po rtables or in our informa tion from your PC over a cable be size. We all want a bigger screen, but
open-door, open-top office cubicles. or IR lin k; there's no practical alternative. we want the total package to be as small
What about graphics-based input? To­ and light as possible.
shiba' s Tecra 750CDT laptop was the first You Get Your Data Out... H ow do yo u shrink a display screen
to include a video camera for conferenc­ With a portable, output is normal ly the witho ut shrinking the image? There are
ing and scanning. This shou ld also be a display screen; printi ng is rarely an issue. three li ke ly possibilities: a display whose
boon for those who do library research. Displays represent a problem in terms of physical size can be reduced for tra nsport
Smaller machines (i.e., PDAs) can get by futur e development, for several reasons. and enlarged for use (e.g., some kin d of
with stylus-based input, eith er through First, today's flat-pan el LCD screens are fo ldable LCD or mirror-based system) , an

SONA 2 BYTE MAY 1998

 and data communications. nectors they can fit around the Additional
Why carry around a separate edges of the case, primarily be­ 110 Devices
device that you have to hook up to cause each is different from the With the ex­
your computer? Nokia is already others. Let's see: two PC Card perience of
building computer functions into slots, two infrared ports, one DB­ numerous
its high-end GSM phone; it would 25 parallel port, one DB-9 serial PDAs
seem far simpler (and more mar­ port, one mini-DIN mouse behind
ketable) to instead build a phone jack, one mini-DIN ~
into our portable PC. keyboard jack ~ · ~
(and no, I • ~
Battery Life don't want
All these features should con­
sume minimal electrical power so between mouse and key­
that we can reduce the number of board), one RJ-11 telephone
batteries and increase their work­ jack, one RJ-45 Ethernet con­
ing life. The battery pack should nection, one earphone/
be no bigger than, say, four AA speaker jack, one mi­
cells. It should be good for 6 hours crophone jack, one
before needing recharging, and, DB-15 video port,
in a pinch, it should be able to run one RCA video-out­
on real AA cells, which you can to-TV jack, one external
obtain almost anywhere. power adapter (prefer­
ably just a cord, without a
Heat wall wart), a SCSI connector,
As CPUs and disk drives get and one or two universal serial
smaller, they consume less power bus (USB) jacks. me, I'd like to see a few addition ­ Expandability
and thus generate less heat, Oh, yes , let's not forget the al input devices built into my per­ I've already talked about memory,
which in turn allows tighter pack­ docking connector, the Kensing­ fect portable. First, a voice record­ swappable disk drive modules,
aging. That's good, because I can ton security slot, and the on/off er with a microphone and controls and interchangeable pointing de­
still remember the first 5-V Pen­ switch. And we really ought to in­ that are accessible when the case vices. Everything should be hot­
tium laptop that BYTE tested: The clude an IEEE-1394 connector. is closed. Second, I want a panel swappable, without interruption
magnesium case reached 118°F­ And even with all this multiplic­ for pen/stylus input of graphics of processing. I'm going to as­
and no, you didn'twantto put that ity, some of these connections are and text, together with excellent sume the availability of an effec­
on your lap! doing double-duty, especially the handwriting recognition. Requir­ tive, lockable docking station with
parallel port. Let's hope that wide­ ing users to write in the specially extra drive bays, PCI slots, a net­
Connectors spread adoption of USB can elim­ modified Graffiti alphabet, as with work connection, a printer, and
Current laptops are seriously lim­ inate the need for so many differ­ the PalmPilot, would be an ac­ other attached peripherals for
ited in the number of add-on con­ ent connectors. ceptable compromise. those instant office situations.

image projector with a folding screen, or (see "Wearable Pentium," September 1996 moving data physically.
a tiny image that's magnified by a lens. BYTE). Kopi n has demonstrated a display Digital versatile disc (DVD) drives are
The first would be useful, but so far no one small enough to be built into a Motorola starting to appear as options on some full­
seems to have invented one. The second Starrac, the smallest cellular phone on the size laptops. Apple's Greg Joswiak says
is really just speculation, because it raises market, so getting faxes on the run might that "the availability of DVD will be im­
even more severe power and brightness someday be trul y easy. portant for our newest generation of Pow­
questions than the current technology. er Book laptops, which are heavily used
But the third might soon be possible.
You Store It on Your for graphics presentations and video-in­
A number of companies, including Dis­ Hard Drive tensive applications."
playTech, Kopin, and Siliscape, are devel­ Disk drive technology is, for the moment,
oping small LCD displays that you can advanc ing faster than Microsoft's at­ And You Bake It All About
hold up to your eye behind a lens (think tempts to occupy it all for Office 9x, so Heat has been a constant concern of de­
storage capacity isn't much of a prob­ signers of full-function laptops and asso­
:s one-eyed View-Master slides, and you get
Q

8 the idea) to see a decent color image. lem . IBM is currently suppl yi ng 8.4-GB ciated peripherals. The first 5-V Pentiums
ffi
() At the present time, the resolution is hard drives in some ThinkPads, and more and older DRAM chips ran at shockingly
,_
z
0
at VGA levels and the number of colors will come. Solid-state or other nonmag­ high temperatures and required fans for
I
\; is limited, but the potential is there (see netic technologies might eventually re­ cooling. Earlier hard disks were also se­
<(

z
"Mini Displays Get Sharper Focus," place magnetic disks, but not soon . And rious heat producers, and we've had more
0
September 1997 BYTE, page 24). Indeed,
high-capacity removable drives-those than one PC Card modem that ran hot
g Rockwell incorporated such a display into of the Zip/Sparq/Shark/SuperDisk/Jaz/ enough to fry itself. However, the mod­
"'~ its body-mounted computer, the Trekker Quest ilk-will take care of the need for ern versions of all these components run

MAY 199 8 BYTE SON A 3

 Computers to Go

Which Portable for You?

Class of device Pluses Minuses Best applications Available machines

Smart pagers Easy paging and e-mail; Difficult keyboard; Paging Motorola PageWriter; Airtouch;
real OS; graphical display tiny display; no Research In Motion lnter@ctive Pager
for future application expandability;
development limited storage
PDAs Fits in shirt pocket; Text entry awkward; Address books, calendars Apple MessagePad ; Tl Avigo;
easy synchronization screens dim; add-on 3Com PalmPilot; IBM WorkPad;
with PCapps applications limited Zaurus SE-500; Psion Siena
Hand-held PCs Color displays bright Mono displays dim ; Light-duty computing, e-mail Win CE PCs from Casio, Compaq,
and sharp; dedicated touch-typing Hewlett-Packard, LG, NEC, Philips,
application buttons impossible and Sharp; Psion Series 3 and 5
Subnotebooks Small; under 3 pounds; Limited expandability Real work in tight quarters Hitachi Traveler; Mitsubishi Amity;
serious power; runs and battery life (although keyboards and IBM Nimantics Persona; Toshiba
full Windows 95 apps displays are marginal) Libretto; ThinkPad 735 (Japan only)
Superthin Sleek; attractive; Expensive; Instances where a floppy HP Sojourn; Mitsubishi Pedion
laptops attention-getting; needs add-ons or a CD is not needed
233 MHz; 64 MB;TFT forl/O
display; under 3 pounds
Full-size, Everything in one 2 inches thick; weighs Anything Too numerous to list
full-function package; easy desktop 8 pounds or more;
laptops replacement expensive; limited
battery life

much cooler, and heat-control methods can deliver, and with manufacturers quot­
have a lso improved through the use of ing highly optimistic specs. Today's lithi­
conductive fluids, heat pipes, innovative um-ion cells represent the third genera­
heat sinks, and, yes, fans. tion of laptop battery technology, and at
Increases in clock speeds that would the moment there's no near-term replace­
otherwise present a serious thermal chal­ ment in sight that offers greater energy
lenge to laptops have been largely offset density in a compact package. (Zinc-air
by accompanying decreases in physical and starved-electrolyte cells have been
sizes and operating voltages. The highest­ shown for laptops, but they're currently
speed mobile Pentium CPUs made with too bulky to build in and are suitable only
0.25-micron technology today run at only for add-on battery packs.) For the busi­
1.8 V internally, while memory and l /0 run ness sky warrior, ai rlin ers with the new
at 3.3 V. Intel's Mobile Power Guidelines generation of computer-friendly power
for 1999 targetthe core at 1.6 V, and mem­ plugs are a welcome development that
ory and l /0 at 2.5 V. According to Intel, will take some of the pressure off laptop
average laptop power consumption (ex­ and battery designers alike.
cluding displays) has doubled (from 10 to
20 W) from 1994 to 1997, and if heat dis­ You Do the Clickey Pokey... If it were any smaller, and if the case
sipation isn't addressed, it's projected to With GUI screens and most modern soft­ were tan, you might mistake this
nearly double again by 1999. ware usable on portables, you absolute­ lnter@ctive Pager for a big walnut.
With proper management, however, ly need to have a pointing/navigation de­
the thermal load can be restricted to 23 vice. Yes, you can certainly perform a lot others-and we will likely see even more
to 25 W. For smaller portable devices, low­ of operations in Windows 95 or NT or the ingenious systems in the future .
er-powered, non-Intel CPUs, such as Hi­ Mac OS using keyboard shortcuts, but you
tachi's 53 and Digital Equipment's Strong­ can't do everything.
And You Connect
Arm, simplify heat-control issues. So, you need a (choose one): mouse, Yourself Around
Closely allied with heat is battery pow­ mouse-on-a-stick, touchpad, trackpoint, One problem facing portable designers
er, since excessive heat means wasted elec­ joystick, trackball, digitizing pad/pen, or is the number of different connectors they
tricity. Therefore, heat reduction contrib­ touchscreen. The mouse was there first, must incorporate into their machines for
utes to longer operating time between and most desktop systems still have one, communications and peripheral hookups.
recharges, as well as increased battery lon­ with trackballs coming in a very distant A typical full-size laptop these days can
gevity through reduced thermal stress. second place. The other pointing devices have almost two dozen l/O connectors
Battery life (i.e., time of operation) were all designed to concentrate finger­ and switches on the outside of its case .
has always been a point of contention, tip screen navigation into a small, fixed And there still have to be bays for remov­
with users needing more than portables space. They all work- some better than able drives and batteries, plus upgrade

BONA 4 BYTE MAY 1998

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 Computers to Go

access to the memory and hard drive. Compaq, HP, and Toshiba, seems to be idly. Still, all the smaller machines are ad­
The universal serial bus (USB) standard, even considering such a machine . Mark equate for taking notes and doing minor
which can hook up to 127 different de­ H anson, a prod uct manage r for Com­ data entry in the field, they 're a lot easier
vices, is one good possibility for replacing paq's Armada laptops, thinks the great to carry around, and you can easily upload
many, though not all, of those varied con­ number of legacy peripherals will limit your work and information to your desk­
nectors. Also, eliminating the number of US B's acceptance. "lEEE-1394 will be more top or full-laptop PC.
different components would noticeably likely to replace some other connectors
reduce the manufacturing cost of the sys­ and will also be implemented in drive What's Next?
tem for both parts and labor. bays, although it raises some power-man­ As we approach the twenty-first century,
For all its potential, however, USB has ageme nt issu es," he says. For better or we're more likely than ever to have some
been slow to catch on, and it's not clear worse, USB seems to be not a replacement type of portable computer with us. To­
when it will reach the critical mass of but just one more connector standard­ day's mainstream laptops are too big and
acceptance. There's still only a trickle of aggravating, not solving, the problem. heavy for general carry, and they're suit­
USB peripherals available, and most of ed only for sit-down, tabletop or desk­
the things people want to plug into their That's What It's All About! top operation. Thus, the smaller porta­
portables need some other connector. Finally, we come to the matter of software, bles we've discussed-PDAs, hand-helds,
A pure USB machine is an interesting without which none of these machines mini-notebooks-are where the real ac­
idea, but it seems to be science fiction. No is more than a paperweight. The larger tion and innovation are called for.
portable maker we talked to, including machines use full-function desktop OSes We could use one more development:
and applications, so you need make no standardization. Today's portables have
compromise when selecting them. Cer­ just too many limiting incompatibilities
tainly Windows 95 (and soon 98 ?) and NT among their hardware, accessories, and
are widely available on laptops and sub­ system software. You can interchange PC
notebooks, and Macintosh fans have the Card modems, but you don 't get much
Power Book laptops. beyond that. Docking stations? A painful
For hand-helds and PDAs, though, you subject. Is it too much to ask for hardware
must consider your needs and choose care­ that's usable with several different brands
fully. Do you go with Windows CE, now instead of being specific to a single ven­
in version 2.0, or a proprietary but more dor's line? Desktop architectures have
efficient (and perhaps more limited) OS, failed precisely because ofsuch incompat­
such as Psion's EPOC, Apple's Newton, or ibilities-remember Micro Channel?
the 3Com PalmPilot's Palm OS? The mass (and mess) of device-driver
There's been significant application de­ software is another place where unnec­
velopment for the PalmPilot (http://www essary individu alism rears its head and
.pilotgear.com /index.htm.l lists over 1100 makes interoperability difficult. Standard­
PDAs such as Tl's Avigo organizer Pilot applications) and Psion machines; izing on fewer connectors, as discussed
let you carry an extensive amount the current crop of CE applications is lim­ earlier, would simplify life for everyone.
of data in yo ur pocket. ited by comparison but likely to grow rap- Will we ever see such standardization?
Somehow, we don't think so. The indus­
WHERE TO FIND try will muddle along for the next few
years on an incremental path. But until
Apple Computer, Inc. IBM PC Co. http://www.mot.com/ http://www.ti.com/
Cupertino, CA Research Triangle MIMS/MSPG/Products/ organizers/Avigo/
(or unless) someone develops a really new
800-776-2333 Park, NC Two-way/pagewriter/ approach to computing, we'll carry ever­
408-996-1010 800-772-2227 3Com Corp./

NEC Technologies, Palm Computing

more-powerful (and, hopefully, smaller)
http://www.apple.com 919- 517-1950
fax: 800-426-4329 Inc. Santa Clara, CA
computers with us to complement our
Compaq Computer http://www.ibm.com Boxborough, MA 800-881-7256
digital address/schedule books, cellular
Corp. 800-632-8377 http://palmpilot

Houston, TX Micron Electronics 978-264-8000 .3com.com

phones, pagers, GPS receivers, and who
800-888-5858 Nampa, ID knows what else.
713-370-0670 800-209-9686 Psion, Inc. Toshiba America

http://www.compaq.com 208-893-3434 Concord, MA Information Systems

Tod ay's laptops have gotten big and
http://www.micronpc 800-997-7466 Irvine, CA
heavy enough to require travel cases on
Dragon Systems .com/ 978-371-0310 800-334-3445

wheels. Maybe, with all these computing

Newton, MA http://www.psioninc 714-583-3000

800- 825-5897 Mitsubishi .com fax: 714-583-3800

devices hung on our belts, inside our pock­
617-965-5200 Electronics America http://www.toshiba.com ets, and locked up in our shoulder bags,
http:l/www.dragonsys Cypress, CA Sharp Electronics
.com 888-445-5250 Mahwah, NJ Wi nBook Computer we should just admit that we're the ulti­
http:l/www 800-237-4277 Corp. mate portable-computing device, strap on
Hewlett-Packard .mitsubishi-mobile.com 201-529-8200 Columbus, OH
Corvallis, OR http://www.sharp.com 800-254-7806
rollerblades, and be on our merry way. Ill
800-443-1 2 54 Motorola http://www.winbook
541-715-2004 Schaumburg, IL Texas Instruments .com/

Dallas, TX
Russell Kay is a BYTE technical editor for re­
http://www.hp.com 847-576-5000
800- 842-2737 views. You can contact him by sending e-mail
to russell .kay@ bix.co m.

BONA 6 BYTE MAY 1998

 atabases today start out as gigabyte babies and rapidly grow to
terabyte toddlers. Feeding their growth are trends including: the
rush to build data warehouses that consolidate all your corpo­ Only parallel data­
rate data, the desire to put ever more information on-line for access by bases wring the
Internet or intranet,
data mining solutions

LEL
that require access to
detailed transaction­
level data, and the cor­
porate longing to
WHEN

track every interaction

with customers. And
the data itself is
expanding to include
MEET

documents, pictures, video, and anything else that exists in digital form. best per(ormance
Large and rapidly growing databases strain the abilities of traditional out of para/le/­
hardware platforms. Just storing all this data will stress most existing plat­
forms. But an even more serious problem is the ability to query these moun­ processing systems.
tains of data in a reasonable amount of time. Traditional single-processor By Ken Rudin
machines don't have the raw number-crunching power to sift through these
large and growing
databases efficiently.
In response to these
needs, hardware ven­
dors have created
multiprocessor ma­
chines (historically
referred to as "paral­
lel" platforms, and
now more frequently
referred to as "scal­
able" platforms).
These systems can
hold from two to hun­
dreds of processors.
The resulting com­
puters give you
enough aggregate
processing power to
handle all your data
more quickly.
However, these
scalable hardware
platforms are only
one part of the solu­
tion. Their strength in
numbers won't help if
the database software
is not able to take
advantage of the hard-

www.byte.com MAY 1998 BYTE 81

 Managing Data When Parallel Lines Meet

Partitioning Data
Efficient Data Queries
Graph shows efficiency of query vs.
number of partitions for several sizes
D ue to the large size of modern databases,
you might find it beneficial to divide an entire
database into smaller partitions. Each partition
in the second, and so forth . If you do a lot of
searching by customer name, for example, you
should place part of the alphabet in one data
of queries. Usually, the more
partitions, the better.
then resides on a different disk or another data store, another part in the next, and so on. Then
store. In a multiprocessor system, especially a when you perform your search, you know which
shared-nothing hardware architecture, the data store to go to immediately, saving consid­
CPUs in each node are responsible for their own erable time. You would do similar partitioning if
data stores. Since these CPUs must respond you do a lot of searching by date, product, or
to requests for either data or results from their
owned data stores, it is important to create the
other specific field in the record.
The disadvantage here is the danger of data
..t'

-~ 0.50
partitions judiciously for optimum processing. skewing. If you're storing things alphabetically, !fl
For example, each partition should have it may take a lot of effort to ensure that the par­
approximately the same number of records. titions have comparable numbers of records .
Why? Because if some partitions are larger than This can be easier if you have a large database
others-a condition called data skew-tasks per­ already. You can determine the percentage that
formed on those partitions will take longer. This each part of the range occupies in the database,
10 20 30
will mess up the parallel processing because then combine ranges into roughly equal parti­ Number of partitions
one processor has to do more work than the oth­ tions. You can be confidentthatfuture additions
Query Sizes
ers. Because of this unequal distribution of labor, to the database will be in similar proportions, • .8 0 .6 El .4 • .2S D l • .05 • .01 • .005
the query takes longer than it should. thus maintaining the same relative sizes.
Unfortunately, it's easy to choose a partition Naturally this won't work if the percentages
scheme that results in data skew. An example change-for example, if you partition by year and records with the hash of that value are.
would be partitioning a sales table by month your sales keep growing. One major disadvantage of hash-based par­
when most of your sales are during the Hash-based partitioning is a more abstract titioning is that it doesn't help with range search­
Christmas season. As a result, nearly all the data version of range partitioning. With this approach, es. Since a range of values does not correspond
would end up in the December partition, and you compute a hash value modulo n from one to a range of hash values, you must do many sep­
very little data would be in any other partition. or more fields in every record , then store the arate searches instead.
Partitioning by customer name would also result record by its hash value. A sufficiently random­ Obviously, no one method does everything.
in data skew, since more names begin w ith some izing hash function will ensure that each parti­ That is why people invent hybrids. Knowing the
letters (like M and S, in English) than with oth­ tion is about the same size. Hash-based parti­ type of data your database contains, and espe­
ers (like X and Z). Partitioning by year is proba­ tioning can also help in searching for records cially knowing the most common types of
bly the worst choice , since most queries w ill with specific values, since you know where the queries run against that data, you can probably
probably be looking for the most recent data,
and the CPUs that own that partition will get run
into the ground. (This is known as the problem of
access frequency.) How to Partition Data
There are three basic forms of partitioning :
round robin, hash-based, and range (see the fig­ The basic methods of partitioning data are round robin, hash-based, and
ure "How to Partition Data" at right). You can range. Hybrid methods use combinations of these three.
create hybrid methods, based on these three,
for specific purposes. File Partitions File Partitions
Round robin is the simplest way to partition.
record1 record1
With n data stores, the first record goes in the first
data store, the second in the second store, and
so on until the nth record goes in the nth data
store. Then the next record goes in the first again,
record2
record3
...
record2
•
record4
the next in the second, and so on. Round robin
record3
thus guarantees nearly equal partition size. The •
major drawback of round-robin partitioning is that
it does not help expedite searches for specific • Round·robin partitioning
•
*
queries, unless indexes are available. For on-line stores the first record in Hash-based partitioning
----­
the first data store, the
• computes a hash value
transaction processing (OLTP) , an index is likely
second in the second store,
• modulo n for one field in
to be available. If so, round robin balances the
and the nth in the nth. Then - - - - ­ every record, then stores the
OLTP workload over the processors.
the next record goes in the record by its hash value.
On the other hand, range partitioning does
first store again, the next in
help with some kinds of queries. With range par­ the second, and so on.
titioning , a certain defined range of a record val­
ue goes into the first data store, another range

82 BYTE M A Y 19 98
 When Parallel Lines Meet Managing Data

ware's multiprocessing capabilities. In scanning all 40 million rows, the DBMS

other words, the database management can instead logically divide the tables into
determine a custom partitioning scheme. The system must be able to put the multiple smaller pieces (say, 10 million rows in each
ideal would be one that speeds the typical type processors to good use when handling piece). Then the DBMS can assign four dif­
of query while avoiding multiprocessor bot­ large queries. This means that relational ferent tasks running on four different
tlenecks by ensuring no data skew.
DBMSes must be able to process queries CPUs to each scan their 10-million-row
Finally, how many partitions is ideal? This
depends upon the "size~· of the query, namely, in parallel in order to achieve the required "partition" at the same time (see "Parti­
how much of the database the query involves. performance levels. tioning Data" at left) . In this case, each
The figure "Efficient Data Queries" shows the processor has only one-fourth of the task
results of one study of partitioning in one
Queries Without Parallel as the single-processor example. There­
dimension (that is, partitioning based on the Though the optimization details can fore, the scanning stage will be roughly
value of a single column) . Each curve shows become extremely complex, the general four times faster, completing in about 1
the average efficiency of a set of range queries concept of performing a query in paral­ minute instead of 4.
all the same size. As you can see, for small lel is fairly straightforward. You must first If we had a hardware platform with 12
queries (size .01 and .005), the efficiency is understand the two basic types of paral­ CPUs (instead of four or one, as in the pre­
nearly linear with the number of partitions. The
lelism used in parallel queries: partition­ vious examples), we can repeat this pro­
more, the better. However, even with 30 par­
ing and pipelining. To become familiar cess for the join and the sort stages. (See
titions, the efficiency never gets much above
.20. (This graph ignores the cost of partition­ with these techniques, let's first look at a the figure "Sequential Query Execution
ing, when records have to move to another sample query to see how it executes with­ vs. Query Partitioning" on page 84.) The
partition; for example, when a customer moves out parallel queries (that is, as a sequen­ join stage and the sort stage show similar
to a different address.) tial query). Then we'll add in partitioning time savings.
For larger queries (size .05 to .8) , the effi­ and pipelining to see how they both There is certainly some overhead in­
ciency is not linear, but rises rapidly with more increase database performance. volved in all this-to partition the work­
partitions. Again, the more, the better. Notice For our sample sequential query, I'll load for each stage and to merge the four
also, though, that for very large queries (size choose a query that first scans two tables, sorted subsets of data into a single sorted
.6 and .8), the efficiency begins to flatten out. set before returning it to the user-but if
then performs a join of the results of the
This means that above a certain number of par­
scan, then sorts the results, and finally the query is large enough, this overhead
titions there is no added benefit to having more
returns the sorted set to the user. Let's is negligible. Given that, our entire query
partitions. Research on sets of similar queries
(http://www.syol.coml-munwf) shows that assume that each of the two tables con­ should now take only one-fourth the time
if partitioning is done on the basis of multiple tains 20 million rows, and that when we as with a single processor. The query will
dimensions, a low number of partitions in each run this query sequentially on a uniproces­ complete in about 3 minutes instead of 12.
dimension can yield savings that are close to sor, each of the three stages (scan, join,
the theoretical maximum. and sort) takes 4 minutes to execute. (See In the Pipeline
-Edmund X. DeJesus and Mike F. Unwal/a the figure "Sequential Query Execution Query partitioning provides an impres­
(mike. unwal/[email protected]) vs. Query Partitioning" on page 84.) sive improvement. Or does it? Yes, our
We're using fictional results here for entire query now runs four times faster,
simplicity. The actual times for execut­ but remember that we went from a
ing each stage would likely be very dif­ uniprocessor machine to a 12-processor
ferent from each other. Also, to keep the machine. We used 12 times the comput­
example simple, let ' s assume that all ing power, but achieved only a fourfold
queries submitted against this database improvement. Why is this the case?
have this same general format of scan, Because we have not yet leveraged the
File Partitions join, and sort. In our example, each stage second part of parallel queries, which is
of the query takes 4 minutes, so the entire the concept of query pipelining. With
reconll
Zip Code 66969
00000-33333 j sequential query takes 12 minutes. query pipelining, the consecutive stages
.Ii in processing a query (in our example,
reconl2
33334-16666 -i Cut to the Quick scanning, then joining, then sorting) form
Zip Code 03446 a "pipeline," and separate processors can
However, by executing this query on a
reconl3 multiprocessor platform and then using work on separate stages of the pipeline.
66667-999991
Zip Code 34960 the concept of query partitioning, we can The concept is similar to an assembly
improve this result dramatically. Query line in an automotive plant, where indi­
• Range partitioning partitioning is simply the notion of tak­ vidual workers focus on one stage of a
• stores a defined range
• ing the overall query workload and cut­ car's construction. And, similar to there
of a reconl value in the
ting it up into smalkr tasks that can run being multiple cars in the assembly line
first data store, another
range in the second, simultaneously. at any point in time (each one at a differ­
and so forth. For example, the scanning stage, as ent stage of completion), there will also
described above, requires scanning 40 mil­ be multiple queries in the pipeline at any
lion rows (two tables of 20 million rows point in time, each one at a different stage
each). Rather than having a single task of completion. In the assembly line, much
running on a single CPU be responsible for of the performance gain comes from there

www.byte.com MAY 1998 BYTE 83

 Managing Data When Parallel Lines Meet

being multiple cars in the line, because

even though it still may take hours to build
an individual car, a newly completed car
Sequential Query Execution vs. Query Partitioning
will roll off the assembly line every few Table 1 qu .n 'al ue cotton
minutes. The total time to complete a sequential query with a sing1e processor is
The same holds true for queries. Pipe­ the sum of the times for each stage of the query.
lining may not speed up the execution 12
Minutes
time of any single query, but more queries
can be completed in the same amount of :~:~ --~~L..~~~~~~.L.~----~~..;.. Total
dab data dab Stage 1: Stage 2: Stage 3:
time. daladata data
dala data data Scan 2 tables Join Sort
After pipelining is introduced into our datadatadata (4 minutes) (4 minutes) (4 minutes)
example, as soon as the four processors Table 2
that are assigned to the scan stage finish Time
the scan for a query, they hand off their
results to the processors executing the join
stage, and then they immediately begin
Table 1
dab dab
datadata
ITll Que a nng
ITll The time to execute each stage of a
dabdal7 -
scanning the tables for the nex t query. data ,data partitioned query with four processors is
idabdab
They don't just sit there idle until the dabdabda~ reduced by the number of processors
entire query finishes. The same holds true
for the join-stage processors. As soon as
they finish joining the rows for the first
dab dab data

dabdali
dab dab~
dab'"'
ITll Minutes
Total
perfonning that stage.

query, they hand off their results to the

sort-stage processors and immediately ::~::~!~~
dab dab dab
begin joining the next set of rows sent to Table2
them by the scan processors. As in the Stage 1: Stage 2: Stage 3:

automobile assembly line, all workers on Scan 2 tables Join Sort

the line are always busy, working on (1 minute) (1 minute) (1 minute)

their stage of the cars progressing through
the pipeline.
So, each minute, the sort stage receives (SMP) platforms fall into this category. ware architecture: Partitioning and
a new set of rows to sort, and at the end Shared-everything is not the only type pipelining are still alive and well. How­
of each minute it completes the sort and of hardware architecture. Another type ever, there are new performance consid­
hands the query results back to the user. of multiprocessor hardware design is erations to take into account because
(See the figure " Query Pipelining" on known as a shared-disk hardware archi­ accessing data on a remote node involves
page 86.) After an initial ramp-up period tecture. Even though different groups of more overhead in the form of additional
to fill the pipeline (which lasts 3 minutes processors have their own physically sep­ message passing.
in our example), 12 queries complete in arate pools of memory, all the processors
12 minutes. can still access all the disks. Some vendors' Drawing a Parallel
Because ofparallel queries-including clusters, massively parallel processing Just as there are different parallel multi­
query partitioning and query pipelining­ (MPP), and nonuniform memory access processor architectures, there are differ­
we are therefore now able to achieve 12 (NUMA) platforms fall into this category. ent parallel database architectures. Data­
times the throughput that we obtained Since any CPU on the platform can still base vendors have created two different
with our sequential query. Our 12-pro­ access any piece of data residing on any architectures to address the issues that
cessor system increases overall system disk by issuing an I/O request to that appear in shared -n othing hardware
throughput by a factor of 12. disk, the preceding description of paral­ designs. The first approach is referred to
lel queries also directly applies to these as a shared-disk database architecture, and
Parallel Kinds shared-disk hardware architectures. the other is a shared-nothing database
There are several different types of mul­ However, most clusters and MPP plat­ architecture. (Note that we're referring to
tiprocessor architectures. The preceding forms fall into the category of shared­ · these as shared-disk or shared-nothing
description of the use of parallel queries nothing hardware architectures, in which database architectures, as opposed to
applies directly to multiprocessor designs different groups (nodes) of processors the shared-disk or shared-nothing hard­
known as shared-everything hardware each have their own pool of memory and ware architectures we discussed earlier.)
architectures, in which all the processors their own set of nonshared disks. Since Oracle follows the shared-disk architec­
physically share all the hardware com­ processors on one node cannot issue 1/0 ture, whereas most other database ven­
ponents (such as memory and disks). This requests against data that resides on disks dors such as IBM, Informix, Sybase, and
sharing makes it easy to divide the work­ connected to another node, my earlier Teradata follow the shared-nothing archi­
load of a parallel query among multiple description of parallel queries needs tecture. Both database architectures have
processors, because each processor can some clarification. their relative strengths and weaknesses,
directly query the data residing on any The main concepts of parallel queries in both theory and reality. It is crucial to
disk drive. Symmetric multiprocessing do not change in a shared-nothing hard- understand which issues are important

84 BYTE MAY 1998 www.oyw.com

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 Managing Data When Parallel Lines Meet

Query Pipelining
~~" ~~" ~~"
'-/'.~
..........

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cj>~

••
c§' c§' ,i:.<$1-
Table 1
data data
datadata ~
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:
•
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, •••••••••••
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Table 2
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Time=2 minutes Time=3 minutes

Query 1 completes
•D
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Time=4 minutes
Query 2 completes
Time=5 minutes
Query 3 completes
••
Legend
Each set of processors hands off its completed stage and immediately starts
D QllelJ 1 D QllelJ 2 • QuerJ 3 [II Quell 4 • QuerJ 5 on the next query, speeding overall query execution.

and which are not. Also, we must keep in as accessible to all processors. "owns" a partition of each table. If a pro­
mind that we're now talking about the The theoretical advantage of this data­ cessor needs to query rows that reside on
architecture of the database server soft­ base architecture is increased flexibility a remote node, the database does not
ware, not the hardware. As we'll see, regarding how your system's resources send the rows back to the original pro­
despite their names, both the shared-disk are used during a parallel query. The data­ cessor for local processing. Rather, by
and shared-nothing database architec­ base management system can dynami­ employing function shipping, the data­
tures can (and do) run on shared-noth­ cally choose not only how many proces­ base sends the query to the remote node,
ing hardware. sors and how many nodes to involve in processes it there, and then returns only
executing a query, it can also choose the query results back to the original pro­
Share and Share Alike which processors and which nodes to use. cessor. (See the figure "Data Shipping vs.
Briefly, a shared-disk database architec­ This improves your ability to perform Function Shipping" on page 88.)
ture means that at a conceptual level, when load balancing. The theoretical advantage is reduced
the DBMS is executing a parallel query, any The theoretical drawback, however, is internode-communications overhead
processor is allowed to query data resid­ that this flexibility incurs additional com­ during parallel query execution (and
ing anywhere in the entire database. munication overhead between nodes due therefore more efficient use of intercon­
The situation is obviously different on to data shipping (that is, because many nect bandwidth). Rather than sending all
a shared-nothing hardware architecture, rows may need to be sent across the inter­ the rows across the interconnect network,
since a processor can't directly issue an I/O connect as messages). This additiona l you just send the query itself, and you get
request to a disk residing on a remote overhead can have a detrimental effect on back only the results of the query (rather
node. So, if a set of rows that a processor performance. than each row that was queried).
needs happens to be on remote disks, then However, there are a few theoretical
the appropriate message passing will auto­ Does Not Share Well drawbacks as well. The first drawback is
matically occur behind the scenes. The In contrast, a shared-nothing database simply reduced flexibility, because a query
processors that "own" the disks in ques­ architecture focuses on minimizing the that involves a particular database parti­
tion will issue the I/Os and will then send message-passing overhead required to tion can execute only on the CPUs of the
all the data read from the disks back to the process a parallel query. It does so by node that owns that partition.
original requesting processor for local dividing each table into "partitions," The second drawback is that r,esponse
query processing. This technique of send­ based on some partition scheme that you times for these parallel queries are very
ing all the rows back to the requesting pro­ choose, and assigning each partition to a sensitive to data skew. Data skew occurs
cessor is called data shipping. different node. For example, if you have when a poor partition scheme is chosen,
With this architecture, the DBMS has fo ur nodes, a trivial partitioning scheme leading to one partition having a dispro­
no notion of a certain node "owning" a for your customer table could use the cus­ portionate amount of data.
certain set of disks- it views all the disks tomer's last name as the partitioning key
as logically shared, even though they are and assign names in the range A-F to node Parallel Realities
not physically shared. The "behind the 1, G-L to node 2, M-S to node 3, and T-Z I very carefully used the word "theoreti­
scenes" message passing is responsible for to node4. cal" when referring to the advantages and
allowing the database to treat all the disks In essence, each node exclusively drawbacks of the shared-disk and shared-

86 BYTE MAY 1998 www.byte.com

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 Managing Data When Para l lel Lines Meet

Data Shipping vs. Function Shipping

Data Shipping Function Shipping

In a shared-disk database architecture, a In a shared-nothing database architecture,

processor will receive all requested data from a processor receives only results from the
the remote node and then process it. remote node controlling that data store.

ala data
data data
- - - - - - -data data data
.,....,._.,_"':~:~::~::~
data data data
4

-1 -1
Nodel
0 Request for data goes to remote node.
@ Local CPU issues VO request to local disk.
@ All requested data from disk goes to the local CPU.
® l/O

0 In Data Shipping, all raw data is sent back to the

requesting CPU, where it is processed.
0 In Function Shipping, the data is processed on the local
CPU and only the results are passed on to the requesting CPU.

nothing database architectures. How architecture. This wi ll likely be true for Th e larger the test, th e more yo u will
much should you believe th e th eories years to come, unti l the products are ful­ learn, because larger tests will put more
about these arc hitectures and how well ly mature. stress on a system, highlighting its
they will run data warehousing app lica­ For exampl e, the qua li ty of a vendor's strengths and exposing its weaknesses.
tions? Can you make your technology query optim izer often has a far greater
and product choices based solely on these effect on performance than any of the pros
The Most Effective
theories? and cons I've mention ed . In another Approach
No-it would be a mistake to d o so. examp le, one database vendor's code path If your database is strategic, sooner or lat­
Although understanding the theoretical to perform a certain operation might be er it will scale up to a size that only mul­
pros and cons of these two architectures 50 percent the length of a competitor 's. tiprocessor platforms-such as SMP, clus­
is critical to understanding whatever tech­ For this operation, the first vendor has an teri ng, MPP, and NUMA architectures­
nology you choose, in reality the actual enormous advantage over the competi­ can h and le. To use these platforms to
quality of a database vendor's implemen­ tor, regardless of the architecture. In these effective ly imp rove query-processing
tation is much more important than the and many other cases, the differences in performance, yo u will have to employ
how well the ve ndor's developers wrote parallel queries. Though parallel queries
WHERE TO FIND vario us parts of the products are the true are not magic, and will require yo u to
IBM 800-633-0596 determining factors of performance. This learn new approaches to query tuning,
Armonk, NY 650-506- 7000 is the issue on which yo u shou ld focus. they are the most effective technology
800-426-3333 http ://www.oracle.com
Although this might soun d like heresy, available today for quickly processing
914-765-1900
http://www.ibm.com Sybase architecture is currently only a secondary large amounts of data. Ill
Emeryville, CA

consideration.
Inform ix Software 800-879-2273

Menlo Park, CA 510-922-3500

So, how can you determine which data­ Ken Rudin is CEO and cofounder ofEmergent
800-331-1763 http://www.sybase.com base products are built better in the areas Corporation, an independent consulting firm
650-926-6300
http://www.i nformix Teradata (NCR) where it matters most to you? Industry that helps businesses design and implement scal­
.com Dayton, OH standard benchmarks are of only limited able IT solutions. He has published many arti­
800-447-1124

Oracle 937-445-5000
use, since they are highl y specified and cles on designing and implementing scalable
Redwood Shores, CA http://www.ncr.com
highly controlled. The only way to really so lutions . You can reach him by sending
know is to test your own database queries. e-mail to krudin@e merge nt.com.

88 BYTE MAY1998 WWW.by om

!!,!~r~!e~g Bandwidth
applications through a congested network or create
the illusion of more bandwidth. By Scott Mace
Bottlenecks
f you've been adding Tl
Building Tomorrow's Internet
lines to your WAN butnot
seeing any improvement Appfication: Telephony

Requires low bandwidth R/3 client

in your network applica­ Sensitive to reliability Application:TBD

tion performance, you're not alone. Very sensitive to delay Requires high bandwidth
Adding WAN links is the most costly Sensitive to reliability

Solution: Guaranteed bandwidth Not very sensitive to delay

yet fastest-growing aspect of today's Allocates any requested bandwidth

intranets and extranets. Meanwhile, Guarantees rate of reliability Solution: Class of service
Guarantees amount of delay Tries to aDocate requested bandwidth
the use of these long-distance links is Tries to guarantee rate of reliability
exploding. New high-bandwidth ap­ Performance gain When Tries to guarantee amount of delay
L____J ~
plications, including push sites and Performance gain When
Low High Now 1999
multimedia, must run across an entire ~~
enterprise. Low High Now 1999
By simply throwing more band­
width at the problem, corporations
are wasting millions of dollars each
year in misused or unused network
bandwidth. T his is because it isn't a
real solution; it results in demand al­
ways outpacing supply. TCP/IP was Application: Web browsing
Requires variable bandwidth
primarily designed to support FTP Sensitive to reliability
and telnet applications, but today's Not very sensitive to delay
higher-speed networks are placing Solution: Caching
greater demands on bandwidth, ex­ Gives apparent increase in bandwidth
aggerating delays and bottlenecks. Does not change refiab~ity
The result: lost productivity and lost Decreases delay
business. Performance gain When
Currently there are few good avail­ ~
Low High Now 1999
able alternatives for managing TCP/IP
traffic. That's because such traffic
wasn't designed to be managed. This
situation is beginning to change, however. Low-priority appli­ to obtain a higher quality of service (QoS). This situation is still
cations can now be controlled, given lower priority, and other­ a rare offering on the Internet today.
wise made to go to the back of the line waiting to pass through
a bottlenecked portion of a network. Because so much data is Clearing Up Congestion
redundant, caching and multicasting can reduce network traf­ Wherever there's traffic, there's bound to be congestion. Many
fic problems by keeping packet-copying to a minimum. systems that process large amounts of traffic-human or other­
The bad news is that some bandwidth-control techniques, such wise-have specific ways of dealing with it. The California De­
as class of service (CoS), still don't guarantee a given amount of partment ofTransportation throttles traffic with metering ramps.
bandwidth, although they offer "better than best effort" service Macy's increases its sales capacity by adding more staff mem­
to priority traffic. Other techniques can guarantee bandwidth, bers. The U.S. Postal Service decreases delivery time with Prior­
but only in networks that are under your control. ity Mail. United Airlines maintains capacity with reservations.
Finally, caching technologies are getting sophisticated enough The Internet uses (or will use) techniques that are roughly anal­
to deliver Web pages in a snap, so even if your particular bottle­ ogous to all these techniques, which are outlined below.
neck situation persists, or if the Internet backbones or your ISP Metering ramps. Metering ramps are at the heart of the Inter­
offers substandard performance, you or your users might not net, but they're a little different from traffic ramps, which, in­
notice as much as before. stead of throttling cars at an on-ramp, tell drivers to stay away.
These caching technologies will become critical in a situation When congestion occurs, devices running TCP/IP begin drop­
where ISPs provide differentiated services and you pay more ping packets and send messages back to the originators of the

www.byte com MAY 1998 BYTE 89

 Network Integration Breaking Bandwidth Bottlenecks

traffic, telling them to slow down. At the

point of the traffic originators, TCP/IP's
slow-start mode throttles transmission How Bandwidth Managers Control Traffic
back and then ramps it up until it reaches
a relatively stable state. Bandwidth manager inspects incoming packets and

classifies incoming traffic by application,group, or user.

Until recently, this technique has worked

Bandwidth manager

admirably. But even though they are effi­ places traffic in the Queues are scheduled
proper queue. acconing to traffic
cient and fair, metering ramps cause wild poficy.
swings in network utilization, leading to Application
the burstiness of the Internet. This makes
the Internet's metering ramps as much a Presentation
••••
• ••• ••
part of the problem of delivering consis­ Sessions
tent QoS as they are a part of the solution .

•••• ••
Increased capacity. Why not just make
Transport
the pipes bigger? For a long time, we were
able to live with the idea of just throwing
bandwidth at the problem. But two cir­
cumstances are bringing things to a head.
First, WAN traffic is way up : It's growing
Network
Data link
Physical
Important IP
addresses.......

........
••

••
more quickly than we can throw band­
width at it. In a LAN, it might be possible In this example, scheduler gives

to over-provision bandwidth enough that streaming-video queue priority for

congestion never occurs. But this is hard­ amomenl

ly ever possible with a WAN, due to th e

economics of transmitting data over long
distances. Companies simply can't afford When a bandwidth manager can control traffic flow, important
to keep WAN links up all the time.
Second, services such as voice, video, applications get priority and bandwidth is more efficiently utilized.
and mission-critical applications need
predictable latencies-the round-trip desktop . And th e shortcomings of the for traffic based on its importance.
times between transmissions-to avoid Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP) 3Com is one of the heavyweights be­
the phenomenon known as jitter. But in­ have been well documented (see "Faster, hind CoS. Early this year, 3Com an­
creasing capacity just exaggerates the In­ Smarter Nets," April 1997 BYTE), so its nounced CoS prioritization support on its
ternet's burstiness. The Internet's best­ appearance in Windows 98 will have min­ TranscendWare SuperStack Layer 2 and
effort system might cause pac kets from imal impact for the next couple of years. CoreBuilder Layer 3 switches, as well as
push sites and Web-surfing to get in the In short, ISPs are still figuring out how to on a new line of desktop network inter­
way of critical packets. provide and bill for QoS (see "A Virtual face cards (NICs), some routers, and some
Priority. The aforementioned services Private Affair," July 1997 BYTE). WAN concentrators. "This strategy scales
require packets to be prioritized some­ So where does that leave you? The good across the WAN and works with packets
how. Like opening several windows at a news is thatthere are ways to manage any as well as [ATM] cells," says Frank Fuller,
bank to serve different types of custom­ network bottleneck or the bandwidth in director of systems marketing at 3Com.
ers, one line must become three (or even a leased line, provided you control the 3Com claims to be the first vendor to
more) so that each packet can get an ap­ network and can establish the network's implement CoS broadly and adhere to the
propriate level of attention. Customers policies. The three main techniques (in new IEEE 802. lp and 802.lq standards
are willing (and even begging) to pay for increasing order of the apparent perfor­ for CoS, as well as IP Type of Service (ToS).
that kind of attention. But until recently, mance improvement they create) are CoS; IP ToS is a proposed Internet Engineering
there haven't been any standards for set­ QoS , also known as guaranteed band­ Task Force (IETF) standard dating back to
ting priority, and the new standards still width or prioritization; and caching. 1992 that allows for up to eight classes of
aren't widely used. On top of that, service service over WANs. "By spending 1 hour
providers haven't yet figured out how to Setting Some Priorities setting up policies, you'll be able to reduce
maintain and charge for priority services, The Internet guarantees "best effort" de­ staff time by an hour a day," Fuller says.
especially if they cross from one provider livery of packets-it tries its best to get ToS is equivalent to a carpool lane : You
to another. the packets to their destinations. CoS tries reserve bandwidth ahead of time and then
Reservations. Internet customers are for "better than best effort"; like Avis, it assign traffic that needs priority, such as
even willing to reserve a place in line ahead tries harder, typically by setting some voice or a priority CoS, so that it can use
of time, like airline customers. But so far, bandwidth aside for high-priority traffic. that reserved bandwidth. IP ToS's histo­
the Internet and WANs haven't been able Don't confuse CoS with QoS, however. ry shows that, just like carpooling, traffic
to fulfill these desires. One possible solu­ Unlike QoS, CoS doesn'tguarantee band­ isn't congested in enough places for many
tion to this problem, asynchronous trans­ width or latency. Instead, CoS enables people to use it. But, just as the awareness
fer mode (ATM), failed to make it to the network managers to request priority of carpooling zooms up when highway

90 BYTE MAY 1998 w. yre.com

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 Network Integration Breaking Bandwidth Bottlenecks

conditions worsen, so too is attention

turning to IPToS. And the newly achieved
capability of Layer 3 devices, such as
Caching toConserve Bandwidth
Cache-server database doesn't find
3Com's CoreBuilder, to prioritize pack­ Browser issues request the requested objects and passes the
ets at wire speeds adds to the increase in
interest in IP ToS.
Skeptics doubt that the 802 . lp and
802. lq standards promoted by 3Com will
be widely adopted. Both standards were
unanimously approved by the IEEE in late
I
a ~1
Browser
for uncached object requests on,one at atime.

Bandwidth manager caches objects in

its database and passes them on to the Web server
browser.
1997, with participation by all major net­ Browser issues
working vendors. Ratification of the final Browser request for cached
HTTP LO object
standards is due by July.
3Com also pledges to provide drivers
for non-3Com EthernetNICs by June. By r
D-I
Hobject is stiD fresh, only asmall
s::' ;;11r-...,~~i.....-~;.__ "get-if-modified" instruction needs
to be sent to check, conserving

l..----ll ~------b~an\~.....:::;;~
dth-;b-~-~-ch~ra'ten~i-re_mm-·ns_.____, ~I
prioritizing packets at the desktop, net­
work administrators can lessen the load lime
on core network devices. And later this
year, 3Com will deliver an LDAP-com­ l
CJ
patible Policy Server to store policies and
push them out to switches, routers, and Web server
Hthe browser confonns to new HTTP ll spec, and
desktops, instead of requiring individual lime-To-Live exceeds zero, newer cache servers,such
configuration of each device. I -I as lnktomi's Traffic Server, can return objects immediately
Browser to browser from cache.
Private Bandwidth Cache
Sometimes CoS's "better than best effort"
isn't good enough. This is particularly true Typical cache servers conserve bandwidth but might not eliminate
if an application requires a guarantee of
bandwidth and latency. To get this kind the World Wide Wait and similar latency problems.
of control, you need to manage all the net­
work devices in your network end-to-end. to offer guaranteed bandwidth to tenants. TCP window sizes that are too large, caus­
Then bandwidth-management products Check Point Software, best known ing a huge amount of unnecessary pack­
can dole out dollops of bandwidth by ap­ as the leading maker of firewalls, offers et retransmission." Packet Shaper detects
plication, group, or user. Floodgate-1, server-based software that these redundant premature transmissions
Using leaky-bucket algorithms, band­ allocates bandwidth by a committed rate, and drops them, which can help reduce
width-management products queue up but Floodgate adds the ability to allocate and smooth out traffic more quickly. But
or drop packets that don't fit bandwidth by an abstract number. The advantage of every dropped packet requires a TCP
policies. (In a leaky-bucket algorithm, the this ratio method: If a network adds band­ slow-start, with its accompanying drop in
queue allows a limited stream of packets width, the individual bandwidth alloca­ performance.
out at any time but has a maximum depth, tions don't all have to be readjusted to By contrast, traffic managers, such as
so packets exceeding the bucket's drain­ reflect the increased available pipe. Access Point and Floodgate-1, attempt
age rate are discarded.) The latest gener­ Packeteer' s Packet Shaper devices to eliminate dropped packets entirely with
ation of these products, which typical­ use TCP Rate Control (see the table on queuing. However, the larger the queue,
ly sit at the threshold of the narrow pipe page 94) to tell devices they should not the bigger the potential for latency dur­
being managed, also provide separate burst traffic into the network due to con­ ing congestion.
queues for each class of traffic. gestion. Although it works with Web traf­ So, for now, bandwidth managers are
That's the high-level view. Once you fic, TCP Rate Control is not universally ad­ doing the best they can with a protocol
examine these products, at least three dif­ mired because it lacks support for UDP which, poor implementations aside, will
ferent approaches emerge. packets, such as voice and video. Packet­ continue to rule the Internet.
Xedia's Access Point devices offer ba­ eer acknowledges this but denies allega­
sic Layer 3 traffic management, giving tions that TCP Rate Control is risky stuff. Cache in Hand
administrators the capability to allocate a You might think that at least one of CoS and guaranteed bandwidth have
committed bandwidth rate to each appli­ these three approaches could solve band­ their problems. So, if you can't keep the
cation and guaranteeing that the band­ width problems. But even TCP Rate Con­ information where it is and get at it fast­
width allocated will never drop below trol can't cure all congestion woes in a er, then why not bring the information
that committed rate. Xedia's Class-Based network. "There are implementations of closer? That's exactly what caching does.
Queuing also lets applications borrow TCP/IP, such as some versions of Solaris, Already, the leading Web browsers main­
spare bandwidth from other applications. with bad default values going to dial-up tain small caches of viewed pages on local
Xedia is targeting not only corporations users," says Bob Packer, chief technical hard drives. Many of the caching tech­
but also ISPs and office buildings seeking officer at Packeteer. "These values create niques being deployed today on servers

92 BYTE MAY 1998 www.byte.com

 Win a Website!

The prize package consists of one year's worth of hosting (80MB website storage and
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Security 0 0 0 0 0 today, what do you use it for?
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0 Yes 0 XML
improve your understanding over the next
0 No D Java
six months?
5 How satisfied are you with the web D Security D ActiveX
hosting service you are currently using? D Certificate servers D Virtual private networking
(Choose one.)
D Virtual private networks D Electronic commerce.
0 Very satisfied D Remote access
D Electronic commerce
0 Somewhat satisfied D Other _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __
D Firewalls
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0 HTML D 1000 or more

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12 If you win the free web site, what will you do with it?

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ceived by the .cutoff date of May 29. Employees al Th e

The contest is open to all U.S. residents 18 years of age or old ­ McG raw·Hill Companies, Inc., lnterland, Inc., their agencies,
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 Network Integration Breaking Bandwidth Bottlenecks

are similar, though much more sophisti­

cated and effective. CacheAow: No More World Wide Wait
A prominent example of such a tech­
nique is lnktomi's Traffic Server, software Browser issues request CacheAow database doesn't find this
that runs on Solaris-based systems. Pig­
gybacking off the recent work done in the
parallel-computing and cluster-technol­
[d]
for uncached page.
./
page and requests al objects on page
at once, rebieving them in parallel.
--
ogy fields, Inktomi first made a splash in I I
the search-engine arena with its HotBot Browser
technology. Traffic Server soon followed. CacheAow caches
the objects in its Web server
"Caching lets you store information database and
much closer to the user, and it gives that passes them on
to browser. Internet
user a better quality of experience than
going through a congested net with mul­
tiple hops," explains Peter Galvin, direc­
tor of marketing for Traffic Server. lnkto­
lime

l -
mi estimates that 60 percent of the traffic
on the backbone of one ISP it works with CacheAow prefetches updated objects based on
predicted usage patterns and object-update
is redundant. schedules,considering size and distance to object Web server
But caching is not as simple as storing
HTML pages. The trick, of course, is fig­ Browser issues request for cached
uring out how often to refresh each object objects;cache returns data in less
in the cache. Each page is actually made Browser than 01 second.
up of many objects-sometimes dozens. Cache
Each of those objects changes over time,
but not at a constant rate. Making matters
worse, the original HTTP 1.0 protocol did CacheFlow eliminates latency problems, even for pre-HTTP-1.1
not let page publishers dictate the typical objects, by prefetching objects based on usage and update schedules.
time interval before a cache must fetch a
refreshed object. of the first user 's bandwidth. A simple That default can be changed.
How does Traffic Server approach the get - i f - modif i ed HTTP request is the Traffic Server can also take advantage
problem? After a user requests a page for only thing that travels across the Internet of HTTP 1.1 's Time-to-Live (TTL) HTML
the first time, Traffic Server keeps all the and back if a page is unchanged. tag. To reduce latency, HTTP 1.1 lets Web
objects on that page in its cache. Since In addition, Traffic Server is mildly pro­ publishers attach a TTL tag to each object,
pages don't change quickly, future users active in updating the cache. By default, which gives them more granular control
of that same page consume only a fraction the cache refreshes each object hourly. over when the cache requests a new copy
of the object. Banner ads might have to
be excluded from such treatment because
Beyond Queuing Traffic Server doesn't return hit informa­
tion to servers for the all-important Web­
ad click-through information. But the
TCP Rate Control is achieving new prominence through technology such as
bandwidth savings derived from caching
Packeteer's Packet Shaper.
every object on a page except the banner
Queuing TCP Rate Control ad is still substantial.
Efficiency Tosses packets. More efficient; no
CacheF!ow, from the company of the
queues form.
same name, takes caching a step further.
Induces packet loss; Reduces packet loss
The company started with the observa­
generates retransmissions.
and retransmissions.
tion that the typical browser fetches only
Precision Limited traffic
Rich traffic
four objects at once. A page containing
classification.
classification .
many objects might take many fetches to
No bit·per-second
Bit-per-second
pull down everything. CacheFlow gets
control.
control.
around this problem by fetching all objects
No flow-by-flow QoS.
Rate-based QoS for
on a page at once.
individual flows.
Web pages are starting to contain more
Inbound/outbound No inbound control.
Both inbound and
objects, so the savings can be substantial.
outbound control.
For instance, http://www.cnn.com has
Ability to react Reactive.
Proactive.
so many objects that, in the best case,
Congestion has already
Prevents congestion
electrons have to travel something like
occurred.
before it occurs.
600,000 network miles to deliver the home
page coast to coast. Given the limitation

94 BYTE MAY 1998 www.byte.com

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 Network Integration Br eak in g Bandwidth Bottlen ec ks

of the speed of light, that's nontrivial. statement when a second user requests a weren't enough, within the next year mul­
The CacheFlow engine is also con­ page and its objects. This saves not band­ ticast traffic will proliferate. The band­
stantly prefetching Web pages based on a width, but latency: When demonstrated, width-management wizards all agree that
complex form ula of a page's popularity CacheFlow easily fetches pages faster than multicast will change the Internet again
and the cost in time and bandwidth of the eye can blink. and help hasten the system wide CoS stan­
fetching the page. According to the com­ Traffic Server might approach that kind dards that companies such as 3Com are
pany, this prefetching is so much more of low latency, but only if the entire Web evangelizing. Time will tell if multicast is
efficient than the fetching done by prod­ adopts HTIP 1.1. Just how fast that's hap­ a ki ller ap plication, but its introduction
ucts such as Traffic Server that Cache Flow pening is a matter of controversy. For var­ hastens the day when no network device
doesn'tneed to send a ge t -i f - mod i f ied ious reasons, CacheFlow claims that the can be indifferent abo ut where a packet
latency reduction with HTIP 1.1 wi ll ap­ came from, where it's going, or what it's
WHERE TO FIND proach only 20 percent, and then only be­ carrying.
CacheFlow, Inc. Packeteer, Inc. cause HTIP 1.1 also sup ports persistent Meanwhile, the more control you have
Palo Alto, CA Cupertino, CA connections. over your network, the more possible it is
650-849-1400 408-873-4400 One thing is for sure: Nothing will force to guarantee bandwidth to critical appli­
http ://www.cacheflow http ://www
.com .packeteer.com Web publishers to cache ads unless hit­ cations and to begin to shape bandwidth
rate info rmation can be returned from . priorities for other applications. Even if
Check Point 3Com Corp.
Software Santa Clara, CA the cache to the Web server. CacheFlow's you don't control your network, caching
Technologies, Inc. 408-764-5000 cache can do this; Traffic Server's can­ might offer a quick way out of the World
Redwood City, CA http ://www.3com.com Wide Wait. Either way, the old solution­
not. Inktomi officials point out that Web
650-628-2000
http://www Xedia Corp. publishers are using sophisticated banner­ getting out the checkbook and ordering
.checkpoint.com Littleton, MA up more expensive bandwidth- isn'tthe
ad-rotation schemes, so they sti ll won't be
978-952-6000
lnktomi Corp. http://www.xedia.com thrilled about caching. only game in town. llJ
San Mateo, CA
650-653-2800
http://www.inktomi
Different Packets Coming Scott Mace is a BYTE senior editor based in

.com As if all the tricks employed to decongest San Mateo, California. He can be reached at

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 THE

IS TICKING

Today's faster, less expensive computers can crack current

encryption algorithms easier than ever before. So what's next?
By Bruce Schneier
ryptographic algorithms have a lustrates the vulnerability of encryption to
way of degrading over time. It's a computer power. Cryptographic algorithms
situation that most techies aren't are all vulnerable to brute force - trying ev­
used to: Compression algorithms don't com­ ery possible encryption key, systematically
press less as the years go by, and sorting algo­ searching for hash-function collisions, fac­
rithms don't sort slower. But encryption al­ toring the large composite number, and so
gorithms get easier to break; something that forth-and brute force gets easier with time.
sufficed three years ago might not today. A 56-bit key was long enough in the mid­
Several things are going on . First, there's 1970s; today that can be pitifully small. In
Moore's law. Computers are getting faster, 1977, Martin Gardner wrote that 129-digit
better networked, and more plentiful. The numbers would never be factored; in 1994,
table "Cracking for Dollars" on page 98 il­ one was. continued

wv.w.byte MAY 1998 BYTE 97

 The Crypto Bomb Is Ticking

Aside from brute force, cryptographic

algorithms can be attacked with more sub­
tle (and more powerful) techniques. In the Cracking for Dollars

early 1990s, the academic community dis­ An expenditure of twice the dollars makes your adversary's attack twice as fast.
covered differential and linear cryptanal­ By Moore's law, these attacks will be 10 times less expensive (and 1O times faster)
ysis, and many symmetric encryption every five years .
algorithms were broken. Similarly, the fac­
Type of Budget Tool 40 bits: Time 56bits:Time Key length
toring community discovered the num­ attacker and cost per and cost per for protection
ber-field sieve, which affected the securi­ key recovered key recovered in late 1996
ty of public-key cryptosystems.
Pedestrian Tiny Scavenged 1 week Unfeasible 45
There are many encryption algorithms hacker computer (No cos t) (No cost)
currently available; see the table "Encryp­ $400 FPGA 5 hours 38 years 50
tion Algorithms: Suitability to Task" on ($0.08) ($5000)
page 100 for classes of algorit hms and
Small $10,000 FPGA 12 minutes 556 days 55
their characteristics. What algorithms are business ($008) ($5000)
considered secure today? What about the
future? Predictions are dicey at best, but Corporate $300K FPGA 24 seconds 19 days 60
they are essential in the business of cryp­ department ($0.08) ($5000)
ASIC 0.18 second 3 hours 60
tography.
($0.001) ($38)
For instance, ifl design a cryptograph­
ic system today, it may spend two years Big company $10M FPGA 0.7 second 13 hours 70
in development and be fielded for anoth­ ($0.08) ($5000)
ASIC 0.005 second 6 minutes 70
er dozen. The information it carries might
($0.001) ($38)
have to remain secure for six years after
transmission. This means I'm forced to Intelligence $300M ASIC 0.0002 second 12 seconds 75
make a decision today abo ut what the agency ($0.001) ($38)
state of cryptography will be 20 years from
FPGA =field-programmable gate array
now. Like it or not, cryptographers have
From the paper "Minimal Key Lengths for Symmetric Ciphers to Provide Adequate Commercial Security,"
to be futurists. available at http ://www.counterpane.com/keylength.html .

Fearful Symmetry
Symmetric algorithms use the same key would probably be used more if it weren't Candidates are due in June of this year,
for both encryption and decryption. impossibl e to get any reasonable licens­ and NIST will se lect an algorithm some­
These algorithms are the workhorses of ing terms out of Ascom-Systec. CAST, the time in 1999 or 2000. Thus far, about lS
cryptography. They encrypt anything di g­ new algorithm in PGP, is similar to Blow­ people have indicated that they will sub­
ital, including e-mail, telnet connections, fish. RC2 has been largely abandoned in mit an algori thm. Most will likely be pret­
audio, and vid eo. You can divide sym­ favor of RCS . ty awfu l attempts by crypto wannabes, but
metric algori thms into two piles: stream If I had to choose an encryption algo­ expect to see an RCS variant from RSA
ciphers and block ciphers. Stream ciphers rithm to use today, I'd select Triple-DES Data Security, a CAST variant from Entrust
encrypt data in streams- a bit, byte, or (it's much harder to break via exhaustive Technologies, a variant of Square, and
word at a time. Block ciphers encrypt data searching than DES), IDEA (it has survived Blowfish II (based on Blowfish).
in fixed chunks, generally 64 bits. Since since 1991 without any serious cryptanal­ Those who need a stream cipher have
you can use block ciphers to build stream ysis), or Blowfish (it's fast, compact, and two choices. One option is to use a block
ciphers, most ciphers are block ciphers. simple; all ows variable key lengths; and cipher in stream mode. T his isn't difficult;
And there are a lot of them. The tab le has been the victim of no known success­ any block cipher will work, and you can
"Symmetric Algorithms and O ne-Way ful cryptanalysis) . A coup le of years ago, consult any cryptography text to find
Hash Functions" on page 102 lists the ma­ I and a group of other cryptograp hers out how to do it.
jor ones, comparing speed, block size, key recommended a 90-bit key as the bare T he other option is to use a dedicated
size, and patent and licensing terms. minimum for security today (see why in stream cipher. There are a few of these,
A few po ints are worth noting here. the table above); all three of these algo­ some optimized for custom hardware and
Triple-DES is the conservative choice, al­ rithms exceed that key length. others for 32-bit microprocessors. RC4 is
though it's the slowest. Everything else The block-cipher landscape will change one common choice. Once a trade secret
has received far less cryptanalytic atten­ soon. The National Institute of Standards of RSA Data Security, it was "o uted" to
tion. Blowfish is the fastest algorithm, but and Technology (NIST) is soliciting can­ the Internet in 1994 and has since become
it has a long key-setup time and isn't suit­ didate algorithms for an Advanced En­ public-domain. There's even an Internet
ab le for encrypting small blocks. And its cryption Standard (AES), w hich will re­ Draft for something call ed ARCFOUR,
large tables make it completely unsuitab le place DES. None of the aforementioned which is actually RC4: The draft's authors
for smartcards. The International Data En­ algorithms is suitable because AES must didn't want to use the real name.
cryption Algorithm (IDEA) got its fame as have a 128-bit block size and key lengths No one has succeeded in breaking RC4,
the encryption algorithm in PGP, and it of 128, 192, and 2S6 bits. but cryptographers have fo und some sta­

98 BYTE MAY 1998

 Th e Cr y pto B o mb Is T ick i n g

ago produced 128-bit hashes, although for

any long-term security a 160-bit hash is
Elliptic-Curve Cryptography vs. RSA and DSA de rigeur. I wouldn't use a 128-bit hash
fo r anything unless I had a really good rea­
6000 ..-----------..--- --------...----~~------..-----------..
son for doing so .
• ECC T here are only a few su itable algorithm
5000 • RSA and DSA choices here. I recommend SHA-1, from
the National Security Agency (NSA) . SHA,
the Secure Hash Algorithm , is a NIST
4000 Acomparison of the time needed to break ECC and
the time needed to break RSA and DSA using the standard . It produces a 160-bit hash. An­
i~ best general algorithms. This assumes you believe other choice is RIPE-MD-160, from the Eu­
that the elliptic-curve problem is inherently harder ropean Community. MOS produces only
·~ 3000 than taking discrete logs modulo p. 128-bit hashes, and cryptographers have
~ found weaknesses in the algorithm. Don't
2000 toss your MD5-based applications imme­
Reasonable
security diately, but you should switc h them over
to SHA as soon as possible.
Not much is forthcom ing in this cate­
1000 1___..,...-.--f-.-.-.-.---
1 gory. A lot of work has been done on cre­
ating has h functions from block ciphers,
but n o single proposa l has emerged as
a front-runner. People are likely to stick
Time to break key (MIPS-years) wi th SHA-1 or RIPE-MD-160, alt hough
Source: Certicom (http://www,certicom.com) some u ltra-high-end app lications use a
combin ation of MDS and SHA-1.

BigMACs
Message-authentication codes, or MACs,
The Speed of RSA are hash fu nctions with a key: Only some­
Task 512 bits 768 bits 1024 bits one who knows the key can create or ver­
ify a MAC value. For instance, I can use
Encrypt 0.03 0.05 0.08 MACs for integrity checking. After creat­
Decrypt 0.16 0.48 0.93 ing a fi le, I calculate its MAC (using a key
Sign 0.16 0.52 0.97 you and I share) and append it to the fi le.
Anyone can read the fi le, but only some­
Verify 0.02 0.07 0.08
one who knows the key can create a new
RSA speeds in seconds (on a SparcS tation 2) fo r different modulus length s with an 8-bit public key. MAC. When you get the file, you can cal­
cul ate the MAC and verify t hat it's th e
same as the MAC I sent you. If it is, you
tistica l anomalies in it, incl ud ing weak easy to calculate the hash of that fi le. But know that no one has tampered with the
keys. When I recommend RC4, I advise given a hash va lue, it's hard to create a file during transit.
the use of a more complicated key sched­ fi le that hashes to th at va lue. It's much There are severa l MAC algorithms,
ule, namely spinning t he key sched ule easier (by a factor of 2"/ 2 for an n-bit but the most promising ones are HMAC
twice. A key schedule is an algorithm that has h functi on) to find collisions for a hash and NMAC. T hey're based on hash func­
expands a re latively short master key to fu nction tha n to reverse the function. This tions, generall y SHA-1; HMAC is an In­
a re latively large expanded key for use in means that the function is " one-way," un­ ternet Draft (RFC 2104). There are other
encrypti on and decryp t ion . RC4 uses a like something like a cyclic redundancy MAC constructions based on hash func­
key schedule to initialize the state of the check (CRC), where it's easy to create a fi le tions, but they're not nearly as good. And
stream cipher prior to generating the key­ with a given CRC value. I haven't seen any MACs based on block
strea m. Due to weak mixi n g in its key Hash functions also have to be "colli ­ ciphers that I've li ked very much.
schedule, RC4 has a class of detec tab le sion-free": It must be hard to find two files
keys. The more comp licated key sched­ that hash to the same val ue (see the fig­ Playing the Public Keys
ule strengthens that. ure "Cracking Hash Functions with Col ­ Public-key algorithms are the surprise of
lisions" on page 100). This means that if I the 1970s. Encryption and decryption use
Making a Hash of It give you a hash value and then later show different keys and, more important, you
A hash function is a fingerprint function you a fi le that hashes to that value, you can cannot calculate these keys from each
that takes an arbitrary-length input (i.e., be sure (to the extent of the security of the other. Thus, you can generate a key pair
a pre-image) and produces a fixed-length hash function) that I had that fi le at the and publish just the encryption key (see
outp ut (i.e., a hash value). Given a digital time I created the hash value. the table " Pick Your Enemy, Then Your
blob (a file, a message, or whatever), it's Most hash functions in use a few years Key" on page 102 for recommended key

WVv byte om MAY 1998 BYTE 99

 The Crypto Bomb Is Ticking

lengths). An yone can ge t that key and

send you a message that onl y you can de­
crypt (using the decry ption key). You can Cracking Hash Functions with Collisions
use the same math for digital signatures
(more o n this latet). The actual impl e­
m entati on is complicat ed, with certifi­ 0
Generate two random messages.
cat es, certificate autho rities, trust m an ­
age ment, and lots of odds and ends, but
that's th e ge neral idea (see " Picking th e
Crypto Locks," October 1995 BYTE).
f)
Public-key algorithms are based on one
Use the same hash function on both messages.
of two problems: th e fac tor ing problem

'
and the discrete-logarithm problem. Both
are more o r less equ ally hard, so I'll dis­
cuss th e fac toring pro bl em with the un­
d erst and in g th at wh at I say a ppli es t o
8
If hash value matches, this "collision" cracks the function.
both. Facto ring the kind o f numbers used
in public-key cryptography- 1024 bits or
more- is hard. It wo uld take all th e com­
puters in th e world years to accomplish. The "birthday attack" cracks a hash function by guessing
Patents are another issue to deal w ith
two messages that hash to the same value; a collision results.
when choosing a p ubl ic-key algo rithm .
RSA is patented, fo r example, and w ill re­
mai n so until 2000. Diffie-Hellman and liptic-curve algorith ms. liptic curves. Therefore, prop onents of
E!Ga mal are both in th e public do main : Elli pti c curves are the newest kids on this technology argue, you don't need as
Any patents th at might have applied ex­ th e block. Poin ts on an elliptic curve fo rm long a key. For applicati ons w here bits are
pired last year. I usually use E!Ga mal, un­ a math ematica l gro up : Give n an y two very dear, li ke smartcard appli cati o ns,
less I have a stro ng reaso n to use RSA. points, th ere are operati o ns th at always th ese are enticing wo rds.
produce anoth er point on th e curve. Fur­ Th e qu esti o n is not wh ether ellipti c­
Legible Signatures ther, yo u can use a number and a po int curve cryptosystemsare secure, but wheth­
Digital-signatur e algorithms are simpl y on th e curve to give anoth er po int on the er th ey offer the same security with short­
public-key-encryption algorithms turn ed cu rve-but it's hard to fig ure out what er key lengths th an comparable systems.
on th eir ears-the priva te key is used for number yo u used, even if yo u kn ow the Tod ay, th e di screte- logar ithm pro bl em
signing, th e public key for ve rificati on­ original point and th e resulti ng point. T his fo r elliptic curves is harder than the dis­
and all the key-length discussion in th e one-wayness leads to cry ptogra phi c ap­ crete- logarithm problem modul o prime
previo us section applies. RSA digital sig­ plica ti o ns. And because cra ckin g this is numbers p: Th ere is no sub expo nential
natures are just as secure (o r as vuln era­ much hard er than cracking oth er systems, algo rithm for do ing th e calculation. (T he
ble) as RSA enc ry ption. The same is true it req uires much smaller keys to obtain discrete-logarithm problem involves find­
fo r E!Gamal. There are other alternati ves: comparable encryption. in g th e ex p o n e nt t o whi c h yo u mu st
NIST has endorsed something called th e This normally wouldn 't be in teresting, ra ise a give n number to ge nerate a valu e
Digital Si gnatu re Algo rithm (DSA) as a but th e fast algo rithms used fo r findin g modul o some large prime number.) Thus,
fe deral standard. And th ere are several el- discre te logarithms don' t wo rk wi th el- peop le use elliptic-curve cry ptosystems
w ith signi fica ntl y shorte r key lengt hs.
T he fig ure " Elliptic-Curve Cryptogra phy
vs. RSA and DSA" on page 99 illust ra tes
Encryption Algorithms: th e di ffe rence between key sizes required
Suitabi Iity to Task fo r comparable securi ty.
It's unknown whether th e discrete-log­
Algorithm Confidentiality Authentication Integrity Key ari thm prob lem is harder because of the
management fund amental mathemati cal nature of el­
liptic cur ves or b eca use o f o ur limited
Symmetric encryption Yes No No Yes
knowledge of th eir math ematical pro p­
Public·key encryption Yes No No erties. This is a ve ry new area o f research,
Digital signature No Yes Yes and recent discoveri es indicate that th ere
Key agreement Yes O ptional No is still much th eore ti cal work to be done.
One·way hash No No Yes
1 do not recomme nd assuming that th ey
can p rov id e t he sa me security over the
Message-authentication No Yes Yes
long term wi th shorter key lengths th an
code
cryptosystems using discrete logs modu­
lo prime numbers p. contin ued

100 BYTE MAY 1998 www.byt;:. c m

BYTE Reprints serve as
high-quality, inexpensive
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A Division ofThe McGraw-Hill Companies

~
Security? What Security?
Popular magazines like to describe cryp­
tography products in terms of algorithms
and key lengths. Algorithms make good
sound bites; they can be explained in a
few words and are easy to compare with
one another: "128-bit keys are good secu­
rity." "Triple-DES means good security;
40-bit RC4 means weak security." "2048­
bit RSA is better than 1024-bit RSA." Un­
fortunate ly, reality isn't that simple.
Longer keys don't always mean more
security. Compare the cryptographic algo­
rithm to the lock on your front door. A
door lock might have four metal pins, each
in one of 10 positions. Thus, there are only
10,000 possible keys, and a burglar wi ll­
ing to try all 10,000 is guaranteed to break
into your house.
But an improved lock w ith 10 p ins,
making 10 billion possible keys, proba­
bly won't make your house any more se­
cure. Burglars don' ttryevery possible key
(a brute-force attack); most aren't even
clever enough to pick the lock (a crypto­ menters make over and over again. vide them with additional tools. They can
graphic attack against the algor ithm). The moral here is not that cryptogra­ attack a system in ways the system's de­
Instead they smash w indows, kick in phy is useless, but that cryptography is signer never thought of. They can ignore
doors, disguise themselves as police offi­ not enough. Strong cryptography is not the algorithms.
cers, or rob keyho lders at gunpoint. Bet­ a panacea. Focusing on crypto algorithms Building a secure cryptographic system
ter locks don't help against these attacks. while ignoring the other aspects of secu­ is easy to do badly and very diffic ult to
I've spent years designing, analyzing, rity is like defe nding your house not by do well. Unfortunately, most people can't
and breaking cryptograph ic systems. I building a fence around it but by putting tell the differe nce.
do research on published algorithms and a single immense stake into the ground In other areas of computer science,
protocols, but most of my work consists and hoping that your adversary runs right funct ionality serves to differentiate the
of examining actua l products. I've de­ into it. good from the bad. For instance, a good
signed and analyzed systems that protect Security designers occupy what Prus­ compression algorithm will work better
privacy, ensure confidentiality, provide sian general Carl von Clausewitz called than a bad one; a bad compression pro­
fairness, and faci litate commerce. "the position of the interior." A good secu­ gram will look worse in feature-compar­
I can almost a lways find attacks that rity product must defend against every ison charts.
bypass the algorithms altogether. I don't possible attack-even attacks that haven't Cryptography is different. Just because
have to try every possible key, or even dis­ been invented yet. Attackers, on the oth­ an encryption program functions doesn't
cover flaws in the algorithms. Instead, I er hand, need to find only one security mean it's secure. What happens with most
exploit errors in design, implementation, flaw in order to defeat the system. More­ products is that someone reads Applied
and installation. And most of the time I over, they can cheat: They can coll ude, Cryptography, chooses an algorithm and
exploit the same old mistakes that imp le­ conspire, and wait for technology to pro- a protocol to use, performs tests on it to
make sure everything works, and thinks
I the job is done. It's not. Functionality does
Pick Your Enemy, Tihen Your Key • ': not equal quality, and no amount of beta
testing will ever reveal a security flaw.
Year vs. Ind ividual vs. Corporation vs. Government Too many products are merely "buzzword
1995 768 1280 1536 compliant": They use secure cryptogra­
:.. ~ • t
phy, but they are not secure. m
2000
2005
1024
1280
1280
1536 ~TT
•J w
1536
2048
.. '·r
Bruce Schneier (Minneapolis, MN) is president
2010 1280 1536 2048 ofCounterpane Systems andauthorofApplied
2015 1536 2048
.I 1111.

'J­ .
-..-,

2048 ·i I
Cryptography (Jo/111 Wiley & Sons, 1994 and
- Il 1996). You can reach him by sending e-mail to
j \.
Recommended public·key lengths (in bits) . I I ,1 schneier @counterpane.com or to his Web
- ""\
page, at http://www.counterpane.com.

1 02 BYTE MAY1998 www.byte.com

 Jon Udell

An overhaul of The BYTE

Site prompts us to rethink

Effective HTML our methods of creating

and processing forms.

Forms

• • •• eb applications nowadays can

use all sorts of fancy user- in­
te rfa ce ga dge t ry, includin g
Principles of Form Design
Fields marked with an asterisk(~ are required. others optional.
JavaScript, Java, and Dynam­
ic HTML. Is there still a pl ace fo r pl ain
old HTML-based fo rms? You bet. HTML
for ms ti ed to server-side p rocessi ng still
work just fin e. And , as I'll di scuss thi s
month, there are lots of ways to extend
and refi ne the HTML/CG! technique. r. Bill me later
Use grid layout to
A recent ove rh aul of our Web site gave clarify sequence

· NOTE: htunedi11.Le unrutzicltd online ac ces s ava.ilabl.e to credit... cud subscribers only.

me th e o ppo rtunity to revi ew a nd u p­ and hierarclij.

grade o ur fo rms and related scripts. T his

effo rt led me to articulate 10 principl es
fo r effective use o f HTML fo rms. lessly encourages co ntext-switc hing. un it. The adjace ncy of the cells contain­
Over time, patterns emerge fro m these ing the credit-card radi o button and its
1 Mark required elements. Many si res responses. Pay attention to them, and re­ fo ur associated w idgets binds all these
do th.is, but many mo re don't. Remember fine yo ur fee d back mechanism acco rd­ into another unit. Finally, a background
that peopl e are always in a hurry and will ingly. To im prove a business process, you color groups the credit-card widgets. This
bail out of yo ur application in a heartbeat have to be able to measure it. If you instru­ d esign (I ho pe) wordlessly conveys the
if it starts to fee l li ke a waste of tim e. ment them pro perly, Web-based custom­ fo llowing instru ctions: 1) Choose cred­
er-service forms can provide the raw data. it-card or bill-me-later; 2) if you choose
2 Attach explanations directly to form credit-card, yo u must fill in th e associ­
elements. Put fi eld-l evel documentation 4 Use layout and visual cues to orga­ a ted fi elds; and 3) if yo u fill in any of
right on the fo rm, next to o r below the nize elements. Two years ago, I avo ided these fi elds, complete them all.
widget it ex plai ns. A separate help fil e is using HTML tables because a lot of brows­
fin e, and a hyperlink that jumps conrext­ ers ha ndl ed them poo rl y or not at all. 5 Develop a consistent style. The BYTE
sensirively fr om the fo rm to the relevant T hi s ti me aro und, I forma tted all o ur Site is a cluster of se rve rs that delivers
part of the help fi le is even better. But for ms using tables. T he new batch look a suite of applications. We roo k pains to
where practical, it's best to put the ex pla­ nicer tha n the old ASC II-formatted fo rms, standard ize the look of the HTML pages
nati o n right o n th e fo rm . Re member : but my motivation was o nl y partl y aes­ di shed o ut by the various applications,
People are in a hurry. If yo u re qui re six­ thetic. Built on a grid, forms can best ex­ such as archive articles, search results, and
character alphanumeri c passwo rds, say press the sequences and hi erarchies im­ conference messages. But we fa iled to
so. Don't make users click on Submit to plicit in the data they captu re. standardize the look and fee l of the forms
find out the hard way. T he stru ctu re that emerged fro m sev­ presented by these applications.
eral rewrites of our cur rent batch of forms It makes sense to do so, and we will,
3 solicitfeedback. Add a <tex t area> is a two-column grid o f name-value pairs. for reasons that are as much functi onal as
widge t that in vires users to ask questions Th is design flex ibly accommodates not aesthetic. One instance of the design il­
and make comments. Then acc umulate only simple elements but also mo re com­ lustrated in the screen above might work
that info rm ati o n into a We b, mail , o r plex clusters of elements. well enough, but it wo rks better when us­
news archi ve that you can review peri­ Table fo rmatting works in several ways ers encounter consistent variations on the
odically. A mail to : link is fin e, t oo, but here. Th e horizo ntal alignm ent of the theme.
it's one click re m oved from the fo rm . radio buttons, located in successive rows Given such standardization, yo u can
People are in a hurry, and the Web relent- of the n est ed t abl e, binds them in to a create and leverage a data dictionary of

www.oyte.com MAY1998 BYTE 103

 Web Project Effective HTML Forms

Vary Your Form Widgets According to Context

Name:

Number: !.________.
Fonn-handling script in
mode 1 selects the input· <form method =post action= "/activate . pl ">
field version of the widget
<i nput type=hidden name=art value=ART>
<! - begin style 1- >
pair ... Subscriber Name: <input type=text name=subname>
Subscriber Number: <input type =text name=subnum>
<! -end styl e 1->
In mode 2, the script
selects the plain-text <! -begin style 2->
version of the widgets ...
<input type=hidden name=subnum value=S UBNUM >
<input type =hidden name=s ubname value=SUBNAME>
• •• and instantiates the fonn
Subscriber Name: SUB NAME
by interpolll_tllig-JJassed
Subscrib er Number : SUBNUM
values for theselwo fields.
<! -end style 2->

Name: Jon Udell

By dynamically generating a form from a template, you can interpolate
values into the form and even vary the widgets used for a field according to Number: 123456789
the context in which the form is invoked.

form elements, along with associated er­ errors, along with associated explanations. In my case, the dictionary is implement­
ror-handling code and messages. For ex­ An unexpected benefit of this approach ed as a Perl hash table, but you can easily
ample, we collect e-mail addresses on four was that it greatly accelerated the process ac hi eve the same effect in any scripting
different forms. Clearly, each ought to in­ of testing the error-checking code associ­ language.
herit a common widget, along with asso­ ated with our forms . In a single cycle, yo u This method works in conjunction with
ciated error-handling code. can verify that a form's handler correct­ a standard error-message routine shared
ly reports an incorrectly confirmed pass­ by all form-handling scripts. When a script
6 Parse forms completely and report all word, an empty address field, and an ill­ checks the input sent from a form, it does
errors and omissions. In order to down­ formed account number. not report any errors directly. Instead, it
load the JDK 1.2 beta from j avaSoft's site, builds a list containing the keywords asso­
I had to register. On my first try, the serv­ 1Accept all unambiguous inputs. When ciated with all errors found . For example:
er rejected my form with the "Username I last renewed a digital certificate on the
cannot match password" message. So I VeriSign site, the server rejected my order i f Cl eng t h($u se rnam e ) < 4)
backed up, corrected that, and resent the form with an "Invalid credit card num­ (p us h (@e rr s ."Name Too Shor t " ) ;!
form . It rejected my form again, this time ber" message . Why? I'd typed the num­ i f ( $pw 1 n e $ pw 2 )
with "Required address field is blank." ber with hyphens, but the app lication was ( pu sh C@e rr s . "B ad Pass word " ); I
This all-too-common behavior irks me. looking for unhyphenated input. That's
The app licati on saw all the fields I sent, just sill y. Here's the line of Perl that will Then, if the error list is nonempty, the
and didn 't send, on the first try. Why not reduce a mixture of 16 digits, hyphens, script sends the list to the error-message
do all the necessary griping immediately? spaces, or other junk to just 16 digits: routine, wh ich reports errors along with
I'd rather take care of everything at once. their associated explanations:
Finding multiple errors one at a time, by $num =- s /\D * //g;
bouncing repeatedly off a server, rapidly if ( $#err s > 0 ) {
erodes my patience. C'mon, VeriSign. You said that better ser­ ( errorM sg (@errs) I; ex i t ; \
To spare users this headache, I've settled vice was the reason you raised your rates
on an error-handling technique based on on digital certificates. Doesn't my extra I like this approach for two reasons. In
the assumption that it's better to deliver hundred bucks buy me one line of Perl? the source code, the error keywords bind
all the form-processing results all the time. closely to the tests that trigger them, so
I've implemented the technique in Perl, 8 Use short error messages linked to the code becomes self-documenting. The
but you could just as easily do it in any longer explanations. As I worked through same keywords, appeari ng on the page
other Web scripting language. the new batch of forms, I consolidated the generated by the error-message routine,
It's nothing fancy. I just accumu late the error messages into a dictionary of key­ are more explanatory than numeric codes
complete list of errors each time I pro­ word/value pairs. The keywords are short would be, yet they are more easily com­
cess the form . If the list isn't empty at the phrases, such as ''AccountNotActive." The municated than the accompanying long
conclusion of the script's error-checking values are longer explanations, such as explanations. And, of course, since the er­
phase, the script passes the list to a com­ "please activate your acco unt first, using ror-message routine is always prepared
mon library routine that displays all the the activate link on any protected page." to handle a list of keywords, the system

104 BYTE MAY 1998 www.byte.com

l.4iu1ru;i 0
Mlu1ng $i AJ,,,.Kuct>eP.
l.loHlflg Q
Mo nmg flJ Sttve r~..,..oldt
M1u1119 () Alan~eo.
M1u.n9 Qi
t.11urn9 • Alen t:'ucl>W

M1 n m9 ();I Sleve RIJ')'l'lo\d t C\Wh1t;uU1r\M011<.t !mlJ\O•oph1ct\

M1111n Q C\'h'lutetto1\Moi~hn9'1G• h•C'I\

1/1Z/98'J200JPt.1 11
1/1Z/'J89102lPM 10
 Web Project Effective HTML Forms

obeys principle 6: It always reports all er­ that transmits this data to activate . pl.
rors and omissions.
BOOKNOTE It took only a few tweaks to the template
and the script to empower bytesub.com to
9 Use forms as components. The de­ Understanding
Digital
t... •..11, ~I'l l

llndmtandmg make a call like this:

sign of the new subscriber-access part of Oi~ital
BYTE's Web site required the capability
Signatures /ac tivate.pl?rnode=forrn&narne=
~iig11aturr.s
$34.95
to vary the outcome of a given interaction jon&nurn=l23
with a form according to the context in
which the form is invoked. For example,
as a subscriber to BYTE magazi ne, you're
by Gail L. Grant
McGraw-Hill
http://www.computing
.mcgraw-hill.com
L
ucilUrant ~;;\"l'.
This causes byte.com to display an activa­
tion form with prefilled subscriber-name
entitled to activate your on-line acco unt and subscriber-number fields .
ISBN 0-07-012554-6
and view complete current articles that This was an improvement, but it still
are otherwise shown only as abstracts. A Auseful survey ofthe business, legal, and wasn'tq uite right. The nameand number
link to the activation form appears on ev­ technical issues surrounding public-key appeared in editable input fields, yet in
ery abstract. Completion of the form leads cryptography. It also catalogs vendors of this context the data should only be dis­
back to the fu ll version of the article that toolkits and applications. played, never changed. Although most
was first displayed as an abstract. users wou ldn't touch this data, it seemed
How can you ac hi eve this effect? It's wrong to invite them to do so.
straightforward if yo u dynamically gener­ TOOLWATCH T he fi nal iteration reso lved this prob­
ate the form from a template. In th is case, lem by varying the types of the widgets ac­
the link that invokes the form self-refer­ JHLZip cording to context. As shown in the figure
entially encodes the URL of the article con­ John Leach on page 104, the template contains place­
taining the link. H ere's an exa mple: http://www.easynet.it/Njhl/apps/zip/ holders for two versions of the widget pair.
zip.html The mode = signal tells the form generator
<a href= "http://www . byte.com/ which pair to include. In a byte.com con­
This handy, free Java application builds an
perl /ac tivate.pl?mod e=fo rm&art text, the form presents empty input box­
uncompressed zip archive from a list of
=9802/secl/art l.htm" > es. Called from bytesub.co m, it prints the
class files. Since the JDK's jar utility works
activate<la>. passed values in these same locations.
only on entire subtrees, you need some­

The signal rnode=forrn te ll s act i ­

thing like JHLZip to build a distributable Future Directions
package from a list of specifically
vate . pl to read and emit the fi le activate We've made a lo t of progress this time
enumerated classes.
.htm, which contains the form's HTML. around, but there's still pl enty of room
That file contains a placeholder for a URL for improvement . The data dictionary
to be interpolated into this form: t i vate . pl , which was embedded in the remains just a good idea; we haven't rig­
form as a hidden variable during the form­ orously decomposed all our forms to cre­
<input type="hidden" narn e= "ar t " generation phase. ate an inventory of reusable widgets.
val ue=ART> Another tantalizing possibility is name­
10 Varywidgettypesaccordingtocon· space completion. Using the replaceable­
Here's how act ivate. pl renders the text. As soon as this probl em was solved, widget technique shown in the figure on
form: another requirement emerged. BYTE's page 104, I've prototyped a mechanism
circu lation department decided to run a that accepts partial input in a text box and
if ($mode eq 'form') { circulation drive hosted on another site, then returns a version of the form that
open(F , ' activate .htrn' l ; http://www.bytesub.com. We wanted to swaps in a listbox containing matches re­
while (<F>l I refer new subscribers from bytesub.com sulting from a database lookup. This mag­
s/val ue=ART/ value=$art / ; to the same activation form used by ex­ ical effect is the holy grail of Web-based
print$_; l close F; exit; isting magazine subscribers on The BYTE data-collection applications. Many com­
Site. But the circumstances were differ­ mercial toolkits can deliver this capabil­
The form's action attribute again names ent. An existing BYTE magazine subscrib­ ity, but homegrown (and, thus, maximal­
the script activate.pl . But the form er has to enter a subscriber name and ly customizable) implementations are well
itself contains no element named MODE. number on the activation form in order to within the reach of competent scripters.
So when act iv ate.pl regains control, it authenticate. A bytesub.com subscribe r There's nothing Perl-specific about the
skips the form-generation phase and pro­ shouldn't have to, because the ordering techniques discussed here ; they'll work in
ceeds to the form -parsing phase. If there process on that site already has this data. any scripting environment. You just need
are no errors, it calls a database routine We could tell bytesub.com subscribers to know how HTML forms work and be
to activate your account and then issues to write down their credentials. Then we willing to fluidly adjust the relationship
a confirmation page. A link on that page co uld refer them to a byte.com ac tiva­ between scripts and forms. Iii
invites you to continue reading the article tion form that would require them to enter
that originally prompted this sequence of that data. But that wquld be silly. Using Jo n Udell is BYTE's executive editor for new
events. The address embedded in that link a Web-style remote procedure call (RPC) , media. You can reach him by sending e-mail to
is the URL passed on the first call to a c ­ bytesub.com need only construct the URL [email protected].

106 BYTE MAY 1998 www.byte.com

 Rick Grehan

A new version of

Toplink Bridges TopLink maps Java objects

to relational databases.

Two Worlds
ometimes you can't get from
one place to another with­
out crossing a bridge. The Toplink for Java
same is true if you want to
reap the benefits of Java object pro­ Toplink's Project Viewer aids in the mapping
gramm ing but need to work with data of class attributes to database fields.
that's stored in a relational database.
Top Link for Java provides that bridge. A
100 percent pure Java object-relational
database system, the program is the third . Project Name: Employee
in a line of object-relational database
Oass/Oescriptor Info:
products from Object People. Previous
Y Address (TOPlink.Oemos.Employee
versions ofTopLink supported Smalltalk
•,;. city•> CITY
and Gemstone.
•,;. country•> COUNTRY
TopLink (prices start at $4000 per •,;. id•> ADORESS_IO
developer for a four-developer license, •,;. postalCode •> P_COOE
and vo lum e discounts are available) •,;. province -> PROVINCE
works with databases equipped with a •,;. street=> STREET • STREET
Jav a Database Connectivity (JDB C) )> Ji. Employee (TOPLin1P . • • 1 W • • )> Im EMPLOYEE (OBA)
driver. The documentation gives exam­ ,.. Ji. EmploymentPerioclJM!fl!#.~~ )> Im LPROJECT (OBA)
ples for DB2, Oracle, Sybase, dBase, and ,.. Ji. LargeProjed (ToPliiill!!ililii ,.. Im PHONE (OBA)
Access. Object People has also built cus­ ,.. Ji. PhoneNumber (ToM•MliW )> Im PROJ_EMP (OBA)
tom back ends for mainframe systems. ,.. Ji. Project (TOPlink.D1MMMllltiliM ,.. Im PROJECT (OBA)
The linchpin of the TopLink system is Ji. SmallProjed (TO~~~M~~ )> Im RESPONS (OBA)
a descriptor, which is a data structure that
serves to map the details of the object
structure (and object relationships) to the
relational database. In other words, a A descriptor holds other information To help in this task, TopLink provides
descriptor tells the Top Link system how that's necessary for successful storage and the Builder tool. The Builder reads in the
an object's d ata is to be stored in the retrieval of database objects. For exam­ database schema (via JDBC) and the
relational database. ple, the Java object may contain a data class structure (Builder reads Java class
A descriptor includes the name of the type that is not supported in the relational files directly). With the schema and class
Java class it describes, as well as the asso­ database. A descriptor contains infor­ structure fed into the Builder, you then
ciated tables that the Java class will be mation necessary to transform data of have a visual view into both the database
mapped to (e.g., the table in the database one type to the other. and the application 's classes (see the
where objects of the class will be stored). A descriptor's information is actually screen). Using the Builder's Descriptor
Information in a descriptor describes the stored in a file. The application imports Editor, you can easily go through the pro­
attributes and object-object relationships this file prior to the application's access­ cess of mapping attributes to table col­
that exist for objects in the class. Neces­ ing th e database . As you might guess, umns. The Builder will construct a de­
sarily, a descriptor must also carry infor­ building a descriptor is a complex under- . scriptor for you automatically and emit
mation describing the structure of the taking, because it inv o lves assign ing a file ready for import into the application.
table. This information includes the pri­ classes to tables, attributes to fi elds, appli­ At run time, a descriptor is imported
mary key of all records in the table, the cation data types to database data types, into a session object (TopLink defines a
fie ld names, and so on. and more. session class). A session object is an

w .byte.c. m MAY 1998 BYTE 1 07

 Javatalk Toplink Bridges Two Worlds

abstraction of an application's access to a

database. The session object includes con­
nection information (e.g., log-in name and
password). Once an application has regis­
-~~~-- ~~- ~. P. ~.~ -~- -'- ·~Y.~

tered a descriptor with a session object, the

application can begin reading and writing J avaSoft continues to roll
out APls about as fast as
you can hiccup . The new
tent is to be viewed. In that
sense, it is metadata-data
about data. For example, a
Second, it's probably more
accurate to say thatthe infor­
mation is rooted in the Help­
objects from and to the database.
Java Help API, currently in navigational view is defined Set file . The structure of a
TopLink builds into an application an
beta testi.ng, is an all-Java by (among other things) its HelpSet is XML-encoded
object cache-called an identity map.
"uber alles" help system for format (how it is to be shown) (Extensible Markup Lan­
When an object is read from the data­ JavaBean components, ap­ and data that identifies the guage) data. The data points
base, it's placed in the cache. At a later plications, desktops, and format and location of the to the URLs from which you
time, if the application requests the object HTML pages. (That's a big view. A navigational view is can find the info necessary to
again, TopLink can read the object from target.) The Java Help docu­ implemented by a Help Nav­ build the help system.
the cache rather than from the database. mentation envisions a Java igator, which is a subclass of Here's an example. One
This cache is a customizable one. That help system written purely in the JHelpNavigator class (a portion of the HelpSet file
is, th e deve loper can control how long Java.That means you can swing component) . points to yet another struc­
objects live in the cache and thereby con­ embed a help system within The Java help system ture called the Map file. A
an application or compress already understands several Map file is a series of "key=
trol the memory footprint that the cache
it into a Jar file for transport to navigational views. The table value" pairs. Each key is a
consumes. of contents , index, and
another destination. help topic (i.e., an entry from
I couldn't help noticing a one-page The primary component of search information (dis­ the table of contents), and the
" design strategy" in the TopLink docu­ a Java help system seen by a played in the help viewer) value is the URL of another
mentation. The question it tackled was user is the help viewer, which already have navigational file that stores the actual con­
this: As you begin designing an object-rela­ comprises a toolbar, con­ views defined. Java Help pro­ tent that the system will dis­
tional database system, which part do you tent pane , and navigation vides mechanisms for regis­ play when the user selects a
design first: the object structure or the rela­ pane. (Java Help relies heav­ tering new navigational table-of-contents item.
tional database schema? ily on swing user-interface views. Consequently, the The upshot is thatthe data
components.) The contents diversity of data permitted, structures used by a Java
On the one hand, tackling the object
of the help viewer ought to be and the means by which the help system are flexible
structure first appears advisable. It's cer­
familiar to anyone who has data is viewed, is limited only enough to permit a wide vari­
tainly the tack I would take, because it
interacted with a help sys­ by developers' imaginations. ety of delivery scenarios :
would permit me to construct what I tem. The content pane dis­ The data structure that Help can be bundled into a
would consider to be an optimal object plays help topics. The navi­ carries all the information JavaBean, help can be inside
structure. Optimal, in this case, refers to gation pane is a tal:>bed pane needed to provide a view into an application, help can be a
how easy it would be to program and does that lets a user select from a help system is bundled into separate (but local} file out­
not necessarily refer to performance. among the table of contents, a HelpSetfile. Note thatthere side the application, help can
Furthermore, it does seem to be best to index, and text search options. are two "loose" terms at use be pulled in from across the
design the object structures with no regard Java Help permits a single here.·First, a HelpSet file isn't network, and so on . The
for artifacts from the relational database help system to support vary­ necessarily a file, in the same architecture is initially daunt­
ing "navigational views" of sense as files that you store ing, but it looks as if it will
system underneath. Designing your struc­
help content. The naviga­ on'your hard disk. A HelpSet serve the .broad (and ever­
ture with the relational database in mind
tional view is a description of file could be bound into an broadening) needs of Java
would mean adding features that don 't how a particular kind of con­ application, for example . applications and applets.
really benefit the application. You're just
adding them to make the relational data­
base happy. Still, this raises the "impedance mis­ the server side of a session with a data­
However, the documentation points match" question. That the relational data­ base (the server being the middle layer of
out that the object structure and the under­ base need be considered at all is something the three-tiered application); the latter
lying database schema are intertwined­ that likely causes cheering in the camps handles the client side.
the structure of one influences the struc­ of purveyors of pure object databases. ServerSession objects are session man­
ture of the other. Also, the relational data­ They can rightly point out that-their sys­ agers to the client tier. ClientSession
base imposes restrictions on the object tems being object-based through an d objects give the application the "appear­
model "above." Keeping these limitations through-they needn't worry about the ance" of being a "typical" (i.e., two-tiered)
in mind while the object structure is being underlying characteristics of a relational application.
built can keep you from painting yourself system adversely affecting the objects Compared to other object-relational
into a corner. above. However, the fact is that many systems I've tried, I liked the visual
organizations have vital corporate data approach taken by TopLink's Builder. It
WHERE TO FIND stored in legacy relational databases. makes a difficult process of mapping
The Object People TopLink also contains the classes nec­ objects to tables relatively easy. liJ
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada essary to create three-tiered applications.
919-852-2200
For example, TopLink defines ServerSes­ Rick Crehan (Hancock, NH) works for Metro­
fax:919-852-1032
http://www.objectpeople.com sion and ClientSession session subclasses. werks' Discover Products division. You can reach
The former lets an application construct him at [email protected] .

108 BYTE MAY · 1 998 Wl>IWbytc•com

 The Path to Real-World

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 Udo Flohr

Advanced physics
meets computer design
The Smallest at the atomic level in
IBM's laboratories.
Components
• • •• al k in g the corridors of an the STM to imaging conductive materi­ the wrong picture. Binnig is talking about
R&D lab at the world 's als. Instead, th e AFM measures attracting components so tiny they are invisible to
largest computer company, and repelling forces between atoms. A the naked eye.
you naturally expect to see all cantilever suspending the tip acts like a He predicts that nanoprocessors wi ll
manner of things electronic. Yet l was spring. The forces of inte ractio n deflect be more tightly integrated and less ener­
struck on my visit to IBM's Zurich Lab, in the cantilever; gaugin g the amount of gy-hungry than today 's transistor-based
Ri.ischlikon, by the prominenc e of deflection yie lds an atom-level picture. chips. Several orders of magnitude less,
nanomechanical and optical techn olo­ Using th e STM to move si ngle atoms in fact, which is why "the VLSI age of
gies. As we near the limits of today's semi­ aro und, scientists have achieved a theo­
conductor fab technology, will the new retical density of a million gigab its per PROBABLE IMPACT
millennium be a post-electronic world? sq uar e inch , but these exper im e nts
Will BYTE in 2010 be filled with new tech­ require temperatures near absolute zero. Storage
nologies layered on top of electronics in In a m ore practical approach, IBM's
the same way that electronic marvels like Almaden (Ca lifornia) and Zurich re­ A Atomic force microscope (AFM) tech­

the integrated circuit now work side by search labs are experiment in g with nology could produce devices that write

side with antique electrical devices like probe-based storage using AFM technol­ a terabit of data on a 1.4-in ch -squa re

switches and coils? ogy. With a rota tin g, penny-size plastic area at a rate of 1 gigabit per second.

Probably, if Gerd Binnig is right. Get­ disk, Dan Rugar's group at Almaden con­ A Holographic storage could instanta­

ting beyond the biases of electronic engi­ structed a kind of high-tech phonograph neously retrieve from large data sets the

neering has been a career for Binnig. In with a 0.008-micron rip. At a reliable den­ answers to complex queries.

1978, when he and Heinrich Rohrer first sity of 64 gigabits per sq uare inch, th e
starred their quest to map and manipu­ electrically heated stylus writes dents into Chip Manufacturing
late matter at the atomic leve l, they had the disk; it later dips into those dents for
a "beginner's innocence," Binnig re ­ reading (see "Infinite Space," February A AFM could be used to overcome the

limits of photol ithography by using very

counts. They ignored the conventional BYTE, page 121).

tiny mechanical elements within multi­

wisdom that their goal could be achieved The Zurich team has taken that AFM
layer chips.

on ly with ephemeral ion or electron work a step further, trying to overcome

beams. They turned to mechanics. The single-rip data rates that are limited to A New printing techniques can't reduce

result was the scanning tunneling micro­ between 1 and 10 mega bits per second. the size of chips, but they can reduce the

sco pe (STM) in 1981 and a subsequent Their answer is Project Millipede. In Jan­ price of less size-sensitive components

Nobel Prize in 1986. uary, they reported the construction of a5 because they are only 1Opercent of the

The STM offered the first view ever of by 5 set of rips; by year's end, they hope cost of photolithography.

the world from an atomic perspective . to have a 1000-cantilever array working,

Scanning a sample's surface line by line, which would yield a terabiton a 1.4-inch­
it measures the tunne l current- a quan­ square area at a rate of 1 gigabit per sec­ micromechanics" could make rhree­
tum mechanical effect exhibited by the ond. For rewriting, they heat pans of the dimens iona l processor arch itectures a
e lectrons surrounding an atom-be­ polymer substrate to erase blocks of data. reality. Today's chips crowd all their ele­
tween a microscopic tip and the surface ments into a single plan e, Binnig says,
and translates it into an atom-by-atom 3-D Chips " because nobody has a clue how to cool
image. Binnig's vision extends further. H e wants a 3-D package."
The STM was refined into the atomic to put the new technology to work cre­ Zurich's Bruno Michel is working on
force microscope (AFM) in 1986. It also ating a generation of microprocessors less esoteric small-scale manufacturing
scans with a microtip, but without the that w ill be mechanical. If this evokes clat­ techniques that will also have an impact
current the STM requires, which limited tering wheels and sprockets, you 've got on chip design and other processes. In

MAY 1998 BYTE 111

 Future Vision The Smallest Components

Michel's case, he's looking at a centuries­ information; only the image's light inten­ Research labs should be near universities.
old technology to eliminate lithography sity suffers. Coufal, who is currently exper­ Evaluate the process, not the short-term
altogether: printing. Using an elastomer­ imenting with less expensive and more result. While some breakthroughs may
based "rubber stamp," the researchers reliable recording crystals, expects to have take decades of research, an experienced
transfer patterns of submicron resolution a prototype in about two years. manager will be able to judge the dynam-
to solid surfaces. Using "self-assembling"
molecules, they ac hieve "conformal con­
tact" on a molecular scale across several How an Atomic Drive Head Array Writes Data
square inches. The process, called micro­
contact printing, helps create medical tests
for very small sample quantities by " print­
ing" live protein molecules, but it could Tips
also be used to simplify chipmaking: Print­
ing circuits with a rubber stamp costs only
about a tenth of photolithography and is
more environmentall y compatible because
it requires fewer chemicals, Michel says.
But, he cautions, this technology will not
scale down to the highest levels of inte­
gration achievable with lithography.
If Binnig deals with an arcane world too
small to see, H ans Coufal's work is some­
thing you can hold in your hand. Looking
at the sugar cube-size crystal in my palm, it
was awe-inspiring that I was holding 10
gigabits, more than a gigabyte, of data. At
Almaden, Coufal is pushing the envelope
IBM's Project Millipede uses a 5x5
forward for holographic storage. Since array of 4-nanometer-long tips
BYTE first reported on it two years ago to simultaneously write data by
("Creating H o logra phic Storage," Apri l burning pits into a plastic substrate.
1996, page 48), Coufal's group has pushed
th e capacity of the cube up from 48
megabytes, nearly two orders of magnitude. Pair Visionaries
The cube is based on holography. Holo­
grams store a pattern of interference
with Implementors
formed by a split laser beam, recording it M any of th e projects at IBM's labs are 10
on film or a light-sensi tive crystal. (One years away from practical app lication. But
part of the beam reflec ts off the original that's their ultimate goal, and one that has
object; the o th er part is the reference become institutionalized in the Gerstner
beam.) Illuminating the pattern with the era . Motivating sc ienti sts and keeping
reference beam (or with ordinary light) their work on track is the job of Paul H orn,
recreares a 3-D image of the object when director of IBM Research. How does he
tilted for different viewing angles. manage all that creativity without reining ics of the project. In addition to Horn's
In Coufal'scrystal cubes, however, each it in? In a recent Financial Times article, gu idelines, IBM labs have implemented
viewing angl e holds a different page of he laid out his bag of tricks: another program to improve th e applica­
information. By changing the angle in tiny bility of research. Today, about a quarter
• Underdefine jobs, and people will rise to
incr eme nts , h e has been able to store the titl es and responsibilities bestowed of Res ea rch's emp lo yees work directly
10,000 pages of 1 megabit each (10 giga­ upon them. with customers . This is encouraged
bits) in a crystal th e size of a sugar cube. through the "First of a Kind" program,
A whole page is recorded and retrieved • Include customers and users in brain­ an effort to match research projects with
at once-yielding data rates up to 1 storming sessions. customers to create solutions that might
Gbps-which makes Coufal's approach • Do not overmap the journey. It is impos­ be applicable to others. One example is a
ideal for associative memory: Illuminat­ sible to anticipate all the risks.Just p rotect digital library project with the Vatican. The
ing the hol ogram with a search pattern the core idea from being dismantled. goal is to make tens of thousands of price­
immediatel y returns the target page's ref­ less manuscript pages available on-line. Iii
• Pair yo ur visionaries with implementors.
erence beam and angle. Thousands of
fingerprints or satellite images, for exam­ • Encourage the flow of ideas outside Udo Flohr is a BYTE co11tributing editor who
ple, can thus be searched in milliseconds. work. Quite a few scientists can point to writes about advanced technologies. He is based
Finally, if a hologram is damaged or even ideas that developed from conversations in Hannover, Germany. You can reach him by
breaks, each piece still contains all the with their children. One suggesti o n : sending e-mail to [email protected].

11 2 BYTE MAY 1998 www byte.cor

Cracker Tracker
Crackers are watching
you. Get even: Watch
them back.
Page 112C

JDBC's
Growing Pains
Full of promise, JDBC
is still too immature
for many.
Page 112M

The Road
to a Universal
Repository
They aren't for most of
us yet, but it's time to
check out repositories.
Page 1125
"'"'"'
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Enter HotBYTEs No. 119 at http ://www.byte.com/ hotbytes/
 You can't stop all security violations. Here's how to track
the ones that get through. By Michael Hurwicz

Cracker Tracking:

Tighter Security with Intrusion Detection

t's midnight. Do you know who's trying to hack your

network? Probably not. According to a 1996 study by

the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT),

an Internet security watchdog, network administrators fail to

detect about 80 percent of network hacking.
That may change, though, with the advent of real-time intru­
sion-detection products. These electronic burglar alarms com­
plement the locks (e.g., authentication, authorization, and
encryption) designed to keep intruders out of your network
and the inspections (security assessments and audits) that look
for unlocked doors and windows. When intrusion-detection
products detect something suspicious, they notify you, typi­
cally by pager, e-mail, or an SNMP trap. Intrusion-detection
products may also have automated responses that can cut short
a hacker's visit to your network within milliseconds.

Complementary Technologies
There are two kinds of intrusion-detection products: host­ .. Intrusion
based and network-based.
Host-based products have an agent running on each pro­ detection is for the
tected host. Examples include the Kane Security Monitor, from
Intrusion Detection; Omni Guard/Intruder Alert, from Axent customer who has
Technologies; and Stalker, WebStalker Pro, and ProxyStalker,
from Trusted Information Systems. The agent sends a regular taken the steps to
heartbeat, as well as alarms, to a management station. The
heartbeat ensures that the management station can detect a put together strong
denial of service aimed at overwhelming a host so that it's
unable to respond or do normal work.
firewalling and an
Network-based monitors sit on the network capturing pack­
ets and matching what they see with known attack patterns.

authentication
Examples include Internet Security Systems' RealSecure, process. It offers

Network Associates' CyberCop, and NetRanger (introduced

"'"'"' by Wheel Group but now a Cisco product). They, too, gener­ added security."

ate alarms when they see something suspicious and may also

send a heartbeat to a central console. -John Freres,

Each approach has its strengths and weaknesses. Advantages N2N Solutions
of network-based detection include:
Faster detection: A network-based monitor will typically
detect a problem in seconds or milliseconds. Most host-based
www.byte.c:um MAY 1998 BYTE 112 C
 Cracker Tracking: Tighter Security with Intrusion Detection

Host-Based 2. With most

3. You view

infonnation about

Intrusion Detection 1. Every system

products, the
agents report to an
your network from

that you want to a console.

agent manager that

For small networks, a host­ protect runs an stores infonnation
agent. and can notify you
based intrusion-detection
of problems.
system is probably the
most cost-effective.
Pros: Cost-effective for small
numbers of hosts, unlikely to miss
activity due to high traffic loads,
probably won't require dedicated
hardware.
Cons: Requires agent for each
host, vulnerable to attack, costs
rise with number of hosts,
requires resources on host.
Some Vendors:
Intrusion Detection
Axent Technologies
Trusted lnfonnation Systems

Network·Pased
Intrusion Detection
If you have to choose one
kind of intrusion-detection
system, a network-based one
is probably better.
Pros: Protects every device on
network, detects problems quickly, not
very vulnerable to attack, one flat cost.
Cons: Expensive, can't watch
Individual files on a specific host,
requires dedicated hardware, may
miss traffic due to network load. l. A network-based intrnsion•detectfon 2. w&e11 t~e network-based
system {possibly .consisting·of multiple intcuslon,deteetion system sees
Some Vendors: nodes) collects nelwo.tk traffic al)d analyzes som11tllibg sJ(spiciious, It reports
Internet Security Systems packets looklng for suspicipµs activities,
tlie activ.ity to a cenil'i!I consQle.
Network Associates

Cisco Systems

approaches depend on auditing logs ev­ need a monitor per host, too, because tomization is easy with a separate agent
ery few minutes. every host is on its own segment. for each host.
Less visible: A monitor is less visible Fewer resources: It doesn't take up any Fewer hosts: The host-based approach
and accessible than a host, and thus less resources on the protected device. may not require a dedicated hardware
vulnerable to attack. Unlike a host, a net­ The host-based approach also has its platform.
work-based monitor doesn't have to advantages: Less traffic-sensitive: An agent is un­
respond to pings, allow access to its local More cost-effective: It may be more likely to miss any activity due to traffic
storage, let users run programs on it, or cost-effective for small numbers ofhosts. loads.
allow access to multiple users. More granular: It can easily monitor These two approaches complement
Bigger perimeter: The network-based activities, such as access to sensitive one another. One possible strategy is to
approach may be able to stop an attack at files, directories, programs, or ports, that implement network-based monitoring
the perimeter of the network, before the are difficult to deduce from protocol­ and add agents on particularly sensitive
perpetrator ever accesses a host. based clues. hosts.
Fewer monitors: You need fewer mon­ Tighter perimeter: Once a perpetrator Real-time intrusion detection also dif­
itors because one monitor can protect a has obtained a password and user name fers from programs such as Trip Wire, a
shared network segment. In contrast, you for a host, the host-based agent has the freeware utility that creates checksums
need an agent per host, which can be best chance of distinguishing harmful for critical files. Normally run once a day,
costly and hard to manage. On the other from normal activities. Trip Wire notifies you if.a fiJe changes,
hand, in switched environments, you may More customizable: Per-host cus­ possibly indicating corruption or virus

11 2 D BYTE MAY 1998

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 Cracker Tracking : Tighter Security with Intrusion Detection

infection. While very useful, this is not perpetrator may access a port in charac­
real-time intrusion detection. ter mode and then send one character per
packet. If a monitor thinks only in terms
Cisco's NetRanger of single packets, it will never see the
NetRanger, introduced in March 1996 by whole message.
WheelGroup, is based on years of field NetRanger is one of the most sophis­
experience . The product has two com­ ticated network-based intrusion-detec­
CHARGEN_DENIAL tigh
ponents: the sensor ($9000), which mon­ tion products on the market today, "' ONS_HOS TNAME_ High
itors packets and generates alarms, and according to Jude O 'Reilley, a research ONS_LENOTH_OVE High
ECHO.DENIAL_OF_ ligh
the director ($10,000), which receives and analyst with the GartnerGroup (Stam­ EMAIL_DEBUG ligh
~ EMAIL.DECODE High
correlates alarms and initiates responses. ford, CT).
You'll also need at least a Pentium PC However, NetRanger's very strengths
for the sensor and a Sun SparcStation run­ can turn out to be weaknesses for some
ning OpenView or NetView for the direc­ users. It is designed for use in a network
tor. Both run Sun's Solaris. Your hard­ operations center (NOC) and for inte­ RealSecure is inexpensive,
ware and software costs will be $13,000 gration under Open View or NetView. Its simple, and runs under Linux.
for a sensor and $25,000 for a director. configuration requ ires detailed Unix
NetRanger has a reputation for high knowledge. NetRanger is also relatively some enterprise features of NetRanger,
performa nce. It is also highly scalable. expensive . These won't suit the typical such as path doubling.
Directors can coordinate information LAN administrator very well. Network Associates plans a number of
from multiple sites and watch for attacks acquisitions and partnerships in the secu­
th at span a n enterprise. NetRanger's
Network Associates' rity arena, says Katherine Stolz, product
biggest claim to fame is its enterprise CyberCop manager for CyberCop . "We will be set­
focus. One indication of this focus is the Network Associates is the resu lt of a 1997 ting the tone for large-scale security. We
distribution channel, which includes merger between N etwork General, of are going to be a holistic provider."
companies such as EDS, Perot Systems, Sniffer fa me, and McAfee Associates,
and IBM Global Services-al l serving known for its antivirus expertise. Cyber­
Internet Security
large clients with large global networks. Cop uses NetRanger's engine and data­ Systems' RealSecure
NetRanger works well across global base ofattack signatures, which Network RealSecure's strong points include sim­
WANs. For instance, it has a path-dou­ Associates licensed from Cisco. Network plicity and low cost, says the Gartner­
bling feature. If one link goes down, Associates created its own browser-based Group's O'Reilley. Like NetRanger and
graphical front end. CyberCop, RealSecure has a two-com­
All Cy berCop is basic ally NetRa nger ponent architecture. Engines monitor
haw: packaged for the LAN administrator­ packets and generate alarms. Consoles
Record ID Count Sensor Network Associates' main customer base. receive alarms and provide a central point
107 C26· 101 The software is more expensive than Net­ for configuration and database report­
105 c2s· 101
Ranger: $9000 for a sensor and $15,000 ing. Both run under NT, Solaris, SunOS,
103 C2S· 101
101 C2S·101 for a server. However, the platform is a and Linux. You can mix and match OSes.
99 c2a·101 Dell PC running Solaris 2.5 .1. (CyberCop They can run on commodity PCs.
97 C28· 101
is typically sold preinstalled.) The cost for For small installations, it is possible to
95 c2s· 101
93 cls-101 the platform is about $3000 for a sensor run the console software on the same
and $5000 for a server. machine as the engine. That's not possi­
99 c2&· 101
In addition, CyberCop is designed as ble with NetRanger and CyberCop. The
91 Connection request- courter cls-101
95 Gonnectionrequest- shell c2s·101 a network appliance. Network Associates RealSecure engine costs about $10,000;
93 Connectfop ~quest· rogln c2s·1 01 says it should typically take 20 minutes to console software is free. One engine can
91 Connection reQuest- exec C2S·1 01
install. The company has created six stan­ report to multiple consoles. One console
79 Connection request- Ire c2s-101
77 Connection re uea. sun" c c2s·101 dard configurations for the typical situ­ can manage multiple engines.
ations it expects to see: mixed Windows RealSecure can reconfigure the Fire­
CyberCop is based on NetRanger
NT and Unix subnet, Unix subnet, NT Wall -1 from Check Point Software. ISS
but has a browser-based interface.
subnet, remote access, perimeter (e.g., an has plans for reconfiguring Cisco routers,
Internet connection), and backbone. It according to Mark Wood, manager of
information can flow along an alternate lacks a NetWare configuration. intrusion-detection technology. ISS is also
path. It is feasib le to watch a global net­ The browser front end is designed for working on an Open View application for
work from a single point or to outsource ease of use and draws on Network Gen­ RealSecure, according to Wood.
monitoring to a third party. eral's experience in condensing packet
Another NetRanger strength is con­ data and making it easy for users to view
Intrusion Detection's Kane
sidering context (i.e., clues gained from and understand. Expert knowledge is Security Monitor for NT
multiple packets) as well as single-packet built into help files, as it is with the Snif­ Kane Security Monitor (KSM) for NT, a
contents when looking for possible prob­ fer. CyberCop can also create trace files host-based monitor, was introduced in
lems. This can be important, because a readable by a Sniffer. CyberCop lacks September 1997. It has three architectural

112F BYTE MAY 1998 M

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 components: an auditor, a console, and
agents. The agents browse NT logs and
forward statistics to the auditor. The secu­
rity administrator uses the console GUI
to receive alerts and look at historical
reports and real-time activity. KSM costs
$1495 per protected server (auditor and
console includ ed) . Add workstation
agen ts to this for $295 each.
KSM is particularly strong in TCP/IP
monitoring, according to David Brussin,
To chang e your subscription mailing address, please complete the form a senior consultant with Miora Systems
below and send it to: Consulting, security specialist in Playa
Del Rey, California. But he also adds that
BYTE Magazine Intrusion Detection's products are not
Subscriber Services
designed for speedy WAN performance.
PO Box 555
Intrusi o n Detection will release an
Hightstown NJ
OpenView application for KSM in this
08520
quarter, according to Robert Kane,
founder and CEO. Integration with the
Fax: 609-426-7087
Tivoli M anageme nt Environment (TME)
Phone (9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Eastern Time will follow toward the end of the year.
Monday through Friday): In the future, Intrusion Detection plans
to support Unix, Microsoft BackOffice,
800-232-2983 (U .S.), o r and Novell NetWare.
609-426-7676
Axent Technologies'
Current/Old Address: OmniGuard/lntruder Alert
The three architectural components of
OmniGuard/lntruder Alert (!TA) are a
Account Number
manager ($1995), console (free), and
agen ts ($995 pe r server, $95 per work­
Name station). They correspond to KSM's audi­
tor, console, and age nts.
ITA offers much broader platform cov­
erage tlrnn Intrusion Detection's KSM. lt
Add ress runs on Windows NT, 95, and 3.1; Net­
Wa re 3.x a nd 4.x (manager and agent
City/ State/Zip on ly); and various versions of Unix, in­
cluding Solaris, Sun OS, IBM AIX, HP-UX,
New Address: and Digital Equipment Un ix.
You can customize !TA using solution
packs for major OSes, firewall vendors,
Name Web-server vendors, database applica­
tions, and router manufacturers. Axent
Company acquired firewall vendor Raptor in Feb­
ruary and will enhance !TA to reconfig­
Ad dress
ure Raptor firewalls.

Trusted Information
City/State/Zip
Systems' Stalkers
Stalker, introduced in 1993 by Haystack
Please allow up to 8 weeks for thi s change to become effective. Labs, is a host-based monitor for NT and
various versions of Unix, including
Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, and The Santa Cruz

l:f•i#I A Division ofTheMcGraw-Hill Companies

~
Operation's Unix Ware. Pricing for ver­
sion 2.1 was $9995 for the manager and
$695 for each agent. At press time, pric­
ing had not been announced for version
3.0, which should be out now.
continued
112H BYTE MAY 1998
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 Intrusion Detection's Kane Security Monitor is a host-based
monitor that scrutinizes logs for abuse patterns.

WebStalker Pro, which was introduced able to terminate attac ks as well as detect
by H ays tack Labs in Jun e 1996, runs them. For instance, WebStalker Pro can
under the same OSes as Stalker. It specif­ terminate a log-in or a process, or restart
ica lly addresses Web servers . It costs the Web server. The Stalke r fa mily also
$4995 for Unix and $2995 for NT. Aver­ integrates with TME.
sion ofWebStalker ships with Sun's N etra
Web serv er. IBM Glo bal Services also An Alarming Conclusion
resells WebStalke r. Intrusion detection is only one part of a
Trusted Info rmatio n Systems, ma ker complete security program. It's no use
-·-~=====~========~-
.. - .... - . .......... . - . . . .

of the NT-based Gauntlet firewall, bought installing burglar alarms, fo r instance, if

-
----------------
. . -
.

. - . -­ .
Haystack in October 1997. In December yo u do n' t lock th e doors with proper
1997, it announced ProxyStalker, a mon­ a uth en ti ca ti on, aut horizatio n , a nd
~ ---------------- -·
ito r that runs only un der NT and is de­ encryption.
ORGANIZING YOUR CABLING IS EASY WHEN YOU
HAVE THE RIGHT PATCH PANELS Meets EIA/TIA signed for Microsoft Proxy Server 2.0. At " Intru sio n detecti on is fo r the cus­
Category
SSSA UTP5
standards. PCB
RJ-45 jack wilh
iji iiiiiiiiii
press time, ProxyStalker was expected
out in the firs t quarter. Pricing had not
tomer who has already taken the steps
to put toge ther good strong firewalling
been announced, but it was expected to and an authentication process. Intrusion
captive pin . 11 O
type. AT&T 110 M!ll!l!l!llllll!!~~~f!I be co mmensurate with Proxy Server, detection offers an added layer of secu­
D-4 or equiva­ which costs less than $1000.
lent connector.
rity," says John Freres, president ofN2N
1.6 mm steel, All three Stalker pro ducts can reco n­ Solutions, a security integrator in M ount
black polyurethane figure Gauntlet firewa lls, and all three are
semigloss, baked
Prospect, Illinois.
finish. Up to 350
MHz.
In addition, many if not most security
WHERE TO FIND breaches are based on social engineer­
ing- which, in plai n langu age, often
AxentTechnologies Intrusion Detection
Rockville, MD New York, NY
means tricking users into revealing pass­
800-298-2620 212-348-8900 wo rds. Therefore, education is funda­
301-258-5043 http://www.intrusion me ntal to makin g security technology
http://www.axent .com
.com work. Users mu st und ers tand wh a t
Network Associates they're supposed to do and what they' re
Cisco Systems Santa Clara, CA
San Jose, CA 800-764-3337 not supposed to do-like ever give their
800-553-6387 650-473-2000 passwo rds out over the phone.
408-526-4000 http://www.nai.com In the context of a well-planned secu­
http://www.cisco.com http://www.ngc.com
rity program, intrusion-detection prod­
Internet Security Trusted
ucts can help a security manager sleep at
Systems Information

Atlanta, GA Systems
night. Iii
800-776-2362 Glenwood, MD

770-395-0150 888-847-3477

http://www.iss.net 301-527-9500

Michael Hurwicz is a freelance writer and con­

http://www.tis.com
sultant based in Brooklyn, New York. You can
reach him at mhurwicz @attmail.com .

Enter H otBYTEs No. 123

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 Java Database Connectivity is a step in the right direction

but still too immature for some Java developers. By Alan ]och

JDBC's

Growing Pains

un's JavaSoft division released the Java Database

Connectivity (JDBC) specification, early in 1996, to
define a collection of APis for connecting Java appli­
cations to relational database management systems. Like its
cousin ODBC ("0" is for "Open"), JDBC uses one common
interface backed by DBMS-specific drivers and a driver man­
ager that acts as traffic cop between applications and DBMSes.
To some degree, J avaSoft achieved its goal of providing an
open-systems way for clients to access databases. But some devel­
opers have grown frustrated with JDBC's slow evolution.
One developer with a love/hate attitude toward JDBC is Ward
Mullins, president and chief technology officer of Thought,
Inc. (San Francisco), a Java consultancy and middleware devel­
oper. One minute, he credits JDBC for being "functional and
useful" at its core. The next, he calls the specification "a beta
spec" because of its authors' lack of attention to details.
"Working consistently across JDBC drivers is like herding cats:
You can make them all move, but you can't make them go where
you want them to go," he complains.
Until a new version ofJDBC comes out-maybe this spring­
..Worki ng
resellers and integrators who want to merge Java applications consistently across
with RDBMSes must rely on somewhat immature JDBC drivers
and their own finesse in making applications work. Success JDBC drivers is li ke
often comes down to choosing the right driver type from the
four defined by JavaSoft (see "JDBC Driver Quartet," page herding cats: You
112N) and picking the right JDBC tools from DBMS vendors,
third-party driver sources, and middleware developers. can make them all
Database Direct move, but you ca n't
Major RDBMS vendors, including IBM and Oracle, ship cus­

.,
tomJDBC drivers with their database products. These drivers make them go

supply the cross-platform connectivity inherent in the gener­

where you want."

O>
O>

ic spec along with the capability to use special characteristics

within their individual RD BMSes. For example, a custom driv­

w er for Oracle 8 might extend JDBC to support Oracle sequences. -Ward Mullins,
z
ffi
I
Oracle supplies driver Types 2 and 4. Moe Fardoost, senior Thought Inc.
5 product manager for Oracle's Data Server Marketing Division,
i
0..
<
a:
characterizes this support as the initial step in bringing Java
8 connectivity into the Oracle realm. Type 2 is for heavyweight,
0
5: three-tier architectures. "Type 2 drivers map JDBC to native

w"' ~. t . MAY 1 9 98 BYTE 112M

 JDBC's Growing Pains

APIs in C/C + +," Fardoost explains. "This

gives you access to more functionality
that's Oracle-specific." Type 4 drivers
provide downloadable applets and
bypass any translation layers by going
directly from Java calls to the RDBMS
using Java sockets.
The Internet and New Media Division
of systems integrator EDS (Plano, TX)
uses Oracle as its primary RDBMS for its
Web-hosting services. Prior to JDBC, the
division used CGI as a kind of broker for
communications between clients and C
programs or Perl scripts on the database
server, explains Darryl Thomas, consul­
tant and systems engineer. "JDBC is
smoother at the process level," he says.
"With JDBC, because you talk to other
entries directly, you don't have to worry
about script violations."
The division currently uses only Ora­
cle's Type 4 JDBC drivers. "We stay away
from the Type 2 driver because Oracle's
implementation is only for Solaris, NT,
and 95," Thomas explains. "That may be
enough for some companies that are per­
haps running an intranet with only Solaris
or Windows clients. But our customers
have many.more different types of clients
that we need to support."
For its part, IBM provides two categories
of JDBC drivers, based on driver Types 2 JavaSoft's four kinds of JDBC drivers differ mainly
and 4, for DB2. The Type 2 relative, dubbed between the JDBC driver and the database.
application drivers, translates JDBC calls
from clients into call-level interface (CLI) ing to Judy Escott, IBM's manager of DB2 for DB2 CLI, the ODBC-like interface that
calls, which then travel to the DB2 server user-centered design and development. takes advantage of DB2 capabilities such
via Client Application Enablement (CAE). Application drivers differ from straight as object-relational support.
CAE lets clients talk to DB2 servers, accord­ Type 2 drivers primarily in their support The second category, applet drivers,
contains a "client" and a "server" com­

JDBC Driver Quartet

ponent. The applet client component
runs on Java-enabled Web browsers,
while the applet server resides on the Web

H era's how JavaSoft defines the four

types of JDBC drivers.
that are unique to a specific RDBMS.
Type 3: Net protocol, all-Java driver

server alongside CAE.

Deciding to use applets or applications
Type 1: J DBC/ODBC bridge Purpose:Translates JDBC calls into a DBMS­
depends on a number of issues. Applets
Purpose: Provides J DBC access via most independent network protocol that is then
require only a Web browser (not CAE) on
ODBC drivers. Note that some ODBC bina­ translated into a DBMS protocol by a server.
the client. This makes for a smaller client
ry code, and in many cases database client The specific protocol that's used depends on
footprint and simplifies installation and
code, must be loaded on each client machine the vendor.
maintenance, especially for companies
that uses this driver. Best for: Connecting all-Java clients to many

with a large number of clients. Because

Best for: Corporate networks or application different databases.

server code, written in Java, in a three-tier applets are Web-enabled, they' re the best
Type 4: Native protocol, all-Java driver
choice for Internet-based DB2 access,
architecture.
Purpose: Converts J DBC calls into the net­
according to IBM's Escott. Applications
Type 2: Native API, partly Java driver work protocol used directly by DBMSes.

fit the more traditional two-tier model:

Purpose: Converts JDBC calls into calls on Note that since many of these protocols are

the client API for Oracle, Sybase, Inform ix, proprietary, DBMS vendors will be the pri­
clients on a LAN accessing servers such as
DB2, or other DBMS. Note that, like the mary source for this style of driver.
DB2. Performance is better because there
bridge driver, this style of driver requires some Best for: Direct calls from the client machine
is one less communication layer to deal
binary code on each client machine. to the DBMS server; especially practical for
with, she says . The DB2 CAE must be
Best for:Taking advantage of characteristics intranet access.
installed on each client.
JDBC drivers are "a natural way for Java

112 N BYTE MAY 1998 www b te.com

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 JD BC's Growing Pains

What Do Java Developers Want?

4. Standardize Metadata Management. To create aJDBC com·

J ava developers aren't shy about pointing out J DBC's short·
comings. Here are some wishes on the top of their fix-It list. mand as one line of code that works under a variety of JDBC drivers
requires custom coding for developers to achieve consistent results.
1. Write Better Documentation. Consultant Jennifer McLean of Mullins offers a hypothetical example: To find all the columns for
Clarkston-Potomac gives high marks to the JavaSoft support staff a given table, a call passes through the fields "catalog" (the data­
for helping solve technical problems. But, she says, JDBC is plagued base catalog name), "schemaPattern" (the user ID in Oracle and oth­
by Spartan tech manuals that could otherwise help developers avoid er DBMSes), "tablePattern" (a table or wildcard pattern used for
time-consuming tech-support calls. tables), and "columnNamePattern" (the column name orwildcard).
"The values I enter for these for fields will vary wildly among JDBC
2. Specify Techniques for Mapping Data Types into Java. drivers," Mullins says. "Some want !lie catalog parameter to be an
According to Ward Mullins of Thought, Inc., the JDBC spec fails in empty string. Others want it to be a 'null' value. Others want it to be
not specifying how common databases and database types map to a wildcard (usually a %character as a Java string) . Likewise the
specific Java types. "Instead of saying 'For Oracle, a DA TE type schema, table, and column patterns can vary in the same way~
should map to a Java Timestamp object; the JDBC spec leaves it up Mullins says there are also problems with the return values of
to JDBC driver vendors to decide if they even support specific types get Co 1umns in many drivers. "SomethrowinJavaexceptionswhen
and how those types map into Java~ Mullins says. The result: An appli­ you try to extract the results, which must be caught correctly or your
cation written for one driver vendor may get a different result-field whole program blows up," he says. "Others return faulty data, such
object if you run it against the same tables using drivers from anoth­ as invalid column data-type information, while others simply don't
er vendor. "Because the spec is loose, so are the implementations," return certain information that should be readily available~
Mullins complains.
5. Handle Transactions Consistently. Some JDBC drivers allow
3. Control the Use of "Undefined" Fields. JDBC driver vendors only one result set, rather than multiple results, open at once. With
may choose not to support a given database type and describe it as other drivers, there's a lack of reverse scrollability (i.e., an applica­
an "undefined" field when one or more of the JDBC types could read­ tion can move either forward or backward from the current row) .
ily be used to map the value into JDBC. "This is often done because Finally, some drivers display exceptions if you read the same col­
it makes passing the JDBC driver compatibility tests easier;' Mullins umn twice, and most don't fully support the JDBC matrix of casting.
says. "Those tests allow database types to be listed as 'undefined', "The casting chart means, for example, I should be able to read an
and doing so will skip any logic that might test their compatibility." integer value from the database into a Java LONG," Mullins says.

programmers to get data through stored .com/products/jdbc!jdbc.drivers.html for are no C libraries to download, making
procedure calls that you can send over the a list of driver vendors). In the short term, this type best for browser-based access
network," says JeffJones, IBM's program driver vendors like WebLogic work to to RDBMSes. When evaluating com­
manager for data management market­ distinguish themselves by writing drivers mercial Type 3 drivers, you should judge
ing. Nevertheless, it's not the only way, in that can pass more of the modules inJava­ according to how they extend the gener­
Soft's JDBC compatibility tests and by ic spec. For example, some drivers sup­
WHERE TO FIND adding features beyond what the gener­ port IIOP, query caching, and pooling of
IBM Oracle ic spec requires. For example, WebLog­ database connections.
White Plains, NY Redwood Shores, CA ic says jdbcKona supports extended SQL Type 4 drivers provide essentially the
770-863-1234 650-506-7000
fax:770-863-3030 http:l/www.oracle.com
and multibyte characters. same capabilities as Type 2 interfaces but
http:l/www.ibm.com But a competitive advantage gained have the advantage of being all-Java.
Thought, Inc.
Sun Microsystems San Francisco, CA with extensions won't last forever, as
Palo Alto, CA 415-836-9199 RDBMS vendors continue to roll out new­ A Step Forward
888-843-5282 http:l/www er versions of their JDBC drivers. "Over Many programmers emphasize that
(North America) .thoughtinc.com
512-434-1591 time, most people will probably buy their despite its flaws, JDBC is a positive step
(Elsewhere) WebLogic Type 2 drivers from the database ven­ forward, especially with the help of
http://java.sun.com/ San Francisco, CA
415-659-2600 dors," concedes Scott Dietzen, WebLog­ RDBMS and third-party products that
products/jdbc
http:l/www.weblogic ic's vice president of marketing. flesh out the spec. Few are unhappy about
.com The future for driver vendors lies in leaving behind the time-consuming alter­
Types 3 and 4, which offer benefits for natives, like writing CGI scripts, to marry
IBM's view. Net.Data, which comes bun­ application developers who want to cre­ Java applications and RDBMSes. As Jen­
dled with DB2, resides on a Web server and ate better-performing and more sophis­ nifer McLean, a consultant with systems
maps requests from Java apps to the data­ ticated Java/RDBMS applications. Type integrator Clarkston-Potomac (Durham,
base, using native RDBMS language. 3 drivers, which reside on an application NC), puts it: "The advantage of using
server and communicate with all-Java JDBC is that it's all one Java program,
Third-Party Solutions clients, give Java applications the abili­ it's all object-oriented." Ill
Third-party driver vendors build any of ty to read and write to an RDBMS any­
the four driver types and add nuances not where on the network. Because Type 3 Alan ]och is a BYTE consulting editor. His
spelled out in the spec (see http://java.sun drivers work with all-Java clients, there e-mail address is [email protected].

112P BYTE MAY 1998

For IntraServer Technology, Inc., a two-year-old venture
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worldwide. With business slated to quintuple in 1998, Senior
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founders, needed to find the most effective way to target
resellers in multi-platform environments - and he did. Now,
every month lntraServer Technology runs a full-page
advertisement in BYTE's Reseller Edition.

Rene Martinez
Senior Vice President & Co-founder
lntraServer Technology, Inc.

"OEMs, VARs, and Systems Integrators - those in the business of building

end-user systems - account for approximately 90 percent of our business.
Clearly, these resellers are always looking for cost-effective, best-in-class
solutions to improve system performance, provide faster I/0 throughput, and
enhance storage connectivity in Intel, UltraSPARC, and Alpha-based PCI
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high-performance adapters <rre a perfect fit for workstations and servers in these
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where our message gets read by our customers and prospects.
"Month after month, the BYTE Reseller Edition is an excellent lead
generator - in both quantity and quality. We not only get a minimum of 5 to
10 times more calls and leads than we did with other vehicles we've tried; we
also hear from qualified prospects who are looking to buy. A recent
advertisement in BYTE's Reseller Edition, for example, generated a serious
inquiry from one of the world's largest computer manufacturers. Since our
lead-to-sales conversion rate often runs as high as 50 percent, I can only say
that our advertising response continues to far exceed all expectations.
"The BYTE Reseller Edition is a highly targeted vehicle for helping
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I:jl I~ The future of Information Technology Today

 More than databases, repositories should hold the corporate

IS jewels. Why don't they? By Karen Watterson

The Road toa

Universal Repository

he problem with repositories, notes M ichael Barnes,

an analyst with the Hurwitz Group consultancy, is
that no one wants to deal with them directly. We might
add that no one wants to pay for them, either. Their appeal is
simply as an enabling technology, something that's supposed to
make programmers' and information technology (IT) enter­
prise architects's lives easier.
At their simplest level, repositories are basically databases.
More accurately, they're database applications for system infor­
mation. System information? In the context of repositories,
system information refers to information about an organiza­
tion's IT assets-everything from C+ + header files, compo­
nent definitions, and COBOL copy books to information about
on-line corporate knowledge-base assets. Repositories typi­
cally also contain database design information, business rules,
and corporate naming standards, for example. In a sense, a
repository's role is similar to that of a library's card catalog­
an exhaustive and cross-indexed list of resources.
Chances are that most programmers will recognize the
notion of a repository as the library or component manager
associated with many of today's developer tools. Imagine that
kind of library for an entire organization's resources. That's
the vision of the repository, so it shouldn't be surprising that
repositories have been called data dictionaries-even ency­
clopedias-and that their contents are often referred to col­
lectively as metadata, or data about data.
Data repositories aren't new. For example, they have often
been associated with CASE and data-modeling tools. CASE
repositories have focused on storing design information, often
about database schemata. Some repositories, usually from tool
vendors, have been designed to store information related to
Q
the software-development process: source code, version his­
"' tory, project management information, and so on. But the need
~
z
ci:
w
to share information across enterprises and government enti­
>­
0
ID ties has led to a variety of domain-specific proposals for meta­
z
~ data repositories, including Federal Geographic Data Com­
mittee (FGDC) for geographic information systems, the Warwick
Framework and Dublin Core for digital libraries, and industry
standards such as Common Data Interchange Format (CDIF),
MAY1998 BYTE 1125
 The Road to a Universal Repository

a standard devised by CASE-tool vendors

for modeling tools.
Repositories, then, are tools to help
Unisys's Universal Repository
manage computer systems and networks.
Metadata is extensively used in systems Tools and Applications
and applications to gain efficiency when
• Data-warehouse tools • Modeling tools
accessing, transferring, sharing, or pro­
• Testing tools • Reporting tools
cessing large amounts of data.
• Development tools
An ideal repository will be distributed,
open, and extensible. It will a lso be
large ly self-managing and will interop­
erate with metadata sets coming from dif­
ferent sources and represented using di f­
fere n t standards. It will le t it se lf be
interrogated through open, standard, and Repository Information Model
well-defined interfaces.
Repositories are back in the public eye.
Repository Services Technology Models
This has happened largely because of •Name • CASE Data Interchange Fonnat ICDIFI
their role in the exploding field of data •Version • Software One Core Model ISOCMI
warehousing and on-line anal ytical pro­
cessing (OLAP) applications. Repository
technology makes sense in data ware­
....
• Metadata •...

housing, because you need to store infor­

mation abo ut a data warehous e's (or
OLAP server's) source data and about the
extraction, clea nsing, and aggregation
rules that are associated with building and
maintaining it.
Historically, data-warehousing-tool
vendors have created proprietary data­
base app licati ons to store and manage
that data. Interestingly, some of these ven­
dors make it easy to let traditional infor­ The Universal Repository's architecture is
mation-worker end users "browse" the in some ways typical of repositories.
repository data; oth ers see IT staffers as
their ultimate end users. Microsoft's Some of you will remember IBM's
The Metadata Council was form ed in AD/Cycle, a grandiose, but unsuccessful,
July 1995 in an effort to help bridge the
Bottom-Up Strategy attempt to centralize the management of
Data warehousing isn't the o nl y reason mainframe application development.
for the renewed interest in repositories. IBM's repository initiatives date back to
OMO Repository Efforts Another reason is Microsoft and its forth­ th e late 1980s, and its first host-b ased
coming Microsoft Repository 2.0. Unless repository sh ipped in 1990 as part of
Meta Object Facility you're a die-hard Visual Basic program­ AD/Cycle. Since then, IBM has switched
Focuses on metadata and model manage­ mer, you probably don't even know that to the client/server model, and its repos­
ment in distributed object environments. Microsoft shipped the first version of the ito ry technology has evolved through
Microsoft Repository in March 1997 as a Configuration Management Version
Object Analysis and Design Facility
Focuses on object analysis and design
Visual Basic add-in. Control (CMVC), from 1991, to the cur­
methods, metamodel, and tool interoper­ Although thousands of programmers rent VisualAge Team Connection, which
ability. have reportedly downloaded it from the has been available since 1995.
Source: The Object Management Group Microsoft site, it hasn't set the world on The simple fact that IBM's top-down
fire. In fact, more than one programmer initiative was so far ahead of its time was
has complained that, not only did they undoubtedly the main reason AD/Cycle
gap among proprietary stores of meta­ have trouble installing the Microsoft failed. However, it, too, was widely
data, and the Metadata Interchange Spec­ Repository, they couldn't figure out what viewed by programmers as unnecessary
ification (MDIS) is the result. Now in ver­ they were supposed to do with it. overhead with no payoff. To be fair,
sion 1.1, MDIS promises to be a valuable That' s been the problem with most Microsoft admitted that Microsoft
basis for interoperability. (See "The Quest repositories. They tend to be a hassle to Repository 1.0 was mainly for indepen­
to Standardize Metadata" by Stephen R. set up and maintain, and, from a pro­ dent software vendors (ISVs), an d not
Gardner in the November 1997 BYrE for grammer's perspective, there's no per­ programmers.
more on MDIS.) ceived added value. The Microsoft Repository dates back

1 1 2T BYTE MAY 1998

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Enter HotBYTEs No. 117 at http ://www.byte.com/hotbytes/

 The Road to a Universal Repository

to May1994, when Microsoft and Texas

Instruments announced collaboration on
the design of an object-oriented reposi­
tory that would store OLE components.
(TI, with its Information Engineering
Facility [IEF]/Composer product, was
then a major CASE-tool vendor. Tl's soft­
ware division has subsequently been sold
to Sterling Software, and Composer is
now part of Sterling's Cool family of
products.) TI may be out of the picture class
now, but the Microsoft Repository 10 11
Contains
remains an ActiveX/COM-based (Com­
ponent Object Model) vision. 10 Contains 12
Last summer, Microsoft and Plat­
inum Technology announced an alliance
whereby Platinum received the rights to
port the Microsoft Repository to non­ Internal obj ID Class
Windows platforms and to databases
10 Project
other than SQL Server for Windows NT­
efforts that are both expected to bear fruit 11 ProjectHem
later this year. Platinum itself is a major 12 ProjectHem
high-end repository player (its prices start
at $150,000}, selling both Platinum
Repository/MYS and Platinum Reposi­
tory/OEE.
At the same time, Microsoft an­
nounced its Open Information Model
(OIM), an extensible COM-based object 11 60K
model that defines the structure of objects
12 20J
shared by tools. Conceptually, it's prob­
ably useful to think of the Microsoft
Repository in two parts.
The first part is the repository engine,
a type-driven interpreter that is actually This example of the Microsoft Repository's database
built on top of a SQL database (initially
design shows how it can hold COM objects.

Further Reading either Microsoft Access or SQL Server). which means that the behavior of UML
The second part is the OIM part, a meta­ is present inside the OIM. At each level of
Object-Oriented Strategies meta model that can support a variety of the OIM, you inherit behaviors of the pre­
information-model extensions such as vious level. For example, the SQL Server
http://www.cutter.com/ itgroup
database and OLAP. model inherits behavior from the DBM,
Ovum : http://www.ovum.com Paul Harmon, editor of the monthly which inherits behavior from the OIM.
Hurwitz Group newsletter Object-Oriented Strategies ISVs and developers can build their own
http://www.hurwitz.com and author of several books on the Uni­ custom models based on information that
DAMA International fied Modeling Language (UML}, describes can be inherited from other portions of
http://www.dama.org a four-layer metamodeling architecture in the OIM. Other organizations and stan­
The Data Administration Newsletter the January issue of his newsletter. Meta­ dards groups, such as those associated
http://www.tdan.com meta models such as the Object Man­ with creating a document-exchange stan­
Proceedings from the Second IEEE agement Group's (OMG's) Meta Object dard, could also extend the model to sup­
Metadata Conference Facility (MOF} or Microsoft's OIM, he port their own repository efforts.
http://www.llnl.gov/liv_comp/ metadata/ says, define the fundamental infrastruc­ The Microsoft Repository's first infor­
md97.html ture for a metamodeling architecture, mation model basically offered support
Implementing a Corporate while metamodels such as UML and for UML, an analysis-and-design model­
Repository Microsoft's da tabase model (DBM) are ing language that has gained widespread
Adrienne Tannebaum simply instances of a meta-meta model. industry support. That meant, for exam­
ISBN 0471 -585378 Models and User Objects round out the ple, that you could create a Visual Basic
John Wiley & Sons, 1994
four layers. program, use another optional down­
Microsoft's OIM is derived from UML, load-Visual Modeler, which is a subset

11 2V BYTE MAY 1998 www.byte.com

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Enter HotBYTEs No. 139 at http ://www.byte.com/hotbytes/

1 r:ido.1 11 ~1b :ii;, 0 1•!nrJ11n l b)· 1ht1 r n"l'-'-11'" ("' 1 ~-n
caaa · TM
 The Road to a Universal Repository

of Rational Software's Rose product-to

reverse-engineer your Visual Basic pro­ Selected Specifications

gram, and then export the design into the

repository. At that point, the UML version
Metadata Council and Warwick Framework Stanford Digital
of your Visual Basic program would be MDIS specification http://www.dlib.org/dlib/ Libraries Project and
available to other repository-aware tools http://www.he.net/ july96/lagoze/o71agoze Digital Library
(at the time, limited to products such as -metadata/ .html Interoperation Protocol
Visio's tools). http://www-diglib.stanford
Federal Geographic OMG(Object
However, what if the list of reposito­ Data Committee .edu/diglib/pub
Management Group)
ry-aware tools included other program­ (FGDC) metadata Stanford Digital
http://www.omg.org
ming languages, testing tools, project standards Libraries lnfobus
management tools, revision management http://www.fgdc.gov/ CDIF specification Protocol
tools, and so forth? According to Mike Metadata/metahome.html http://www.cdif.org http://www-db
Budd, an analyst who tracks the CASE­ Dublin Core AllM Document .Stanford .edu /-testbed
tools and repository markets for Ovum, http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/ Management Alliance
the Microsoft Repository is a clever way metadata/resources/dc repository
of adding enterprise panache to its .html http://www.aiim.org
immensely popular programming tools
that are actually geared toward single
programmers. CORBAchampions. Unisys's Urep repos­ AP! and is source code-compliant (i.e.,
Budd also thinks that Microsoft has itory (with prices starting at $1900) is interoperable with Microsoft's Source­
recognized the incredible value of mid­ the leading example of an OMG/MOF­ Safe and other version-control products).
dleware in the largest sense of the word. compliant repository. Although TeamConnection currently
He sees the company's Microsoft Repos­ Unisys Fellow and Urep architect Srid­ uses Object Design's ObjectStore as its
itory as a means of owning the glue that har Iyengar points out the advantages of data store, the next version will report­
integrates the application-development Urep as a heterogeneous, multiplatform edly be hosted on DB2 Universal Data­
process. object repository that supports both COM Base (UDB).
What does all this mean for you? At this and CORBA middleware on Unix, NT Other repositories worthy of mention
point, you have two choices. Either ex­ (client and server), and mainframe include LogicWorks' Universal Directory
periment with the pretty rudimentary (client) platforms. He adds that, "Urep ($30,000), a data-warehouse-oriented
Microsoft Repository 1.0 and associated supports a rich set of core repository repository; Viasoft's Rochade repository
Visual Modeler and Visual Component services, including object-level version (formerly the R&O Repository with roots
Manager (VCM) tools. (VCM is Micro­ control, nested transactions, and long in the mainframe world, $35,000 and up);
soft's "interface" to the Repository.) Or transactions, which are not available in and Software Enabling Labs' Enabler,
wait until version 2.0 of all these tools, competing products." (According to Visual Enabler, and Maestro suite (pric­
which are expected to ship some time this Microsoft, Microsoft Repository 2.0 will ing starts at $3500 per developer).
summer with version 6.0 of Microsoft's support versioning.) Urep uses the Ver­
Visual Studio development environment. sant object database as its default stor­ Look Ahead
age engine. Repositories may not affect your life
Other Repositories IBM's VisualAge Team Connection this month or even this year. However,
Not only isn't the Microsoft Repository (prices start at $9995 per server) and asso­ it behooves you to start investigating this
the only repository, it isn't even the only ciated DataAtlas represent another alter­ technology and thinking about how it's
meta-meta model out there. The OMG's native that will be especially attractive going to affect the way you design, de­
CORBA-based (Common Object Request to enterprises that use IBM's VisualAge velop, and manage applications, includ­
Broker Architecture) meta-meta model tools. TeamConnection, which evolved ing data-warehousing applications. Plat­
provides another alternative, one that is from IBM's CMVC product, not AD/ inum's Chris Justice, product manager
embraced by many of the traditional Cycle, is an open tool with a published for Platinum Repository/OEE, cited hock­
ey's Wayne Gretzky ("I play where the
WHERE TO FIND puck's going to be, not where it is ... ")
IBM Microsoft
in his perspective on the repository mar­
Rational Software Unisys
Armonk, NY Redmond, WA Cupertino, CA Blue Bell, PA ket. Repositories should be on your radar
800-426-3333 800-426- 9400 800-728-1212 21 5-986-4011 screen. Ill
914-765-1900 425-882- 8080 408-863-9900 http://www.urep.com
http://www.software http://www.microsoft http://www.rational.com
.ibm.com/ad/teamcon .com/repository Viasoft Karen Watterson (San Diego, CA) is a writer
Softlab Phoenix. AZ
LogicWorks Platinum Technology Munich, Germany 602-952-0057
and consultant specializing in database and
Princeton, NJ Oakbrook Terrace, IL +49 89 99361216 800-448-8100 data-warehousing issues. She is the author of
609-514-1177 800-442-6861 770-290-8800 http://www.viasoft.com/ several books and is editor of Pinnacle Pub­
http://www.logicworks http://www.platinum http://www.softlab.com rochade
.com .com/products/dataw/ lishing's Visual Basic Developer and SQL
repos_ ps.htm Server Professional newsletters. You can reach
herat [email protected].

11 2X BYTE MAY 1998 www.byte.com

 Keep Up To Speed

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BY598 Counts as 2
_J
Hardware

Fast CPUs wring the

ultimate in per(ormance
out of slow-bus NT
systems.
333-MHz Pentium lls:
By Dan Tanner

Slow-Bus Swan Song

eschutes is Intel's code name competitors from AMD and Cyrix sup­ P6 microarchitecture, including support
for the fast new Pentium II porting this interface later this year. for MMX, 32 KB of Level 1 (Ll} cache,
chips built using the 0.25­ and (for the first Deschutes chip) a 66­
micron CMOS process. Iron­ Where Deschutes Fits MHz frontside bus . Both include an
ically, these recently introduced 333-MHz This first Deschutes chip, and those ship­ external 512-KB BSRAM L2 cache con­
processors are also the fastest Intel CPUs ping in the next few months, will still fit tained in the SEC cartridge. Both support
currently running on the soon-to-be­ the same proprietary Intel Slot 1 mother­ Intel's 440FX/440LX chip sets and others
updated 66-MHz system bus mother­ board interface as today's Pentium II. Lat­ from third parties . The current CPU
boards. That makes these machines er on, Deschutes-series PIIs will likely interface and chip sets, however, limit
somewhat akin to dinosaurs, albeit migrate to the newer Slot 2 connector. them to a two-way multiprocessing
extremely fast dinosaurs. Like the Klamath series, Deschutes Implementation. Error-correction code
BYTE Lab evaluated 19 333-MHz CPUs now come packaged in a single-edge (ECC) is available on the L2 cache of the
Deschutes systems running NT 4.0 Work­ Deschutes processor.
station. All use the 66-MHz bus and 440LX
chip set on the motherboard. The extra 33
MHz of clock speed might lead you to
BEST Pentium II's pipelined system bus
allows multiple simultaneous transac­
tions. Like the Pentium Pro, the PU speeds
expect a roughly 11 percent increase in up performance at a given clock speed by
performance over the Deschutes' older DTKAPRl·76M/P333 using dynamic execution, Intel's term for
3 00-MHz cousins, and that's almost exact­ Although it didn't hit the top marl< in any branch prediction. The processor predicts
performance test, the offering from DTK
ly what we found on these machines. which way branch instructions will fork
Computer was fast enough to take first
Yet that performance doesn't actually (with a claimed 90 percent accuracy)
place in overall performance. It also took and speculatively executes some instruc­
show the true worth of the Deschutes chip.
first place in Best Value/Low-Cost. The
Increasingly, it's slow components and the tions along the predicted path, rearrang­
DTK costs 48 percent ($2750) less than
66-MHz system bus, not the processor, that ing them to take maximum advantage of
stifles overall system performance. the highest-priced entrant, but only 8 the chip's resources.
percent ($200) more than the lowest.
Fortunately, 66-MHz motherboards are
about to become a thing of the past, atleast Market Splash
for high-end systems. Deschutes PCs built contact (SEC) cartridge. Within the SEC, Deschutes may have a bigger impact on
around 100-MHz motherboards, clocked the processor core and industry-standard the processor market than on overall sys­
from 350 to 450 MHz, should make their burst static RAM (BSRAM) Level 2 (L2) tem performance. Intel released the
debut about the time you read this. cache are enclosed in plastic and metal 333 -MHz version at $721, $200 below the
Several manufacturers opted to wait and are surface-mounted. usual price for its top-line PC processor,
out this 333-MHz round-up, choosing to Later Deschutes-series Plls, with full­ and only two months later dropped that
submit PCs with 100-MHz motherboards speed backside buses, will require Intel to price almost20 percent, to $583. As might
and even faster Pentium II processors replace commodity BSRAMs with custom be expected, the prices of previous-gen­
instead. All arrived far too late for com­ static RAMs (CSRAMs). BSRAMs require eration Pentium Ils tumbled.
prehensive testing for this issue. But after one clock cycle to read and another to Intel also cut prices on Pentiums for
April 15, you can check our Web site, at rewrite data, so their top speed is half that mobile computers from 15 to 51 percent,
http://www.byte.com, for a first look at of the CPU. The CSRAMs are limited­ although desktop Pentium Pro prices
these machines. quantity proprietary Intel parts that can remain unchanged.
AMD and VIA are already building chip run at a full 450 MHz (i.e., with their 64­ The second half of 1998 will see a new
sets to support systems withlOO-MHz bit interface, at 3.6 GBps}. Deschutes series, this time with 256 KB of
motherboards; expect to see Deschutes Deschutes and Klamath have the same on-die L2 cache.

114 BYTE MAY 1998

 CACHE ; 440LX CHIP SET
Future Pentium lls will boost L2 cache ; A 440LX chip set is virtual-
from these chips' 512 KB to 1 MB or ;; ly the minimum on these
,_,.,,_~ ~.
more, which has prompted Intel to add machines, since it adds
ECC RAM to Deschutes. Turning it off support for Accelerated
(see "Trick of the Trade?" on page Graphics Port (AGP),error·
11 6) can boost performance.,
,, correction code (ECC)
RAM , SD RAM , and Ultra
CPU ' DMA hard drives. Watch
for the new 440BX chips,
These first Deschutes chips
continue Intel's proprietary Slot 1 however; these will sup­
design. - - ___ _ port fast new 1 00-MHz
system buses appearing
about the time you read
SCSI this.

Look for controllers supporting later

SCSI standards; we prefer Ultra

Wide SCSI. '""...,

............

ETHERNET
............

Integrated or add-in Ethernet ports

are standard fare on these high-end

PCs. Look for those that support Fast

Ethernet (1 00 Mbps) as well , *'

as the older 1 OBase-Tstandard.*'

,,''; I
EXPANSION SLOTS ; I

The best PCs in this roundup offer I

at least four PCI slots; a few systems I

include connections for 64-bit PCI I SYSTEMRAMI

devices as well. I Synchronous DRAM , offered on many of
I the machines tested here, is about three
I times faster than older fast page-mode
(FPM) DRAM and twice as fast as
GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR I
extended data out (EDO) and burst EDO
Back View
You'll need a minimum of 4 MB ofWRAM on
(BEDO)RAM.
any high-end graphics card to match the
Pll/333 performance. Even better, opt for
those systems that offer 8 MB or more of
SGRAM. For NT, choose an OpenGL-com­
patible video subsystem. While AGP offers
faster connections than PCI for some applica­ INTEGRATED PORTS - ....
tions, it lacks crucial software support in many USB has become stan­
dard fare on any high-end are units with a maxi·
areas, including native Windows 95 and NT.
PC and these systems mum capacity of
are no exception. Better 300W.
Illustration is based on machines also include

the DTK APRl-76M/P333 . integrated audio and

Ultra Wide SCSI.

For high-end PCs, Slot 2 versions offer­ processor without L2 cache memory, The PII also includ es 57 MMX in­
ing glueless support for up to four-way Celeron is Intel's answer for under-$1000 structions that it executes two at a time.
"' multiprocessing will arrive at 400 (mid- PCs (for a look at new sub-$1000 PCs, Moreover, MMX instruction architecture
"'"' 1998) and 450 MHz (ye ar end), with L2 please see page 125 in this issue). is single instruction/multiple data
cache ranging from 512 KB to 2 MB. • Mobile-cartridge Pentium II modules, (SIMD)-one instruction can perform
Intel's road map for all market segments with low power-consumption levels, will identical operations on multiple pieces of
involves total, eventual migration to Pen­ increasingly be seen in high-end notebook data, reducing compute-intensive loops
z
tium II : designs. characteristic of video, audio, 2-D graph­
t!J
tri0 • Slot 2 Pentium IIs will be used in high­ ics, videoconferencing, printing, and ani ­
performance servers and workstations, in Pentium II Architecture mation processing.
z
UJ
z
;;!

single-to four-way multiprocessor designs. Deschutes uses the Dual Independent Bus
"'t • Slot 1 Pentium II machines will be used (DIB) archi tectu re, just like the Pentium

(f)
in desktops requiring midrange to high­ Pro, to gain a performance advantage on Contributors
ffi
0 Al Gallant, Technical Manager, BYTE Lab
z level performance, using one or at most single-bus systems. The superscalar pro­
~ Michelle Campanale, Technical Editor
z two processors. cessor can use the L2 cache bus and pro­ Tom Halfhill, Senior Editor
0
• Celeron, Intel's latest Pentium II series, cessor-to-main-memory buses simultane­
~ Robert Pickering, Technical Assistant
:;:; will become the chip of choice for low-cost ously, for a possible peak capacity of five Dan Tanner, Technical Editor
::>

;;j desktop systems. Basically a Pentium II instructions per clock cycle.

www.byte com MAY 1 998 BYTE 115

 333-MHz PENTIUM lls

ny of these 333-MHz PCs and upgradability as possible. Using a basic motherboard, standard
offers high performance at a Implementation scores rate the choic­ options and memory, with an acceptable
good price. All include sup­ es made by a manufacturer's design engi­ 17-inch monitor, the DTK has managed to
port for Accelerated Graph­ neers. We come up with these scores by keep a low price. At the same time, it
ics Port (AGP) and SCSI hard disk con­ evaluating the overall system design and scored top marks for performance.
nections, making them sure bets for speed functionality. In our tests, these machines Controls are conveniently located,
gains under the forthcoming Windows were uniformly excellent; on a scale of 1 with a primary power switch on the back
NT 5.0. to 5, no system included in this test scored panel to shut off the juice to the power
We rated these Pll workstations based less than a 4. supply as well as the more conventional
on their quality of performance, imple­ Our features score measures an over­ power-on button in front. Inside, there's
mentation, technology, price, usability, all rating of base features in the tested sys­ easy access and plenty of room for an
and features, on a scale of one to five stars. tem. We look for good-quality integrat­ extra CD-ROM, tape, or Zip drive.
You'll find a complete listing of features, ed and nonintegrated options, supplied Besides the expected mouse, keyboard,
along with overall ratings, in the chart on at reasonable costs. USB, serial, and parallel ports, the back
pages 122 and 123. We requested identi­ Our technology scores reflect the qual­ panel also holds connectors for the AGP
cal configurations from each manufac­ ity of highly desirable options included video adapter, external SCSI, 10/100 Eth­
turer to achieve a level playing field; devi- . with the test systems, in addition to stan­ ernet, and an x2 5 6K modem. The inside
ations from the standard configuration dard options rated in our features score. of this machine is simple and straight­
are noted in this chart. For example, a high-scoring system may forward, offering easy access for repairs
Performance is an important consid­ have included an additional processor slot or upgrades.
eration, especially for any PC sporting a on the motherboard for a second CPU, or Kingdom's Pinnacle 333 Power system
topline processor. Our Best Overall a 10/100 Ethernet card in place of the stan­ came in second in our Best Overall scor­
scores recognize this by heavily weight­ dard lOBase-T. Systems providing inte­ ings, largely due to an excellent tech­
ing total performance ratings as 70 per­ grated SCSI and sound, for example, were nology implementation. Like the third­
cent of the total score. Technology and given higher technology ratings. place Xi machine, this PC can support up
implementation ratings share the remain­ A combination of high technology rat­ to 1 GB of RAM on the motherboard.
ing 30 percent. ings and low price put a system high on Don't overlook NEC's nifty Power­
Performance scores were obtained by our list for Best Value. The Best Value Mate Professional 9000 and SAG's fast
averaging the results from multiple runs scores are a weighted combination of our STF 3300. Priced at less than $3200, both
of our benchmark tests (see "Test performance, usability, features and price offer technology options you'd expect
Methodology" on page 121). The tests ratings. Performance scores make up 50 to see in higher-priced machines. They
rate machine speed in integer, floating­ percent of the final Best Value score; price have a second processor slot for an addi­
point, and application operations. receives a weighting of 30 percent; and tional CPU, for example, and free up an
We judge a system's usability based on features and usability scores contribute extra slot by integrating SCSI on the
the quality of documentation and other 1Opercent each. motherboard. The NEC's 64-bit PC!
information provided to the user. We also slot offers an upgrade path for the future,
look for ease of access to internal com­ Best Overall and its NEC 32X CD-ROM drive is one of
ponents; quick, well-designed setup and The DTK APRI-76M/P333 has no elabo­ the best on the market.
installation; and as much expandability rate, expensive engineering features.
Best Value
The $2799 DTK system, with the third
Trick of the Trade? lowest price of all systems tested but low­
est price of our top seven performers, also
won honors as Best Value. It offers 10/100
ur time-tested BYTEmark benchmarks showed oddly variable scores on these systems,
0 scores that became even more suspicious when our Van Horn Photoshop benchmarks
Ethernet as standard equipment, a Toshi­
ba 32X CD-ROM drive, a good-quality
returned virtually identical results fora II systems. It turns out that the BYTEmarks had uncov­ ELSA Gloria Synergy video card with 8
ered a little known trick of the PC maker's trade: Some manufacturers-Compaq, Everex, DTK, MB of SGRAM on-board instead of the
and Kingdom, in this case-disable the standard error-correction code (ECC) on the L2 cache more usual 4 MB, and a large 300W (its
and improve performance, apparently with Intel's blessing. maximum output) power supply at a very
Unfortunately, most buyers can't perform the large-scale comparative testing that allowed reasonable price.
us to discover th is ECC performance t~eak. And users will find it virtually impossible to dis­ The $2599 Micron ClientPro 766Xi
able (or enable) ECC themselves. While there's probably little likelihood that turning off ECC was fourth in Best Value. Its performance
will cause problems, we believe that buyers should be given a chance to decide if they want kept it out of the running for Best Over­
to opt for speed and ignore the possibility of unchecked error on the L2 cache. all system, but the machine managed to
incorporate a good feature set-4.5-GB

116 BYTE MAY 1998

 The
rmance,:c

to realize your

reams.

Desktop Performers.
The 02 and OCTANE wo1-kstation so lut io ns
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Microway systems includ e fas t C PUs with
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memory and peri phera ls includ ing SCSI
hard drives, 3 0 graphics cards and RA ID
I AlphaPowered
so luti o n s. Mic roway 's ex clu s ive 4MB
Press Accolades for Microway's Screamer
SS RAM cac h e , feel by a 144 -bit wide
Windows Sources - February, 1998

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 IEt:l~
R_A__
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_U_L_T_
S I

BEST OVERAL L WEIGHTING

DTK APRl · 76M/P333
The DTKAPRI-76M/P333 not only
won Best Overall honors, it placed first
in our price/value rankings (see below).
Last September, the company's entry
also garnered the Best Overall award in
our testing of 17 233- and 266-MHz
Pentium II systems.

PRICE PERFORMANCE TECHNOLOGY IMPLEMENTATION BEST OVERALL

DTKAPRl-76M/P333 $2799 ***** **** ***** *****
Kingdom Pinnacle 333 Power $2997 **** **** ***** ****
Xi 66 6 Tower DP $ 31 99 **** ***** ***** ****
NEC PowerMate Profess ional 9000 $3 199 **** ***** ***** ****
SAGSTF 3300 $2945 **** ***** ***** ****
SysTech Sys Performance Pro 33 3LS $ 3724 **** **** **** ****
Compaq Deskpro 6000 6333X/4300/CDS $3750 **** **** **** ****

BEST VA LU E/ LOW- COST WEIGHTIN G

DTK APRl·76M/P333
DTK Computer's APRI-76M/P333, selling
for $2799 in the configuration we tested,
was one of the lowest-priced systems sub­
mitted to us for review. And although other
systems were faster in individual tests, it
came in as the top overall performer, easily
making it our choice for Best Value.

PRICE PERFOR MANC E PRICE RATING FEATURES USABILITY BEST VALUE

DTKAPRl-76M/P333 $ 2799 ***** ***** ***** **** *****
SysTech Sys Performance Pro 333LS $3724 **** *** ***** **** ****
Compaq Deskpro 6000 6333X/4300/CDS $ 37 50 **** *** ***** *** ****
Micron Electronics ClientPro 766Xi $25 99 *** ***** ***** *** ****
Everex StepStation 2 $2 730 *** ***** ***** **** ****
Ki ngdom Pinnacle 333 Power $2997 *** ***** ***** **** ****
Xi 66 6 Tower DP $3199 *** **** ***** ***** ****
***** Outstanding **** Very Good *** Good ** Fair *Poor

Ul tra Wide SCSI hard drive and 8-MB does buying one of these machines make Intel's Celeron and other low-cost chips
Number Nine video card- and still come sense? If you're in the market for high-per­ become popular.
"'
O>
in as the lowest-priced machine. formance bargains, our response is an If performance and u pgradability are
O>
While the $3724 SysTech and $3750 unqualified "You bet." your chief concerns, however, you may
Compaq PCs were among the more expen­ Prices for these 333-MHz units are, in want to wait out this round for even faster
sive machines tested, their combinations many cases, less than half the price of the machines emerging in the next couple of
of great features and high usability made 300-MHz systems we reviewed in our Jan­ months. Next-generation 350- and 400­
them our second and third choices, respec­ uary issue (see "Eight Heavy-Hitting NT MHz machines, supported by the faster sys­
tive ly, for Best Value. Workstations," page 98). tem bus and faster components, likely will
We expect that prices of Pentium PCs add to the overall cost of the PC, but the
The Bottom Line will continue to fall, possibly precipitous­ improvements in speed and compatibility
With the 66-MHz system bus on the way ly, as the 100-MHz system bus makes its with future upgrade paths might be worth
out, at least for high-end PC workstations, debut and new sub -$1000 PCs utilizing the extra cost.

www.byte.com MAY 1998 BYTE 119

; ~ ~

" DEJA'llS 1

NEC Looks Ahead with 64-Bit PCI Slot

pclose and personal is the best way to know your sys­
Utem. Here's something that you'd miss unless you
opened up the NEC PowerMate Professional and removed
the internal drive bays. Just below the AGP card is the first of
four PCI slots, a 64-bit connector that we'd normally expect
to find only in higher-priced NT workstations. Even though
64-bit devices are still relatively rare, these slots will be
increasingly valuable as performance demands increase.
NEC engineers showed foresight by including it in a reason­
ably priced, and strong-performing, system.

SAG Makes Upgrading Easy

he SAG Electronics STF 3300 shows value in engineering and design. It's
T extremely easy to add a second processor, without moving or disman­
tling anything, by simply sliding the Pll processor into its Slot1 connector.
The machine has four memory slots that hold up to 512 MB, and plenty of
drive bays and PCl/ISA slots for adding components. You don't need to
remove components to install PCI options, add memory, or put in drives. As
in the NEC system, this machine's integrated, on-board Adaptec 2940UW
SCSI adapter, along with the second processor option, are usually found
on systems priced much higher.

SHRINKING THE CHIP

0.25-Micron and Smaller largely the signal-degrading effects of stray capacitance-are natu­
More efficient process technology means Deschutes runs faster, cool­ rally reduced.
er, and us.es less power than its predecessors. The first Deschutes No.wadays we can process information faster than we can move it.
attained a core frequency of 333 MHz-11 percent faster than the Ultimately board, bus, and machine geometry'will have to shrink, too,
fastest Klamath-series Pll (300 MHz). It has a 131 -square-millimeter and that may be even more difficult to accomplish (see "Amending
die, compared to Klamath's 202 square millimeters, and consumes Moore's Law," March BYTE).
almost half the power, 23.7 Was opposed to the·older chip's 43 W. At 333 MHz, a clock period consumes only 3 nanoseconds. But it's
Silicon etch resolution has been sharpened 29 percent with the during the rise/fall times of the clock that signals are gated or trig­
Deschutes chip, from 0.35-to 0.25-micron. Shrinking linear dimen­ gered. Such times are an order of magnitude less, well into the picosec­
sions on a chip to 71 percent reduces the chip's area by half. Reduced ond range. In 300 picoseconds, light can travel merely 9 centimeters.
chip area translates to shorter distances for signals to travel, enabling Small wonder that processor cores and cache memory are migrating
ever-higher clock ~peeds. And, as chip geometry.shrinks, "parasitics"­ to a single die.

120 BYTE MAY 1 998

 uestion: When is 333/90
greater than 3.7? .,
BYTE Value Index
Answer: When you're com­
paring Pentium II p e rfor­
mance to original Pentium performance,
back in the days when 90MHz reigned
supreme.
BYTEmark evaluates processor and
memory performance. We base our results
on an index system, in this case a Dell 90­
..=...
MHz Pentium PC. Iftheclock speed of the
processor under test is 333 MHz, one
11 Xi 1
llTagra"l
..
E
might expect performance scores of 3.7. f ll NEC ~
The enhanced arc hitectures of new Dllra~om l.
Pentium systems can achieve much high­
•
er scores. Our top-rated DTK machine
scored an integer index over 4.75; float­
ing-point was nearly 5 .33.
Changes in Pentium II architecture can
t.
take the credit for this feat; many Pl!
instructions are simpl y more efficient.
Integer Multiply (IMUL), for exa mple,
has been trimmed from 10 clock cycles
on a Pentium to three cycles on a PII (see
"Which Compiler Is Fastest?," January
BYTE}. In a ddition, the Pentium II $6000 $5000 $4000 $3000 $2000
Estimated street price (U.S.)
em ploys such spe ed -up m e thods as
dynamic execution.
Our Photoshop Test Operating system: Microsoft Windows
BAPCo SYSmark Results The BYTE/Van Horn Photoshop bench­ NT 4.0 Workstation, with a separate
BAPCo SYS mark tests exercise rea l-world mark is an integer-intensive test using the installation of Service Pack 3
applications running native-mode code functions that graphic artists with Adobe Memory: 64 MB
under Windows NT 4.0. BAPCo chose Photoshop 4.0 would emplo y. The fi le Hard drive: Minim um 4-GB SCSI, con­
M icrosoft Excel and Word for typica l used for the test is large, over 8 MB, to troller on motherboard or PC! card
office operations, Texim for project man­ ensure that memory calls go far beyond File structure: NTFS
agement jobs, and Layout Plus for CAD the range of the processor's cache. Graphics adapter: AGP adapter, mini­
work. Photoshop interpo latio n was set to mum of 4 MB of video memory
BAPCo's test applications provide Bicubic. We eliminated video-card per­ Monitor: 17-inch color, 1024 x 768 res­
intense system exercise, including fi le 1/0 formance differences from these scores. olution, true color (24-bit}, 75-H z
that works a hard drive heavily. The The fo llowi ng tests were performed: refresh rate
spreadsheet and word processing appli­ • Rotate Canvas. Arbitrary rotation at 7 No other app lications, including virus
cations are integer-intensive; BAPCo's degrees clockwise. shields, TSRs, or applets, were running
CAD app lication generally emphasizes • Unsharp Mask at two settings, first during the tests. Nonessential start-up
floating-point operations. with the defau lt values (50 percent, radius app lications or placeholders that could
of 1 pixel, no th reshold) and again with be using memory were removed before
more demanding va lu es (50 percent, testing.
BAPCo SYSmark Results for DTK radius of 10 pixels, threshold of 5).
• Gaussian blur with 3-pixel radius. Evaluations in this report represent the judge­
Spreadsheet I • RGB-to-CMYK Mode Change. ment ofBYTE editors based on tests conduct­
ed in BYTE's laboratory. For full documenta­
Project Management I
Word Processing I
Methodology tion ofthe benchmarks, visit the BYTE Web
site at http://www.byte.com; see http://www
Presentation I I Every configuration we examined met .byte.com for the BYTEmark, http://www
CAD I I
I
the following specifications:
Processor: Intel Pentium 11/333-MHz
.bapco.com for BAPCo data, and for the Van
Horn Photos/10p tests, see "MMX: Better in
0 100 200 300 400 Fits and Starts," February BYTE (magazine or
BAPCo score (Deschutes) CD -ROM), or visit the BYTE Web site.
Ch ip set: Intel 440LX

www.byte.com MAY 1 998 BYTE 121

..

-- 333-MHz PENTIUM II PCs .

FEATURES
Compaq CompUSA CyberMax DTK Duracom Everex Gateway 2000 Kingdom
Deskpro 6000 PC American Computer Computer Computer Systems E-5000333 Computers
6333X/4300/ Pro PowerMaxl APRl·76~ Proforma StepStation 2 Technical Pinnacle 333
CDS AP333L·SE P333 X 6201 P2·333 Workstation Power
Price as tested $3750 $3800 $2799 $2799 $2999 $2730 $5369 $2997
(MSRP, unless noted) street price direct only
Overall rating **** *** *** ***** *** **** *** ****
MICROPROCESSOR
BIOS vendor and version Compaq Phoenix4.0 Phoenix4.0 AMI Phoenix4.0 AMI Phoenix4.0 Award
rel 6.0 rel6.0 v 1.19 rel6.0 6271C11 rel 6.0 4.5 1PG
Supports second CPU v
ECC on L2 cache Off On On Off On Off On Off
DMl·compliant v v v o1,2.o v v , 2.0 v
Setup (ROM or disk) ROM ROM Both ROM ROM Both ROM ROM

BIOS shadowing (ROM or video) Both ROM Both Both ROM Both Both Both

EQUIPMENT INFORMATION
Sound adapter/chip Embedded Yamaha Ensoniq None None ES1868 None Ensoniq PCl/16·bit
ESS1869 OPL-3 AudioPCI w/Wavetable
on board
CD-ROM/speed Hitachi/24X Pioneer/32X Toshiba/32X Toshiba/32X Sony/24X Toshiba/32X Plextor 13/32X Matsushita/24X SCSI
10/100 Ethernet LAN Integrated Optional v v Optional ..... v Optional
Fax/modem 56K Rockwell/56K USR/56K
Motherboard (design/ Compaq ATX/Intel AL440LX/ ATX/DTK AL440LX/ FI C/FIC Burbank/ ECS · Elite Group,
manufacturer) Intel Intel Intel with on-board SCSI
Power supply 260W 200W 235W 300W 235W 235W 300W 235W

HARD DISK
Bays (3'h·/5 Y.·inch) 3/2 2/3 5/4 3/4 5/3 4/3 7/4 3/5
Internal/external 2/3 1/4 5/4 2/6 4/4 2/5 6/5 8/5
Bays with front access (1)3'h ,(2) 5Y. (1)3'h ,(3) 5Y. (1)3'h ,(4) 5Y. (2) 3'h , (4) 5Y. (2)3'h,(3)5Y. (2)3 'h , (3)5Y. (1) 3'h , (4)5Y. (2)3 'h ,(3) 5Y.
Hard drive (vendor and Compaq Seagate Seagate Seagate Seagate Seagate Seagate IBM
model) WDE4360 ST34572W ST34371 UW ST34501W ST34572W ST34572W ST34572W DCAS34330
Hard drive controller (vendor Compaq Adaptec Adaptec Adaptec Adaptec Adaptec Adaptec IBM
and model) Ultra SCSI AHA2940UW AHA2940UW AHA2940UW AHA2940UW AHA2940UW AIC-7895

Hard drive interface type Ultra Wide Ultra Wide Ultra Wide Ultra Wide Ultra Wide Ultra Wide Ultra Wide Ultra Wide
SCSI SCSI SCSI SCSI SCSI SCSI SCSI SCSI
Hard drive capacity 4.3GB 4.5 GB 4.3GB 4.5GB 4.5G B 4.5GB 4.5GB 4.3GB
Primary system architecture 3PCl,4 1SA, 4PCl, 21SA, 4PCl, 2 1SA, 4PCl,. 31SA, 3PCl, 2 1SA, 4 PCl, 2 1SA, 4 PCl,21SA, 4 PCl, 3 1SA,
(PCl/ISA) 1AGP 1 AGP 1AGP 1 AGP 1 AGP 1 AG P 1 AGP 1 AGP
Shared slots 1
Remove cover without tools .....
VIDEO
Video accelerator Matrox STB Velocity Number Nine ELSA Gloria STB Velocity Nvidia Model AccelGraphics ATI Rage Pro
(maker/model) Millennium II 128 AGP Revolution Synergy 128 RIVA 128 Accel Eclipse II
Video memory and type 4·MB SGRAM 4·MB SGRAM 4·MB WRAM 8·MB SGRAM 4·MB SGRAM 4-MB SGRAM 32·MB mixed 4·MB SGRAM
Maximum resolution 1280 x 1024 1280 x 1024 1920 x 1060 1280 x 1024 1280 x 1024 1280 x 1024 1280 x 1024 1080 x 1024
without upgrade

l/OPORTS
Serial/USS 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2
Parallel ports 1 1 1 1
SCSl·2ports 150·pin, 1 50-pin, 1 50·pin, 1 50·pin, 1 50-pin, 1 50·pin, 150·pin, 150·pin,
1 68·pin, 1 ext. 1 68-pin, 1 ext. 1 68·pin, 1 ext. 1 68·pin, 1 ext. 1 68·pin, 1 ext. 1 68·pin, 1 ext. 1 68·pin 168·pin
EIDE ports 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

MEMORY
Maximum RAM on motherboard 384MB 384MB 384 MB 512 MB 384 MB 384M B 512MB 1 GB
Type and architecture SDRAM/ECC SDRAM SDRAM/ECC SDRAM/ECC SDRAM SDRAM SDRAM/ECC SDRAM/ECC
ECC RAM on motherboard? v Option v
VENDOR INFORMATION*
Phone number 281 ·370·0670 888·226·6772 800·218·4881 626·810·0098 972·416·7600 510·498·4411 800·779·2000 (Sales)
Toll·free phone number 800·345·1518 888·226·6772 800-218·4881 800-289·2385 800-551·9000 800-262·3312 8oo-a46·2303 (Supp.) 800-385-3436
On·line address http://www http://www http://www http://www http://www http://www http://www http://www
.Compaq.com .compusacom .cybmax.com .dtkcomputer .duracom.com .everex.com .gateway.com .kingdomcomputers
.com .com
Inquiry Number 1101 11 02 1103 1104 11 05 1106 1107 1108

* = BYTEBest V = yes *****Outsta nding ****Very Good ***Good **Fair *Poor

"Access vendor Web sit e for latest price, warranty, service, su pport, terms and conditions, and telephone number (if not in toll·free area).

12 2 BYTE MAY 1 998 Enter HotBYTEs No. at http://www.byte.com/hotbytes/

Micro Micron Micron NEC Polywell Premio SAG Sys Technology Tag ram Unicent Xi Computer
Express Electronics Electronics PowerMate Computers Computer Electronics Sys System Technologies Corp.
MicroFlex· ClientPro Millennia Professional Poly PremioLX STF3300 Performance Corp. Avanta Xi 666
Pll/333 766Xi XKU333 P9000 7333LS1 Series Pro 333LS Thunderbolt L333 MTowerDP
$2799 $2599 $2918 $3199 $2950 $3335 $2945 $3724 $3299 $2799 $3199
direct direct

*** *** *** **** *** *** **** **** *** *** ****
Award Phoenix4.0­ Phoenix 4.0 Phoenix4.0 Award AMI AMI Award AMIHiflex AMI AMI
4.51PG rel 6.0 rel 6.0 rel6.0 4.51PG v 1.1 v2.5 4.51PGM v 1.19 v 1.1 9 rel 1.33A
.....
On On On On On On "'
On On On On "'
On

"'
ROM
.....
ROM
"'
ROM
...... 2.0
Disk or
.....
ROM "'
ROM "'
ROM "'
Di sk
.....
None "'
ROM
V', 2.0
ROM
CD-ROM
ROM Both Both Video Both Both Both Video ROM Both Both

Sound Sound Sound Crystal CS Yamaha/ Sound Sound Sound Ensoniq Ensoniq PCI Ensoniq/DCS
Blaster Blaster Blaster 4236Baudio 719 Blaster Blaster Blaster AudioPCI Sound Image
AWE64 AWE64 AWE64 integrated chip set AWE64 AWE64 AWE64
Toshiba/1OOX Plextor/20X Plextor 14/32X NEC/32X Toshiba/24X Mitsumi/24X Sony/32X TEAC/32X Toshiba/32X Toshiba/32X Teac/32K
..... Optional
Optional
Rockwell/56K
V' Optional
USR/56K "' "' Optional Optional
USR/56K
V'
Powercom/56K
Optional

Micro Augusta/ Atlanta/ DK440LX with P6SLS/ REMIO DLS Dual Pll ATX/Giga-Byte GVC/BCM AL440LX/ P6DLS/
Express Intel Intel AGP/lntel Super 212B Supermicro GA-686SLX KR632 Intel Supermicro
235W 235W 235W 260W 230W 200W 230W 235W 250W 235W 250W

3/3 3/2 3/2 1/5 4/3 3/3 3/3 5/3 3/4 5/2 5/3
1/5 2/5 2/5 2/4 2/3 1/5 1/5 3/5 1/2 2/5 3/5
(2) 3 ~. (3) 5Y. (2) 3 ~. (3) 5X (2) 3 ~, (3) 5X ( 1 )3 ~, (3) 5X (2) 3 ~, (3) 5X (2) 3 ~, (3) 5X (2) 3 ~, (3) 5X (2) 3 ~, (3) 5X (2) 3 ~, (4) 5X (3) 3 ~, (2) 5X (2) 3l>,(3)5X
Seagate Seagate Western Digital Seagate Seagate Seagate Seagate Seagate Seagate Seagate Seagate
ST34501W ST34501W Enterprise ST34572UW ST34501W ST34501W ST34501 ST34501W ST34501W ST34371W ST34501W
Adaptec Adaptec Adaptec Adaptec Adaptec Adaptec Adaptec Adaptec Adaptec Adaptec Adaptec
AHA2940UW AHA2940UW AHA2940UW AIC-7895 AHA2940UW AHA2940UW AHA2940UW AHA2940UW AHA2940UW AHA2940UW AHA2940UW
PCISCSI on-board on-board
Ultra Wide Ultra Wide Ultra Wide Ultra Wide Ultra Wide Ultra Wide Ultra Wide Ultra Wide Ultra Wide Ultra Wide Ultra Wide
SCSI SCSI SCSI SCSI ·SCSI SCSI SCSI SCSI SCSI SCSI SCSI
4.5GB 4.5GB 4.3GB 4.5GB 4.5GB 4. 5GB 4.5GB 4.5GB 4.5GB 4.3GB 4.5GB
4PCl, 31SA, 4PCl,21SA, 4PCl,21SA, 3PCl, 21SA, 4PCl,3 1SA, 3PCl,41SA, 4PCl,31SA, 4PCl,31SA, 4PCl, 21SA, 4PCl,31SA, 4PCl,31SA,
1 AGP 1AGP 1 AGP 1 AGP 1 AGP 1AGP 1AGP 1 AGP 1AGP 1AGP 1AGP
1 1 1 1
..... .....
"' "'
Diamond Fire Number Nine Diamond AccelStar II Diamond ATI 3D Rage ATI Rage Matrox ATI Rage STB Velocity 1 AccelStar II 3D
GL 1000 Pro Revolution Viper V330 3D FireGL Pro 3D Millennium II Pro Turbo 28
4-MBVRAM 8-MB SGRAM 4-MB SGRAM 8-MB SGRAM 8-MB SGRAM 8-MB SGRAM 8-MB SGRAM 8-MB WRAM 8-MB SGRAM 4-MB SGRAM 8-MB SGRAM
1280 x 1024 1280 x 1024 1280 x 1024 1600 x 1200 1280 x 1024 1280 x 1024 1600 x 1200 1600 x 1200 1280 x 1024 1600 x 1280 1280 x 1024

2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2
1
1 50-pin, 1 50-pin, 1 50-pin, 1 50-pin, 1 50-pin, 1 50-pin, 1 50-pin, 1 50-pin, 1 50-pin, 1 50-pin, 1 50-pin,
1 68-pin, 1 ext. 1 68-pin, 1 ext. 1 68-pin, 1 ext. 2 68-pin 1 68-pin, 1 ext. 1 68-pin, 1 ext. 1 68-pin 1 68-pin, 1 ext. 1 68-pin, 1 ext. 1 68-pin, 1 ext. 1 68-pin
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

512MB 384MB 384MB 512MB 1 GB 768MB 512MB 1GB 384MB 384MB 1GB
SDRAM/ECC SDRAM SDRAM SDRAM/ECC SDRAM SDRAM/ECC SDRAM, SDRAM, SDRAM SDRAM SDRAM/ECC
Option .....
"'
714-852-1400 208­893-3343 208-893-3343 978-264-8000 650-583-7222 800-677-6477 508-683-0339 714-821-3900 714-979­8900 216-344-2649 714-498-0858
800-989-9900 888-209-8039 888-209-8039 888-863-2669 800-789-8027 80Q-677-6477 800-989-3475 800-367-7794 800-824-7267 800-628-4888 80Q-432-0486
httpJ/www http://www httpJ/www http://www http://www httpJ/www httpJ/www httpJ/www httpJ/www httpJ/www http://www
.microexpress mcronpc.com .m1cronpc.com .necnow.com .polywell.com .prem1opc.com .sagelec.com .systechnology .tagram.com .unicent.com .xicomputer.com
.net .com
1109 1110 1111 1112 1113 1114 1115 1116 1117 1118 1119

www.byte.com MAY 1 998 BYTE 123

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 Low-Cost PCs

Does a low price tag always equal a value? We put five sub-$1000 PCs­
all Pentium alternatives- to the test. By Robert L. Hummel

Cheap PCs: Bargain or Blunder?

or over a decade, PC manu ­

D facturers have tr ied to find

the exact combination of fea­
tures, applications, and price
required to woo new home and business
users. Early attempts at bargain PCs have
produced anemic, underpowered ma­
chines that were soundly rejected by the
market. Are the latest crop of sub-$1000
systems viable PCs or just expensive toys?

Specifying Systems
To qualify for this review, a PC had to pro­
vide adequate processing power for busi­
ness and mu ltimedia app lications. We
dema nded a Penti u m-class processor
with support for the MMX instruction set,
32 MB of RAM, and Windows 95 OSR2.
To store all that software, we asked for a TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY
* * * * * *
2-GB hard drive. IMPLEMENTATION IMPLEMENTATION
These systems do not include a moni­ * * * * * * * *
PERFORMANCE PERFORMANCE
tor, a necessary purchase that will add * * * * * * ** **
VALUE VALUE
$150 to $350. To accurately reflect small * * * * * * * * *
office/home office (SOHO) usage, we
used a video resolution of 800 by 600 pix­ benchmark suite executes and times pre­
els with a 16-bit color depth for all per­ determined scripts of eight application
formance evaluations. programs. The overall performance score
To accommodate on-line activity, each weights Bapco at 40 percent.
machine had to include a 56-Kbps mo­ The BYfEmark benchmark most accu­
dem. A 16x-or- faster CD-ROM drive, rarely determines pure processor power.
Sound Blaster audio-card compatibi lity, Not surprisingly, we saw the best BYfE­
and powered external speakers were mark performance on the fastest chip
req uired to provide basic multimedia with the largest L2 cache.
abil ity. Finally, the price of the system The Intel Media Benchmark release 1.0
(excluding monitor) had to be under measures video, image processing, 3-D
$1000 . In response to our request, we graphics, and audio performance on
received five systems, three based on the systems running Windows 95. This
AMD-K6 processorwithMMX (Compaq, benchmark uses DirectX and supports
IBM, and Polywe ll), one powered by the MMX-enabled processors.
Cyrix 6x86MX, and one built aro und
the Cyrix MediaGX (both from Pionex). Compaq Presario 4540
Although the Presario 4540 turned in
How We Tested TECHNOLOGY
good performance on our benchmark * * *
To measure each system's real-world per­ tests, its sleek, molded mini-tower chas- IMPLEMENTATION
formance when running typical SOHO sis is an example of emphasizing form * * * *
PERFORMANCE
applications, we chose Bapco's Sysmark over function. Also, given Compaq's ** * **
VALUE
32 for Windows 95, version 1.0. T his obvious goal of making the Presario an * * **
***** Outstanding **** Very Good *** Good ** Fair * Poor MAY 1998 BYTE 12 5
 Review Cheap PCs: Bargain or Blunder?

appliance, we believe the documentation

and software should have been better.
The default Presario screen is heavily
customized with Internet Explorer (IE).
Background music, a channel guide, short­
cuts for a host of applications, and a huge
invitation to take the IE tutorial all add to

the overly busy desktop. Bundled software

includes Microsoft's Encarta 98, Book­ TECHNOLOGY ***
shelf 98, Money 98, and games. IMPLEMENTATION ** * * IMPLEMENTATION * ·It: ·It: ·~
Inside, the Presario 4540 is no less busy.
Wedged between the CD-ROM drive and
PERFORMANCE *** PERFORMANCE * * * * *
floppy drive cage is a 5Yi-inch Quantum VALUE *** VALUE * ·It: ·It: ·It:

Bigfoot hard drive. Below the floppy drive,

the power supply runs nearly the full depth The inside ofthe Aptiva is roomy, the CPU nizer, and Screen Cam. IBM includes both
of the tower, hiding the system board. One fan is unobstructed, and the cables are neat­ Netscape and IE, plus a CD full of utilities.
of the three available expansion slots is ly out of the way. Two 5Yi-inch drive bays
occupied by the modem. open to the front of the case and allow the Pionex6x86
The Presario 4540 contains 16 MB of addition ofa tape drive or a digital versatile The Pionex 6x86 stands out because of its
RAM on the system board and provides disc (DVD) drive. The modem takes up one simple, clean construction. Unencum­
only one dual in-line memory module of the six expansion slots in the unit. bered with fancy molded cases or swing­
(DIMM) slot for expansion, filled with The system board contains tivo DIMM ing doors, it is a straightforward PC that
another 16 MB in our review machine. slots. Our test system was equipped with clearly doesn't pretend to be anything else.
Replacing this with a 32-MB DIMM brings a single 32-MB DIMM; you can add up to The system is built around a generic
the system up to its maximum 48 MB. Get­ 32 MB more memory, for a total of 64 MB. motherboard that can accept a variety of
ting to the DIMM slot, however, requires At the heart of the E26 is an IBM-branded
removing all expansion cards, unplugging version of the AMD-K6 233. The chip can
all external cables, and swinging the sys­ be a top Windows performer, but IBM
tem board out from the back. has hindered its efficiency by eliminating
On the front panel, a hinged door cov­ the L2 cache.
ers both 5Yi-inch bays, but it allows access The Aptiva consistently lags behind
to the CD-ROM drive through a window the other K6-based systems in our bench­
when closed. Install a device in the open mark tests . Its on-board video is built
5Yi-inch bay, however, and you may not be around the ATI 3D Rage II+ chip set. But
able to close the door. again, IBM has purposely limited the video CPUs, but this one has a Cyrix 6x86MX PR­
The Presario 4540 is a solid performer, memory to a nonexpandable maximum of 233 . Video and sound are provided on sep­
but its lack of expandability means you'll lMB . arate expansion cards. Although this uses
replace it before you upgrade it. IBM rounds out the E26 package with a two of the seven available expansion slots,
solid bundle of software, starting with the it also lets you troubleshoot or upgrade
IBM Aptiva E26 Lotus SmartSuite 97. Included are 1-2-3, easily.
IBM wants your first PC experience to be WordPro, Freelance, Approach, Orga- The case is roomy inside. It's easy to add
a good one. The Aptiva E26 is easy to set or remove expansion cards and memory.
up, due in part to its color-coded cables Additionally, the Pionex is the only PC in
and superb manual. this review that provides a reset button.
The Aptiva's case is stylized but still The generic user's manual does a good
retains a classic computer look. The best job of explaining Windows. Also included
feature of the case is its no-tools design that is the manual for the system board, show­
makes access a breeze. Release a latch at ing jumper settings, cable connections, and
the rear of the unit, push a tab up front, BIOS setup options. Granted, it's not what
and the entire case slides off toward the the first-time user needs, but something
front of the unit. that a friend performing an upgrade or a

126 BYTE MAY 1998

 Cheap PCs: Bargain or Blunder? Review

third-party service agency will be grate­ icated video memory doesn't hurt the
ful to have at hand. TECH FOCUS LPC5201 's performance at all.
You won't notice any big names in the Integrated Ethernet and universal serial
Pion ex 6x86 software bundle. The Akrose Intel Takes the Low Road bus (USB) ports are built onto the system
Works CD provides a five-function col­ Traditionally, Intel has focused on improving board. It also has the largest hard drive of
lection of basic word processing, spread­ x8G processor technology, painting the low­ the bunch-a whopping6.5 GB ofstorage.
sheet, database, draw, and paint programs. costend of the market as trailing-edge tech­ And the LPC5201 is the only system that
Reference works include Compton's nology. However, the rising level of interest configured its modem as COM3, leaving
Interactive Encyclopedia and Reference in the sub-$1000 PC market has notescaped both serial ports active and available.
Intel's attention. A new chip, Celeron, is Although it has some impressive fea­
expected to be shipping by the end of April. tures, the LPC5201's small size translates
Intel's Celeron uses the same 0.25-micron to some compromises. There are no
PG core as the Pentium II, but it has reduced expansion possibilities for addi ti onal
performance and a reduced cost Clocked at devices, such as a DVD or tape drive. A
2GG MHz, it comes without the Pentium ll's riser card provides one ISA slot (used by
L2 cache and runs with a GG-MHz bus. the modem) and one shared PCI/ISA slot,
Despite Intel's attempt to hobble the limiting your expansion choices.
Collection as well as TLC Properties' Body­ Celeron and market it under a different brand Small also means cramped. The bottom
Works medical-exploration program. namethan Pentium, the chip still has the pos­ of the floppy drive is less than one-quar­
Given the consumer slant of the under­ sibilityto turn the low-cost market on its ear. ter-inch away from the top of the CPU­
$1000 market, it is odd that only Pionex Sharing the Pentium's PG core means that blocking effective cooling of the chip by
bundled any software targeted at children, Intel can move its separate product lines its CPU-mounted fan. The heat problem is
the Akrose Creativity Workshop for Kids. forward simultaneously. aggravated by the tiny power-supply fan
and obstruction of airflow in the unit by
PionexGX internal partitioning. Over the period of
Cosmetically, the Pion ex GX is identical to ably slower. System operation seemed an hour's testing in a cool lab, the area of
the Pionex 6x86 system and comes with sluggish, a problem exacerbated by slower the case above the CPU got quite hot.
the same software bundle. But on closer video. As a result, the system has a trailing­ Equipping the LPC5201 with required
examination, several differences help keep edge feel to it, despite its recent vintage. software will drive up your total purchase
its price $300 below its costlier sibling. Nonetheless, given its $699 price and price. Only Windows 95 and a few utilities
Powering the system is the Cyrix Media­ probable end use, it's not fair to expect the
GX processor and chip set. The GX and system to deliver the same performance as
its companion Cx5510 chip provide a com­ systems costing $3 00 more. Once Win­
pact and inexpensive bundle of CPU, core dows is up and running and you're con­
logic, PC!, video, and sound support in one nected to the Web or word processing, the
chip set. Video memory is carved out of nor­ real delays lie outside the PC.
mal system RAM, reducing costs further. When running office applications, the
But all this economy comes at a price. Pionex GX has about half the power of the
Compared to the other review systems, the AMD-K6 233 systems we tested, just
200-MHz Pionex GX system was notice- enough to function as a network client or are included. Despite its limitations, the
as an inexpensive office PC. Its lack of mul­ LPC5201 is equipped to serve as a client for
PRODUCT INFORMATION timedia horsepower, however, limits its small networks, a second PC for SOHO use,
usefulness as a general home PC, where or a first PC for home or school use.
Aptiva E2G $999 Pionex Technologies,
IBM Corp. Inc. games and other video-intensive app lica­
Research Triangle Orem, UT tions are the norm. Summary
Park, NC http://www.pionex.com l
Manufacturers are convinced that the key
800-426-7235
ext. 4340
Enter HotBYTEs
No. 1097.
Polywell Poly LPC5201 to getting more users to purchase their first
919-517-2430 The most striking feature of the Polywell computer is price, but we're not so sure.
http://www.pc.ibm.com Polywell Poly
LPC5201 $998 Poly LPC5201 is its size, just 3 inches high Although the PCs reviewed here cost less
/us/aptiva
Polywell Computer, Inc. and 12.5 inches wide. Despite its stature, than $1000, they're no easier to use than
Presario 4540 $999 San Francisco, CA
800-999-1278
the unit turned in the top overall perfor­ their more expensive siblings. For those of
Compaq Computer
Corp. 650-583-7222 mance score, fueled by its AMD-K6 233 us who are willing to configure our com­
Houston, TX http://www.polywell processor and a 512-KB L2 cache. puters and don't mind downloading a new
800-345-1518 .com
281-370-0670 Enter HotBYTEs The SiS chip set uses a type of un iversal driver occasionally, these PCs are a cost­
http://www.compaq No.1099. memory architecture that assigns system effective way to add another computer to
.com memory to the video subsystem. Using the our stables. [ii
Enter HotBYTEs
No.1096. built-in BIOS set up , you can all ocate
Enter HotBYTEs No. between 0.5 and 4 MB of system RAM for Robert L. Hummel is an electrical engineer, pro­
Pionex GX $699 at http://www.byte.com

Pionex Gx8G $999 /hotbytes/

use by the video display, depending on grammer, and consultant. You can reach him at
your required resolution . The lack of <led­ [email protected]

wwwbyte. om MAY1998 BYTE 127

 Utility

Key Vision removes a lot of the hassle of managing Windows 95

and NT registries-even remotely. By William Wong

Remote-Control Registry
• • •• indows 95 an d NT app lica­
tions live and die according to
their registry settings, but
managing them is a bear. Like
many network administrators, I've spent
countless hours tracking down registry­
configuration problems on networked
PCs. It's a difficult task involving cryp­
tic, poorly documented variables.
But a marvelous new tool, Key Vision,
brings order to the registry with search­
ing, reporting, and updating features that
allow me to monitor and alter registries
across the network. I wouldn't be with­
out it now.
Key Vision's client/server architec­
ture has NT-based communications and
management servers you administer with
ActiveX controls via a Web browser.
Agents run on Windows NT or 95. Intra­
KeyVision uses ActiveX controls within Internet Explorer to provide
Soft also provides agent installation for
Microsoft Systems Management Services remote batch management of Windows 95 and NT registries.
(SMS).
Heavy-duty requirements allow Key­ ferent machines for reliability and per­ RATINGS
Vision to work in large networks. It needs formance, I ran both KeyVision and SQL
Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 on a dual Pen­ Server on the same dual-processor Back­
TECHNOLOGY * * * *
tium Pro machine that has 256 MB of Office server. IMPLEMENTATION * * *

RAM. Although IntraSoft recommends KeyVision agents run in the back­

that KeyVision and SQL Server be on dif- ground and communicate secure ly
PERFORMANCE

* * * *
between the registry and the KeyVision I had minor SQL Server configuration
server. The Web-based management con­ hassles during installation. KeyVision's
TECH FOCUS sole provides access to users (query only), configuration support is poor, but maybe

Making Up a Batch operators (change workstation groups you won't need it. The installation pro­

Microsoft provides remote registry man­ and registries), and administrators (access gram didn't put folders on the start menu,

agement using the registry editor, but only policy and configuration options). but a ll actions were available from the
for a single workstation. Batch operations The management console was very main form. Once installed, KeyVision
are lacking, and Windows 95 and NT reg­
easy to use . Workstations with agents was very stable.
istries call for different management tools.
installed showed up in the Unassigned KeyVision does only one thing-reg­
Most software-distribution packages sup­
group. Creat ing groups and moving istry management-but does it so well
port registry manipulation when a pack­
workstations to them was a snap. KeyVi­ that it should be easi ly justifiable by the
age is installed. Limited batch operations
sion sup ports queries to find worksta­ management cost savings. Its use of SQL
can be performed using command-line
tions whose registries meet specific cri­ Server and SMS makes it a good fit for
arguments. But none of these tools can
teria, monitors for rea l-time notification BackOffice environments. llJ
begin to match the capabilities of KeyVi­ of registry changes, and filters to prevent
sion, especially in searching and real-time unwanted updates. William Wong is a computer consultant and
monitoring. KeyVision 's Acrobat documentation author. You can contact him at bwong
was useful, though screens were unclear. @voicenet.com.

128 BYT E MAY 1998 ***** Outstanding ****Very Good ***Good ** Fair * Poor
 FIELD TEST: ADSL Service

With symmetric throughput of up to 1.1 MBps, Covad's TeleSpeed

offers fast, though pricey, ADSL. By Michelle Campanale

Remote Access for Short Attention Spans

ometimes it's easy to spot

irony. I watched a home in­
staUation of Covad Commu­
nications' new high-speed,
synchronous 1.1-MBps asymmetric digi­
tal subscriber line (ADSL) modem for one
of Web TV's network engineers, Robert
Gutierrez. With the resulting major speed
increase over his previous Pacific Bell ISDN
connection, Gutierrez can now more effi­
ciently monitor the analog modem bank
for the slower, dial-up connections of
Web TV's customers.
In the future, Web TV and other com­
panies that offer services to home users
will likely benefit fromADSL technology.
But that won't happen for at least a year,
because newer ADSL technologies, such
as sp litterless discrete multitone (DMT),
have yet to be standardized, and home im­
plementation is tricky.
For the time being, Covad's TeleSpeed Covad installs its remote-access device, a Diamond Lane

ADSL service uses carrierless amplitude

ADSL router called Speed link Modem, into users' homes.

and phase (CAP) modulation. Like the

competing DMT, CAP is not "splitterless"
and works at the single-user level for re­ pensive back-endATM/DS3 orTl/frame­ met. "I have headhunters calling me all
mote-access connections. Once splitter- re lay equipment and routers. Companies the time for six-figure-salary jobs. This
must also pay costly monthly surcharges. becomes an incentive on the [Web TV)
RATINGS
For example, Web TV's installation of the employment package,'' he explains.
TECHNOLOGY * * * * Covad ATM/DS3 device cost $7500; add Setup issues are another impediment
IMPLEMENTATION * * * to that a back-end recurring monthly rate to the release anytime soon of a Covad
PERFORMANCE * * * * * of $4000 for the service . Companies also
need to invest in a router if they don't al­
package for individual home users. Cur­
rently, installation requires a visit from
less DMT becomes standardized by the ready have one. a service technician; the user's corporate
UniversalADSL Working Group (UAWG), On Gutierrez's end, there are a series network admi nistrator must then tackle
the technology will be available as a much of installation charges, including $550, TCP/ IP addressing and routing issues.
less expensive (yet slightly slower) solu­ $325, and $80, for inside and outside wir­ During Gutierrez's installation, I wit­
tion for consumers. ing and customer premises equipment nessed some thorny TCP/ IP routing prob­
(CPE) installations, respectively. In ad­ lems between Web TV's router and the
What's Involved dition, his employer must pay $195 per newly installed ADSL modem. According
Currently, solutions like Covad's Tele­ month for each TeleSpeed 1.1 user. to Lou Pelosi, director of marketing for
Speed 1.1 - which functions as high ­ Unlike ISD N, Covad's service has a Covad, the company's TeleSpeed service
bit-rate DSL (HDSL) and requires the flat-rate fee, so there are no per-minute is an Ethernet interface, so the point of
user to live less than 12,400 feet from the charges . Gutierrez says that in a com­ demarcation is on the side of the modem.
central office-remain costly. The ser­ petitive market like Silicon Valley, top "It's up to the company [i.e., Web TV) to
vice, which essentially turns a company engineers' demands for such perks as a ensure that the NIC [network interface
into an ISP, requires an investment of ex- Tl equivalent to their homes are often card] software is configured properly,"

*****Outstand ing ****Very Good ***Good ** Fair * Poor M, AY 1998 B Y TE 1 29

 Review Remote Access for Short Attention Spans

Pelosi says. He adds that Covad monitors

and supports the service up to the modem, DATA TRANSFER!

"but it's the [participating] corporation's

responsibility to deal with the NICs and Going with the Data Flow
IP-addressing issues." Data packets are transported from the home to the central office (CO) using OSL technology.
The CO then delivers the traffic to the corporate network over one or more high-speed WAN
Advantage: Speed circuits. Each WAN circuitterminates on a corporate routerorswitch, using either the T1/frame­
Although it's costly and installation is tricky, relay protocol ortheATM/053 protocol, where one permanent virtual circuit(P\1€) per telecom­
Covad's service offers some compelling muter is supported. The resulting end-to-end connection is a secure, private, dedicated one
advantages. Before installation, Gutierrez between the telecommuter's f!C and the corporate network.
transferred a series of files, through an ISDN
connection, from his home computer (a
Sun Ultra 1 Model 170E, running Solaris Covad's Regional Network Architecture
2.6) to the Web TV server. After the Dia­
mond Lane ADSL router and TeleSpeed
1.1 hookup, he transferred the same files,
showing the differences in speed between
ISDN and ADSL (see the text box below).
I later tested some of Covad's products
at the company's executive briefing cen­
ter in Mountain View, California (which
is located 3000 feet from the central office),
where I found the TeleSpeed 1.1 service ca­
pable of 1-Mbps throughput for FTP puts
and sends to the server. In addition, I was Covad's layer 2 network uses lndlvldual, dedicated

able to ping the network in 11 milliseconds permanent vlrtual circuits, which are secure and

using a program that tests whether a net­ guarantee a certain quality of access, but are expensive.

work destination is on-line.

I did these tests using a Diamond Lane
ADSL router connected to a Compaq 233­
MHz Presario Pentium MMX with 32 MB able to transfer data at 6.6 KBps. (I did the TeleSpeed 384 and 144 services cost $125
of RAM and running Windows 95, MS-DOS tests using an Ascend Pipeline 50 termi ­ and $90, respectively, for the end-user fee,
7. 10, Chameleon FTP Server, and Netscape nal adapter connected to a Fujitsu Life­ and $4000 and $975 for back-end month­
Communicator 4.0la. Using Covad's Tele­ Book with 32 MB of RAM, running Win ly service charges. All these services except
Speed 144, which uses existing ISDN in­ 95 and Netscape Communicator 4.0la. ) TeleSpeed 144 (which works over ISDN
frastructure and is based on ISDN digital I also loaded a graphics-intensive Web lines) work over 26-gauge, double-wired
subscriber line (IDSL techno logy), I was page-the Chicago 71-ibune Web site (which copper lines.
reloaded in about 2.5 seconds) -that is of­
ten sluggish over a 56-Kbps modem con­ Who Benefits?
Speeds and Feeds nection. Unlike using a cable modem, Co­
vad's end-user services are shared. These
Currently, Covad is targeting businesses
with as few as 40 telecommuters-the
When transferring files to and from a com­ services have a dedicated line for each user, minimum that Covad believes is necessary
pany server, Covad's symmetrical 1 .1­ resulting in greater security without the for a company to get a return on its invest­
MBps service is seven to 11 times faster need for encryption. ment. But Web TV's Gutierrez estimates
thanlSDN.
Because they use a switched, dedicated that his company will get a return on its
medium where no packets are shared, Co­ investment with its five top producers, ex­
vad's DSL services are fairly secure and do tremely productive employees who spend
not require encryption or a firewall. Co­ a lot of time on-line monitoring mission­
vad's architecture is a layer 2 network; Co­ critical services.
vad uses individual, dedicated permanent But even in Silicon Valley's competitive
virtual circuits (PVCs) to encapsulate the market, Covad's 1.1-MBps service is a lux­
transport data from the home to the cor­ ury that most companies can't afford. Co­
poration. vad hopes economies of scale will allow it
In addition to TeleSpeed 144 and 1.1, to grow this service quickly and that prices
Seconds Covad offers two other services: Tele­ will dro p eno ugh so that nearly everyone
Speed 1.5 (1.5-Kbps downstream and 3 84­ can afford it. Iii
• Local Telco (Pacific Bell;128-Kbps !SON) Kbps upstream) and TeleSpeed 384 (sym­
• Covad TeleSpeed ll (AOSL) metrical384 Mbps). TeleSpeed 1.1and1.5 Michelle Campana le is a BYTE technical edi­
cost $195 per month per user and $4000 tor based in San Mateo, Californ ia. You can
for back-end monthly service charges. The reach her at [email protected]:

130 BYTE MAY 1998

 Jerry Pournelle

Jerry believes in backups,

Four Ways to and Chaos Manor's

multiple redundancy
system has just entered
More Storage a new age.

ne of the neatest develop­ tern was stable, I unplugged the cable you can run at 10 Mbps until you get
ments in the computer revo­ from the 10-Mbps hub and plugged it into faster boards and then upgrade without
lution is the plethora of cheap the 100-Mbps hub to see if the auto-sens­ pulling more wire. The odd thing is you
storage systems. We have a ing really worked. It didn't: there was no may be better off paying attention to the
bunch of them at Chaos Manor. green light. The N etgear bo ard has a brand of cable you buy than the brand of
The first solution is simple: add a bunch oflights to signal what's wrong. In Ethernet board.
larger hard drive. Except for portables, this case, it wasn't getting a signal.
it's nearly impossible to buy a hard drive
smaller than 2 GB, and larger ones are
about 50 bucks a gigabyte. Put a new hard
The Netgear manual says you must
have Level 5 cable to run at 100 Mbps. I
wasn't sure what my old cable was, but
T HE NETGEAR BOARD WENT
into Fireball, which is my experi­
mental dual 200-MHz Pentium Pro (the
drive in your old system or install it in I'd read that on the box when I bought big ones with a 1-MB cache) system that
another system and network to it. Net­ the board, so in preparation I also bought I built from a Micronics W6-LI mother­
work costs have fallen to nearly trivial lev­ a 25-foot cable certified as Level 5. I for­ board and a PC Power & Cooling case
els. Basic new machines are getting cheap get what it cost, butitwas under 20 bucks. and cooling fans; see my December 1997
enough that you can afford to use one as I plugged that into the Netgear board column for details.
a "disk box" with the cheapest possible and the other end into the 100-Mbps hub, Fireball also sports a Distributed Pro-
video card, no sound card or other acces­
sories, a network card, and as much disk
space as you want.
Now, three of my systems talk

There are far more elegant solutions to to each other at 100 Mbps.

your space problem-spending a bit

more to get a good Windows NT server and voila! No change in software; liter­ cessing Technology (DPT) SmartCache
is one of them. However, if all you want ally plug in the right cable to the faster IV SCSI controller and a DPT RAIDsta­
is disk space in a hurry without configu­ hub, and you have 100-Mbps communi­ tion3 external RAID disk box. The RAID
ration problems, networking to a box full cations. Now, three of my systems talk to box contains a Quantum Fireball 3-GB
of storage space certainly works. each other at 100 Mbps (and to the rest SCSI drive and two Seagate Cheetah 4LP
Even Fast Ethernet is cheap. Last time of the network at 10 Mbps). I can sure 4-GB drives. RAID is supposed to be a way
I was at Fry's, the big discount electron­ notice the difference; enough so that I'll to use inexpensive disk drives in an
ics superstore, I saw a Netgear FA310TX probably get a couple more of those array without having to use identical
Fast Ethernet PCI auto-sensing lOOBase­ boards and cables, and upgrade other drives. These were the cheapest large SCSI
TX/lOBase-T adapter for $29, which is like PCI-bus systems. drives at Fry's; the Quantum was on sale,
they're giving it to me. Genuine 3Com The installation was painless. Plug and for I think under $100.
boards work, but they were selling for Play worked just fine (in Windows 95; The RAID box supports three RAID
nearly three times that price. and once everything works in that, I in­ modes. The first is RAID O, which has no
l already had two Garrett Ethernet stall NT4 and feed it the values that worked redundancy or safety at all. The RAID 0
hubs, one running at 10 Mbps and one at in Windows 95) . array looks like one great big drive to
100 Mbps. They're linked, so if I have The moral of this story is that Pour­ the system. Files are written across the
100-Mbps machines, I can simply plug nelle's law holds : if you have a com­ array in a manner to optimize perfor­
into the 100-Mbps board. I figured that puter problem, check your cables first. mance. It's fast, and you get all the stor­
if this worked, I'd have 100-Mbps capa­ The other lesson is more general: 100­ age the drives are capable of.
bility in my new machine on the cheap. Mbps equipment is now cheap enough Second, it supports RAID 1, which is
I installed the Netgear board at 10 that you ought to be using it, but it won't mirrored data in pairs of drives. I could,
Mbps without incident. The drivers they work without quality cables. Level 5 cable for example, pair the two Seagate drives,
supplied worked just fine. After the sys- costs a little more, but once you have it, and everything written to one of them

www.byte.com MAY 1998 BYTE 131

 Chaos Manor I Four Ways to More Storage
would then be written to the other. If either the drive tray onto the jumper pins that
failed, the other would have everything on control the SCSI ID for the drive. It's ex­
it. RAID 1 is fast on both reads and writes, plained reasonably well in the DPT RAID­
and utterly safe unless both drives fail. It station3 documentation, but the ease
halves disk capacity, of course. varies from drive to drive.
In the RAID box, I could have two drives On the Quantum Fireball, it was easy to
in a RAID 1 array, and the third can be a hot­ connect to the SCSI ID jumper pins, but I
swapp able spare. That is, if one of the never did find a connection to connect the
drives fails, the third, which has been on "drive busy" light cable to. Consequently,
standby, would swing in to substitute for I have no drive-activity indicator on that
the failed drive. The system would build drive. The Seagate drives, on the other
up a copy of everything on the working hand, have good documentation, making
drive, and within minutes, I'd be back to it easy to connect both the SCSI ID cables
a fully backed up RAID 1 system. Alterna­ and the drive light cable. However, those
tively, the third drive can just be a drive, connections are on the back of the drive in
not part of the RAID system at all. a position that makes it hard, mechani-

Setting up the RAID arrays is

both easy and complex.

The third alternative is RAID 5. A RAID cally, to get the drive into the drive tray
5 system requires at least three drives. All once the cables are attached. It took me
files are written across the three in such a nearly half an hour to get it right. Once I
way that if one of the drives fails, you can did, though, there were no problems.
recover all the data through error-correc­ When the physical installations are
tion files stored on all three drives. This done, invoke Windows 95 and install the
happens invisibly. RAID 5 is slower than DPT software. That's a breeze. Then run
RAID O or RAID 1, but most of the penalty the software.
is in writing files; reads in RAID 5 are fast. The DPT software is nearly self-explana­
RAID 5 also uses disk space. In my case, tory, but it takes a long time (about an
I have two 4-GB drives and one 3-GB drive, hour) to build an array, and there is abso­
but the final formatted RAID drive (which lutely no indication on your screen that
looks to the OS like one big drive) is only anything is happening. Similarly, there's
6.3 GB, which for Windows 95 formats into an option to format a disk in the array. It's
three 2-GB drives with some left over that not explained well in the DPT documents,
I could partition into a special swap-file but this is a low-level format.
drive. It makes sense to set up the swap­ If you start that format, it will take an
file drive with the largest disk cluster size hour or more. Once it has started, if you
your system can handle. Never use that halt it before it is finished, the drive will be
drive for anything but the swap file. You'll useless, unavailable, invisible to the OS,
get significant performance improvements. and shown as "impacted" by the DPT soft­
Setting up the RAID arrays is both easy ware. Fortunately, the remedy is simple:
and complex. The RAID box comes with invoke the DPT Storage Manager pro­
three drive trays, into which you install gram, select that drive, and hit the "for­
your drives. Those then slide into the box mat" button. Then go out to dinner. When
and are turned on with a small key. They you come back in an hour or so, the drive
are hot-swappable. You can pull one out will work just fine and can be added to an
while the system is running, and, provided array.
you have a redundant array (RAID 1 or Alas, there is absolutely no indication
RAID 5), you won't lose any data. You could that the format button does anything and
then install a new hard drive into the drive no progress indicators. The drive light will
tray, put the tray back in the box, and use blink furiously, but if you haven't con­
the key to turn it on. The DPT software will nected the cable to the right place for the
take care of the rest. "drive busy" connection, you won't see a
The hard part of the installation is drive light. In the case of the Quantum
putting the drives into the drive trays. The Fireball drive, I simply must have faith;
array sets the SCSI ID number for the drive; which works. Eventually the format is
to do that, you must connect cables from done, and the drive is in fine shape.

Enter HotBYTEs No. 93 at http ://www.byte.com/hotbytes/

 After that, Bob's your uncl e. The DPT 2147 KB total. If I look at that same drive ciated with Quarterdeck's CleanSweep­
Storage Manager software is slow and with Princess, my Compaq Professiona l so it all seems safe enough, and it's a sim­
thorough and quite self-explanatory, and Workstation 5000, running NT, I see 3448 ple solution to fil e-location nightmares.
you can create RAID O, RAID 1, or RAID 5 KB used space, 836,894 KB space available, My on ly doubts here involve using redi­
at will. Each t akes a while-about a n and 4285 KB total. None of this is a prob­ rectors with memory-resid ent compres­
hour-as do es switching from o n e to le m : I can always find fi les o n Sp irit sion progra ms li ke Mijenix's FreeSpace.
ano th er, and yo u must save yo ur d a ta through the network. Either program is reliable acting alone, but
before doing it; but it all works about as Anyway, the RA!Dstation3 is a goo d one of the programs may not understand
advertised. In theory, you can change RAID choice for critical mass storage. RAJD 5 is what the other is doing. Thus, I'd be cau­
types without losing data, but I'd sure hate a bit costl y in space, bur it works, it's easy tious about using BigDisk with any on-the­
to try. to set up, and while the write-rime penalty fly compression progra m; but then I'm
My first effort produced a RAID 5 set­ is fa irly high, the read-time cost is negligi­ always ca utio us about compression pro­
up that turns 11 GB of storage o n three ble. RAID 1 is utterly safe (for the mirrore d grams to begin with.
drives into a single 6+ -GB drive (which I drive) and as fast as the drive can be, and If you're thinki ng of addin g a new and
formatted into three 2-GB drives due to the it leaves a drive for you to use as you like. large hard drive t o an existin g system,
limitations of W indows 95). When I saw It's all easy to set up, experiment with, and BigDisk can help you get things organized
that worked, I changed it into one 4-GB change around. It's a classy solution to your without your hav ing to do much work.
RAID 1 drive (mirroring the two Seagate data-storage prob lems. I use DPT Smart­ I'm to ld that Syncronys wi ll soon bring
drives) and one independent 3-GB drive. Cache SCS I controllers on many systems, out a version of BigDisk that lets you map
This gives me 7 GB, with 4 GB self-back­ and I've always been impressed with their in network drives so they seem to be part
ing. That will become the safety cache for capab ility and re liab ility. Recommended. of yo ur C drive. I'm looking forward to
all-important storage. that, and I'll let yo u know w hen I get it.
I used PowerQuest's Partitio nMagic to
partition my IWD 5 array into three 2-GB
drives, and again when I changed over to
I F YOU ADD A HARD DRNE TO AN
existing system, chances are that the new
dri ve will be larger than the old. Most of T H E NEXT ADDITION TO STOR­
age at Chaos Manor is CD, both CD-R
RAID 1 plus an independent drive. Parti­ your program and system files are and may (recordabl e, i.e., write only) and CD-RW
tionMagic sees a RAID array as one drive, have to be on logical drive C, but chang­ (read and wri te) . The cheapest and most
which it partitions like any other. One note ing your system aro und so that C resides useful is CD-R, but if you have the extra
of cau ti on: PartitionMagic works lik e o n yo ur new and large r drive is tricky, cash, it ma y be worth it to ge t a Ric o h
magic until you hit 8 MB. It simply ignores and it can be dangero us if you don't quite MediaMaster MP-6200S Internal CD-RW
any drive space beyond 8 MB, no matter know what you're doing. drive. This will function as a (rather slow­
how large your drive is. That's about its However, there's a si mpler soluti on . 6x) CD-ROM drive, write CD -R gold discs,
only problem, and PowerQu est claims BigDisk, from Syncronys Softcorp, will and work with CD-RW if you need that.
they'll have it fixed Real Soon N ow. move fil es for you while tricking the OS It's a SCSI device that in my case oper­
I have been partitioning my drives into into beli ev ing that they're sti ll on rhe C ates off the DPT caching controller in Fire­
2-GB logical drives, because of Windows drive. You use a si mpl e slider control to ba ll , but it comes w ith a PE Logic SCS I
95 . W hen I change Fireball over to NT 4, I indicate how much free space yo u want on board that has both internal and externa l
will repartition to 4-MB logical drives. yo ur C dr ive, and the program does rhe SCSI connectors. If you don' t have SCSI,
this will work, because install ati on is a
snap, and everyone ought to have SCSI.
In theory, you can change RAID types
You also getAdaptec's Easy CD Creator
and DirectCD software, making it simple
without losing data, but I'd sure hate to try.
to copy CD-ROM discs or make new ones,
as well as manage th e CD -RW capability.
Interestingly, Windows95 can network­ rest. It won't move critical files, and the The Adaptec software is easy to learn and
access more than 2 GB of space although method used (they ' re all put into one big has a mod e for testing before yo u start
it can't see more. That is, Spirit, a Pentium fo lder o n yo ur new disk ) makes it rela­ burning a CD-R.
Pro NT 4 server built from the husk of Big tively safe to use eith er BigDisk itself or a One caution abo ut CD-RW: unless you
Cheetah (hence the name Spirit), has two fi le manager of your own choosing to have a fairly new system, yo ur CD -ROM
4-GB drives. One is a Micropolis AV! exter­ selectively restore files that shouldn't have drive probably can't read CD-RW discs. The
nal drive, one of the best drives in the been moved. only drive I have that reads CD-RW discs
house. It will send audio and visual data in Alternatively, BigDisk will use redirec­ (other than the Ricoh drive that created
a continuous stream. Alas, Micropolis has tory tr ickery to make your system th ink all them) is a Panasonic 24x ATAPI CD-ROM
ceased to exist, although I note that Fry's the disk space on your system is one big drive that resides in Cyrus, my Cyrix 6x86
a dve rtised some Micropolis drives this disk, so that you have a very large C drive. P-166 system. Most newer CD-ROM drives
morning. You can then forget about it. will read CD-RW discs, but newer means
Anyway, ifl look at Spirit's drives across Install ation is si mpl e, the manua l is manufactured after the fa ll of 1997. The
the network with a Windows 95 machine, clear, the recovery paths seem reasonable, buzzword to look for is multiread with a
they appear to be 2 GB only. I see 1310 KB and the co mpany includ es peop le I've silver sticker. Drives that have that will read
used space, 836,894 KB space ava ilable, and known for years- one was for merl y asso­ CD-RW discs. Others probably won't.
continued
w MAY 1998 BYTE 13 3
 Enter HotBYTEs No. 91 at http ://www.byte.com/hotbytes/
Chaos Manoc I

I don't use the Ricoh drive for CD-RW

anywhere near as much as for CD-R. Fry's
now has blank CD-R discs for under $2,
so once a week, I use the Ricoh drive to
burn a new "full Monty" backup of every
word I have ever written (at least all of
them I have in electronic readable form).
I carry the latest of those on trips, so if the
house burns down I'm still in business. I
Speed is essential in all database projects, but not at the expense of stability. You leave copies in safe-deposit boxes and at
wouldn't try to go 100 miles per hour with your bicycle! The same is true in database Larry Niven's house. I also make copies of
technology. FairCom has been delivering fast, safe, full-featured database engines to
the really critical system software on all
the commercial marketplace for 19 years. Proven on large Unix servers and
my machines.
workstations, c-tree Pius's small footprint and exceptional performance has also
made it the engine of choice for serious commercial developers on Windows and We currently recommend the Ricoh CD­
Mac. Check out www.faircom.com for detailed information. You'll be glad you did . R and CD -RW internal SCSI drives, and the
Philips CDR-870 external drive. One cau­
c-tree Plus® key features for $895: tion: yo u can get two discs into a Philips
- Royalty Free - Roll-forwards /Ro ll-backwards drive. When you do, it scrapes off the laser.
- Portable Multi-Threaded API - Easy make system
- Complete C Source - Advanced Variable Length Records
Not good. Don't do it. We managed to.
- Thread Safe Libraries - BLOBS
- Standalone or Client/Server - Space Management
- Complete Transaction Processing,
including automatic recovery
- Save-points
-
-
-
File Level Security
Conditional Index
ODBC/Java Interfaces
I 'VE SAVED THE NEWEST BACKUP
system for last. We have an Indigita iDT
2500 SCSI tape drive. It holds 6 GB on
- Abort/Commit - Over 25 Developer Servers included
Platforms: each tape.
MIPS ABI DEC Alpha Sun SPARC Windows 95 sea Banyan VINES The iDT 2500 can be an internal drive or
BBOPEN DSF/1 DDS Windows NT Linux ~/Sp.-rn/lrtdl QNX
AIX HP9000 OS/2 Windows 3.1 AT&T System V Chorus an external drive; ours is internal in Fire­
RS/6000 Sun OS Mac Interactive Unix Netware NLM Lynx ball to back up the entire network. That
does not make full use of the iDT 2500's
capabilities, but it is something I need. One
problem with installation. All my flat SCSI
cables have three connectors, one for the
controller and two for the devices; but
Half of your Client/Server project is the Server! You control 100% of your Client both the Ricoh MediaMaster and Fire­
Side. Why settle for less on your Server side? Move your functions to the server­ ball's main hard drive are internal SCSI
side to decrease network traffic and increase performance! devices. Of course, I could go buy a four­
Today's database demands may often be too complex for traditional Relational Model connector flat SCSI cable, but it's storming
Database Servers. Server needs come in many different sizes and shapes. What outside.
better way to accommodate these requirements than by allowing the developer to Fortunately, the Micronics mother­
take full control of the Server side? FairCom's Server Development System was board has an on-board Adaptec SCSI, but
created to meet this need. It provides the developer the means to create an we were using the DPT SmartCache IV and
industrial strength Server. Complete make-files are included for all FairCom never implemented it. Reset the machine,
commercial platforms. With our proven kernel add or override existing database
enter the BIOS setup, and enable the SCSI
functionality or create your own special multi-threaded server:
drive; install the Adaptec SCSI drivers that
Application Server Network Gateway Server Data Warehouse
came with the board; and then connect the
Special Web Server Departmental Database Server Embedded Servers
iDT 2500. It took longer to do itthan to tell
FairCom Server Development System key features: about it, but not much longer.
Provides complete source code for all the interface subsystems to the FairCom Now I have a new drive, T, and an icon
Server. Server mainline, Communication, Threading, Remote function interfaces and of a tape drive. Put in a tape, format it, and
procedure calls are all supplied in complete C source code together with the there's 6 GB of data storage available.
FairCom Server sophisticated thread-safe kernel libraries. The interesting thing about the iDT 2500
Customizable Rollback-Forward Data History Conditional Index is that the system can't really tell it from a
Transaction Processing Anti-Deadlock Resolution Multiple Protocols Small Memory Footprint
Online Backup Client Side Source Heterogeneous Networking OEM pricing disk: you copy files and such to it, and you
Disaster Recovery Multi-threading File Mirroring ODBC/Java interface can selectively add and delete and over­
Key level locking

,Qa; I
write as yo u choose. Moreover, once it
finds a file, it's fast: you can play audio and
small-screen real-time video direct from

FairCorn®
corporation
the tape. It's great for saving Internet mul­
timedia downloads.
Note I say once it finds the file. It can
take up to a minute to find and open a new
Commercial Database Technology. Since 1979.
USA. 800.234.8180
Phon e: USA 573.44 5.6833 · EUROPE +39.35.773.464 - JAPAN +81.0592.29.7504 - BRAZIL +55.14.224.1610
\'I/WW.byte.com
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at www.byte.com/hotbytes/

A Division ofTheMcGraw-Hill Companies

~

MAY 1998 BYTE 1 35

 Chaos Manor Four Ways to More Storage

file, and even to get a directory takes many bounty hunter just waiting for the oppor­ people who will find these books most use­
seconds. After all, it is tape. But once it has tunity; thus the emphasis on credentials ful are those who know a lot abou t the sub­
located the file, it reads multimedia files like college degrees. ject, but don' t know it in a systematic way;
so fast you wouldn't know it wasn't a disk Credentialism has also created oppor­ who have holes in their knowledge base;
drive. tunities. One credential that's worth a lot and who are a bit nervous about exams
Because it looks like a disk drive, you of money is MCSE-Microsoft Certified anyway.
can share the iDT 2500 across the network; Systems Engineer. There are a number of The New Riders MCSE books are the
having it available across the network categories. None of them require college computer books of the month.Just be sure
means you can save to it from anywhere. degrees. They do require you to pass a to notice the publication date; books of
As I write this, I'm using Canyon Soft­ thorough and difficult exam, but the exam this kind become dated as quickly as
ware's Drag and File Gold to find and copy is based on practical knowledge, not on Microsoft releases new versions of its
the latest versions of everything I ever remembering who said what. products. Generally, the titles that say
wrote and store it on Fireball's RAID 1 If I were young, had never made it to MCSE Training Guide are more recent than
drive. Once that's made up, I'll copy it to college, and wanted to get ahead, I'd go the ones that say MCSE Study Guide.
tape, as well as write it off to yet another for one o f the MCSE credentials; it's guar­ If yo u already know Windows NT, or
CD-R disc. When I did my " full Monty" anteed employment at fairly decent wages. Exchange Server, or one of the other major
backup last time, I forgot to look into some I'd be particularly interested ifI were doing Microsoft product lines, but like the scare­
magneto-optical (MO) discs, which may technical-support work but didn't have crow in the Wizard of Oz you don't have a
have some stuff that didn't get onto one of any credentials. diplom a, go to http:// www.newriders
the networked drives. This time for sure. The usual way to get the MCSE creden­ .com and see if there's not an MCSE cate­
I'll mostly use the iDT 2500 as backup tial is to enroll in a trade school, which gory and book for you . It could change
storage, since the cost per gigabyte for stor­ doesn't so much teach you about engi­ your life.
age med ia is very low whi le 6-GB chunks neering Microsoft products as how to pass
are more convenient than the 600 MB you
get on a CD-R disc. However, since it's on
the other end of a 100-Mbps Ethernet, I
the MCSE exam. These are tough exams,
a nd having some coaching in a trade
schoo l certainly does no harm; but you
T HE BOOK OF THE MONTH IS BY
George and Meredith Friedman, The
Future of War (Crown, ISBN 0-517-70403­
can also use it to store any multimedia files don't have to enroll in classes to take and X). While I don't agree with all they say,
I download from the Internet. If you're pass the MCSE exams. You can learn on it's a valuable contribution to the discus­
looking into data storage, be sure to check your own. sion of technology and warfare. Inciden­
out Indigita's iDT 2500. More as I use it If you want to try that, the best way is to tally, I am doing a two-volume set on high­
more, but I like it already. get th e appropriate New Riders MCSE tech wars for St. Martin's Press, and I hope
book and CD-ROM. These books aren't to turn in the manuscript of the first vo l­

C REDENTIALISM HAS BECOME

the curse of the age. It's no longer what
yo u know, but what credentials you have
cheap, but they contain everything you
need to know to pass the exam, and the CD
has sample tests.
ume about the time you read this.
The game of the month is Cavedog
Entertainment's Tota l Annihilation. I'd
that determine sa lary and promotion. Understand, while it wou ld theoreti­ sworn off real-time strategy games, but this
Now much of this is due to Equal Oppor­ cally be possible to learn enough to pass one has good enough speed control to be
tunity legislation. If you can 't prove that the exam from one of these books, it's useful. It's fai rly stylized war remi niscent
the person you promoted is somehow not li kely anyone will do it; you need some ofWarcraftset in the next millennium, and
"superior," you could be sued by a legal practical knowledge and experience. The it has certainly eaten enough of my time.
Warning, if yo u get this, you may find
PRODUCT INFORMATION yourse lf playing at dawn, and not just
BigDisk about $39.95 888-299-3837 http://netgear.baynetworks.com once.
Syncronys Softcorp 714-851-6126 Enter HotBYTEs No. 1089. Be sure to see the Web Exclusive for
Culver City, CA fax:714-851-6136
310-842-9203 http://www.indigita.com/ Partition Magic 3.0 $69.95 another gra phics report from David Em.
fax: 310-842-9014 Enter HotBYTEs No. 1087. PowerOuest Corp. There's a new era in color printing. Next
Orem, UT
http://www.syncronys.com/ month, waiting for the bus: whatUSBwill
Enter HotBYTEs No. 1085. MediaMaster MP-6200S 800-379-2566
Internal CD-RW Drive 801-437-8900 do for us, plus the usual tales of hope and
DPT-RSJ/UR RAIDstation $599 fax: 801-221-0149 glory. rn
Kit $1645 Ricoh Consumer Products http://www.powerquest.com
Distributed Processing Group Enter HotBYTEs No. 1090.
Technology Sparks, NV jerry Pournelle is a science fiction writer and
Maitland, FL 702-352-1600 Total Annihilation $49.95
Cavedog Entertainment BYTE's senior contributing editor. You can write
800-322-4378 fax:702-352-1615
407-830-5522 http://www.ricohcpg.com/ Woodinville, WA to jerry c/o BYTE, 29 Hartwell Ave., Lexington,
fax:407-260-6690 Enter HotBYTEs No. 1088. 888-477-9369
425-867-2597
MA 02173. Please include a self-addressed,
http://www.dpt.com/
Enter HotBYTEs No. 1086. Netgear FA310TX about $29 fax: 425-489-3446 stamped envelope and put your address on the
Netgear http://www.cavedog.com/ letteras well as on the envelope. Due to the high
iDT 2500 SCSI
Santa Clara, CA Enter HotBYTEs No. 1091.
Tape Drive $699
888-638-4327 volume ofletters, j erry cannot guarantee a per­
lndigita Corp.
408-988-2400 Enter HotBYTEs No. at sonal reply. You can also contact him on the
Irvine, CA
fax: 408-495-3397 http://www.byte.com/ hotbytes/ Internet or BIX at [email protected]. Visit Chaos
Manor at http://home.earthlink.net/-jerryp/.

136 BYTE MAY 1998 :vww.byte.com

 MAY 1998, VOL. 23, N0.5

BUYER'S

GUIDE

Essential Products

and Services for

Technology Experts

Mail Order
Top mail-order vendors offer the
latest hardware and software products at
the best prices. Page 138

Hardware/Software

Showcase

Your full-color guide to in-demand

hardware and software products, catego­
rized for quick access. Page 146

Buyer's Mart
:;;
: The BYTE classified directory of
ffi

CD

!g
:i:
computer products and services,

~ by subject so you can easily locate

ii:
~ the right product. Page 150
5
fi: MAY 1998 BYTE 13 7
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142 BYTE M A Y 199 8
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1 44 BYTE MAY 1 998

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HotBYTEs No. 381 HotBYTEs No. 387 HotBYTEs No. 390

..
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 ADVERTISER CONTACT INFORMATION

To order products or requ est free information, ,

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HOTBYTES NO. PAGE NO. PHONE NO. HOTBYTES NO. PAGE NO. PHONE NO. HOTBYTES NO. PAGE NO. PHONE NO.

A E p
138 9·NET AVENUE INC 148 B88·9NETAVE 437 E-TECH(IS) 19 +BB6·35·77775r · 438 PANDA SOFTWARE 401S 19 +34-1-332·0054 "
125 ACI SYSTEMS 146 800·983· 1177 433 EUTRON (I S) CV +39 35 697001 INTERNATIO NAL (IS)
121 ACME PORTABLE 112L 626·8I4·0516 120 EVEREX (R AS) 112K BOO·EVEREX· l PC EXPO 91 BDO·B29·3976
MACHI NES INC (RAS) exl29BO
ADAPTEC 37 800·804·8886 F 446 Pl MANUFACTURING (IS) 40IS 18 909·59B·3718
exl9486 91 FAIRCOM CORPORATION 134 573-445·6833 123 Pl MANUFACTURING (RAS) 112J 909·59B·371B
444 ADDER TECHNOLOGY (IS) 401S 11 +44·1954·780044 FOREFRONT DIRECT INC 139 800-475·5B3 1 93 PKWARE INC 132 414·354·B699
113 ADVANCED INTERNET 151 800·878-4DB4 133 PREC ISION GUESSWORK INC 148 50B·BB/.6570
TECHNO LOGIES G
449 ALADDINKNOWLEDGE 4DIS 23 +49·B9·894221·0 GATEWAY 2000 8-9 8BB·21/.494 1 Q
SYSTEMS GERMANY (IS) 110 GRAN ITEOIGITAL 145 510·471·6442 94 QNX SOFTWARE SYSTEMS LTD 22-23 BD0-676·0566
85 ALADD INKNOWLEDGE 16 212·564·5678 434 GREY MAnER LTD (IS) 401$ 14 +44·(0)1364·654200.. extl064
SYSTEMS LTD (IS) 101 GRIFFINTECHNOLOG IES (NA) 96 BOD·9B6·657B R
85 ALADDIN KNOWLEDGE 16 800·223-4277 436 RAIMA CORP (IS) 40IS 5 206·557·0200
SYSTEMS LTD (NA) H 140 RAINBOW TECHNOLOGIES 800·705·5552
447 ALADDIN KNOWLEDGE 4DIS 24 +972·3·636·2222 111 HIWAY TECHNOLOGIES 142 B00·339·HWAY
SYSTEMS LTD (IS) 131 RARITAN COMPUTER INC 147 732. 764·BBB6
HOTBOT 124
AMERICAN POWER CONVERS ION 32A-B BB8·2B9· APCC 134 RECORTEC INC 147 BBB·RECORTEC
HOTBYTES 135
extB199 95 ROSE ELECTRONICS 73 BDD·333·9343
92 HUMMIN GBIRD COMMUNICATIONS 31 416·496·2200
86 AMERICAN POWER CONVERSION 33 888·289·APCC
ex t8199
s
448 SEH COMPUTERTECHNIK 40IS 22 +49·521 ·94226·0
ATTACHMATE CORP 54 800·426·6283 18M(NA) 19 GMBH (IS)
B IBM EUROPE (EU IO 401S 9 +41(22)B40 47 47 443 SERCOMM (IS) 39 +8B6·2·26961100
87 BORLAND INTERNATIONAL 59 B00·336·6464 112 ICANECT 149 BOD-422·9213 442 SIEMENS NIXDORF AG 28-29 +49·B21 ·B0436BO
126 ICP ACQUIRE 146 650·967· 7168 PC GM5(1S)
BYTE BACK ISSUES 144 603·924·9281
104 INFORMATION BU ILDERS (N A) 27 B00·969·1NFO SILICON GRAPHICS 117
BYTE BACK ISSUES (IS) 54 603·924-9281
137 INTERLAND 149 .404 ·5B 6·9999 135 SLIGER DESIGNS 147 BDD·255·0267
BYTE MOVING? (RAS) 112H
119 INTRASERVER TECHNOLOGY (RAS) 1128 8BB·429·0425 106 STARBASE (IS) 105 714-442-4440
BYTE ON CO ROM 93 800·924·6621
106 STARBASE (NA) 105 BBB·STAR700
BYTE ON CO ROM (IS) 143 +353·091-752792 K 445 STARTEK ENGINEERlllG me (IS) 401S 10 +BB6·3·57B·53BB
BYTE REPRINTS 101 612·582·3856 116 KINGSTON (RAS) 1120 BD0·25 l·9059 96 STATS OFT 71 91B·749·1119
BYTE RESELLER 112A 441 KYE SYSTEM CORP (IS) 27 +BB6·2·2995·6645 SUPERCDMM 9B 110 BDD·2-SUPERC
TESTMONIAL (R AS)
BYTE SUB MESSAGE 151 L T
BYTE SUB PROBLEMS 142 118 LEOPTICS INC (RAS) 112Q +BB6·2·221 ·B906B 127 TERN INC 148 530·75B·D180
BYTE WEB SITE (IS) 4DIS 9hllp://www.byte.com/ 450 LIGHTNING INSTRUMENTATION (IS) 65 +41 ·21·654·2000 108 IRl·MAP INTERNATIONAL INC 138 510·447·2030
BYTE WINAWEBS ITE (US) 93 LOTUS DEVELOPMENT (N A.) 65 BOD·B72·33B7 97 IRl ·S fAR COMPUTER 21 BOO·B44·2958
ext 0770
c LY COS 87
TV INTERACTIVE/COM
v
85 BD031 I BODI

109 CARDIFF SOFTWARE 140 888·254-89 18

88 COMP USA 28-29 88B-421 ·B9B6 M 130 VIOEXINC 146 54H5B·0521
431 COMPEX INC (IS) 11 714·630·7302 440 MACRDVI SION (IS) 4DIS 17 +353-1-667·l 1I l 98 VIEWSONIC 69 BDD·BBB·B5B3
MCGRAW HIL LCOMPAN IES(IS) 4DIS 2 AGENT812B3
COMPUTER ASSOCIATES 15 BBB·I JASMINE
COMPUTER ASSOCIATES 2-3 BB8·B64·236B MCGRAW·HIL LCOMPUTER
BK CLUB
113 614·759·3666 w
89 COMPUTER DI SCOUNT WAREHOUSE 43 B00·959-4239 101 WI BU SYSTEMS AG (IS) 96 +49·721·93171·0"
MCGRAW-HILL COMPUTER 112A-B 614 ·759 ·3666
128 CONSANINC 148 B00-221-6732 BK CLUB (NA) 101 WIBU SYSTEMS AG (US) 96 800·9B6·657B
107 CORPORATE SYSTEMS 141 40B·743·B732 MCGRAW·HILL/BETABOOKS 75 100 WINBOOK COMPUTER 11 BBB-480-4559
212·512·2481 CORPORATION (NA)
CENTER/CSC
139 MICRO 2000 (RAS) 112W 8DO·B64·800B 136 WORLDWIDE INTERNET
COSMO SOFTWARE 109 BBB·91 ·CDSMO 149 BDD·7B5·6170
ext2B2 99 MICRON ELECTRONICS Cll-1 BDD·362·7306 PUBLISHING
114
90
CUBIXCORPORATION (RAS)
CYBEX COMPUTER
112E
53
B00·953·0 147
205·430-4000
MICROSOFT CORPORATION
MICROSOFT CORPORATION
12-13
34-35
B88·229·0738
x
122 XIRCOM (RAS) 112G B00-43B-4526
PRODUCTS CORP MICROSOFTTECH NET 148
439 CYBEX EUROPE (EUR) 401S 2 +353 61471 Bil MICROWAY 118 5DB·746·7341 z
435 MINUTEMAN (IS) CVI +972-446· 7363 124 Z·WDRLO ENGINEERING 146 530·757-3737
D 117 MITAC(RAS) 112U +BB6·3·32B·9000
DELL COMPUTER CORP (NA) 39 B00·695·3544
132 MOXA TECHNOLOGIES 147 B00·404·MDXA ·Correspond diiectly with company " Indicates FAX Number
DELL COMPUTER CORP (NA) CV-CVlll B00·553·6023
DELL COMPUTER CORP (NA) BONA 5 B00·2B9·l 155 N Regional Edition Defin itions:
102 DISTINCT CORPORATION 20 40B·366·B933 129 NATIO NAL INSTRUMENTS 146 B00-433·34BB RAS -Ads only appear in Reseller Edition
105 DISTIWORLD 20 +41·91-649-4631"" 103 NSTOR CORPORATION 44 BOD· 724·3511 EUR -Ads only appear in Europe Edilion
432 DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING 4DIS 6 407·830·5522 IS -Ads only appear in International Edition
TECH(IS) 0 N.A. -Ads only appear in North American Edilion
115 DISTRIBUTED PROCESS ING 1121 407·B30·5522 141 OPEN LI NK SOFTWARE 95 /Bl ·273·0900 U.S. -Ads only appear in U.S. Edilion
TECH (RAS) ORACLE 67 910·452· 7444 WORLD - Ads only appear in World Edition

152 BYTE MAY 199 8

 BYTE ADVERTISING SALES STAFF
Mi chael P. W alsh, Associate Publisher
29 Hartwell Avenue, Lexington, MA 02173
Tel: 78 7-860-6774, Fax: 787-860-6179, mike_walsh @mcgraw-hill.com
Lori Silverst ein, Eastern Regional Sales Directo r
927 Eastwind Drive, Suite 718, Westerville, OH 43087
Tel: 674-899-4908, Fax: 674-899-4999, [email protected]
Jim Hussey, Western Regional Sales Director
7900 O'Farrell Street, Suite 200, San Mateo, CA 94403
Tel: 650-513-6867, Fax: 650-513-6808,[email protected]

RESELLER ADVERTISING
Jim Hussey 650-5 13-686 1
ji111_hussey@ mcgraw-hill.com

BYTE DECK - East Coast

BYTE EURODECK- East Coast & Europe
Phi l Ma rshall 978-499-0900
phil_marshall @mcgraw-hill.com
PETERBOROUGH, NH OFFICE FAX: 978-499-0901
One Phoenix Mi ll Lane BYTE DECK - West Coast
Peterborough, NH 03458 BYTE EURODECK-West Coast &Asia
NORTH PACIFIC Sales FAX: 603-92 4-2683 Chris Litchfi eld 650-5 13-6939
AK, Northern CA, HI , ID, MT, OR , Adverti sing FAX: 603-924-7507 chri s_Iitchfie ld@rncg raw- hii I.com
Si licon Valley, WA, WY, FAX: 650-513-6808
MIDWEST-SOUTHEAST MID ATLANTIC
Western Canada
Lisa Farrell 650- 51 3- 6862 NEW MEDIA/ONLINE PRODUCTS DC, DE, IN, MD, Metro NY, NJ, OH, PA,
ADVERTISING PRODUCTION
[email protected] FL, GA, IL, KY, Ml, MN, NC, SC, SD, WI VA.WV
Ma tt Knuth 650- 513-69 51 Neil Helm s 404- 843 - 4777 Don Ca lamare 212- 512-48 11 Advertising/Production
mat t_knu th @111cg raw-h ii l.co111 nheIms@mcgra w-hi Il.co111 don_ca lamaro@ mcgraw-hill.com FAX: 603-924-7507
Sarah M cGre gor 650-5 13-6952 Lee Jaffe 404-843-4766 John Ferra ro 2 12-512 - 2555 Advertising Production Manager:
sara [email protected] leeja [email protected] jferraro @mcgraw-hill.com Linda Fluhr 603-924-2551
Chris Lit chfield 650- 513-69 39 The McGraw-Hill Companies Jill Poll ak 212 - 512-3585 [email protected]
chris_Iitch field @111cg raw-hi II.co111 4170Ashford-D unwoody Road jpollak @111cgraw-hill.co111 Senior Advertising Production
The McGraw-Hill Compani es Suite 520 The McGraw- Hill Compa nies Coordinator:
1900 O'Farrell Stree t, Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 303 19- 1465 122 1Avenue of A111ericas, 28th Floor Lyda Clark 603-924-2545
San Mateo, CA 94403 FAX: 404-256-5962 New York, NY 10020 [email protected]
FAX: 650-5 13-6808 FAX: 212-512-207 5 Advertising Production
NEW ENGLAND/BYTE DECK Coordinator:
SOUTH PACIFIC CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, RI, VT, SOUTHWEST-MIDWEST Karen Ci lley 603-924-2557
AZ, Southern CA, CO, NM, NV, UT Ea stern Canada AL, AR, IA, KS, LA, MO, MS, ND, NE, kci [email protected]
Nea l Wild er 714-443-9 314 Edward M arecki 40 1-35 1-02 74 OK, TN, TX Senior Operations Coordinator:
neil_wi lder@mcgraw- hil l.com ed_marccki@111cgraw -hi ll.co111 Chrissy Co ppl e 2 14-6 BB- 5 171 Lisa Jo Stei ner 603-924-2540
Gca nette Perez 714-443-93 14 Phil Marshall 978- 499 - 0900 ccopplc@ mcgraw- hil l.co 111 [email protected]
gperez@mcgrnw-hi ll.com phil_111arshal [email protected] The McGraw-Hi ll Co mpani es Advertising Graphics Manager:
The McGraw-H ill Companies BYTE Mockingbird Towers, Suite 11 04E Susa n Kingsbury 603-924-2507
635 Camino de las Ma res, Suite 212 One Richmond Square 134 1W. Mockingbird Lane [email protected]
San Clemente, CA 92673 Providence, RI 02906 Dallas, TX 75247-6913
FAX: 714-443-9602 FAX: 401 -35 1-0276 MARKETING AND PLANNING
FAX: 214-688-5 167
Ma rketing Director:
Mary Doyle 78 1-860-6283
FAX: 781-860-6307
INTERNATIONAL ADVERTISING SALES STAFF mary_doyle@mcgraw-h ill.com
Market Information Manager:
Lori Silverstein, In ternationa l Sales Director. 92 7 Eastwind Drive, Suite 11 8, Westerville, OH 43081 U.S.A.
Edwa rd Fielding 78 1-860-6344
Tel: +674-899-4908, Fax: +614-899-4999, lorisf@mcgraw- hill. com
FAX: 78 1-860-6822
fie ldi ng@mcgraw-h ill.com
BYTE ASIA-PACIFIC
GERMANY, SWITZERLAND, ITALY, FRANCE, SPAIN,
Market Information Coordinator:
AUSTRALIA, HONG KONG, INDIA,
AUSTRIA PORTUGAL, SCANDINAVIA Dylan DiGrego rio 781 -860-6267
INDONESIA, KOREA, MALAYSIA,
JU rgen Heise Ze na Coupe, Am and a Bl askett FAX: 78 1-860-6822
PAKISTAN , PHILIPPINES, OTHER
[email protected] A-Z In ternational Sa les Ltd. [email protected]
ASIA AND PACIFIC COUNTRIES,
The McG raw- Hill Companies 70 Cha lk Farm Road Assistant Manager, Trade Shows
SINGAPORE, TAIWAN
Adam-Berg-Str. 11 5a London NW 1BAN, England and Special Events:
Weiyee In
D-81735 Mun ich, Germany Tel:+441712843171 Arj a Neuka m 78 1-860-6378
wei@ byte.com
Tel: +49 -89-680701-1 6 FAX:+441712843174 FAX: 781-860-6307
Jennifer Chen
FAX: +49-89-680701-18 Em anu ela Castag netti [email protected]
jennchen @mcgraw-hill.com
emanuela.a -z@wanadoo. fr Marketing/Sales Information
ISRAEL
#305 Nanking East Road,
A-Z International Sa les Ltd. Associate:
Section 3, 10th fl oor
Dan Aronovic BP 18 Les Bossons Susa n Monkton 603-924-2618
rhodanny @actcom.co.i l 31 rue du Lyret smonkton@mcgraw-hi ll.com
Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Tel: +886-22-7 15-2205

DARA Internation al 74400 Chamonix, France FAX: 603-924-2602
FAX: +886-22-715-2342
11 Hasheldag Street Tel: +3 3 (0)4 50 531339 Marketing Services Associate:
P.O. Box 233 5 FAX: +33 (0)4 50 53 1368 Kate Woodhouse 78 1-860-6361
KOREA
Kadima 60920, Israel FAX: 78 1-860-6307
Tel: +972-9-8995813 UNITED KINGDOM, BENELUX woodhous@ mcgraw-hill.com
Young-Seoh Chinn

FAX: +972-9-8995815 Jonat han McGowan

JES Media lnterna-tiona l

6th Fl., Donghye Bldg.

[email protected] SUBSCRIPTIONS
JAPAN
47-16, Myung ii-Dong
Tel: +441 71495678 1
Aki yoshi Kojim a Customer Service
Kang dong -Gu
Darren Sharp
Japan Ad vertising Tel : +44171 4956780 U.S. 1-B00-232-29B3
Seoul 134-070, Korea
Outside U.S. + 1-609- 426- 7676
Communications, Inc. The McGraw- Hill Companies
Tel:+82- 2-48 13411

Three Star Building 34 Dover St. For a New Subscription

FAX: +82-2-48 134 14

3- 10-3 KandaJimbocho London W1X4BR U.S. 1-800- 257-9402

Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101 Japan Engla nd Outside U.S.+ 1-609-426-5526
Tel: +B l 3326 14591 FAX: +44 171 4956734
FAX: +8 13326 1 6126

MAY 1 9 98 BYTE 1 53
 EDITORIAL INDEX

For more information on compani es covered in arti cles in this issue,

ent er the HotBYTEs number in t he HotBYTEs form on t he BYTE Web FREE Product Information Service:
sit e at http://www.byte.com /hotbytes/. Page numbers refer t o t he www.byte.com/hotbytes/
first page of the article in wh ich the company appea rs.
HOTBYTES NO. PAGE NO. HOTBYTES NO. PAGE NO. HOTBYTES NO . PAGE NO. H O TB YTE S NO . PAG E NO.

A H MindSpring 24 977, Siemens Nixdorf 4DIS 20

Mitsubishi Electronics America BONA 1 993
1044 Adaptec 155 Hewlett-Packard 24. BONA 1
Motorola 51. 401S 15.BONA 1 990 Simple Technology 40IS 20
1047 Adtran 155 1038 Hewlett-Packard Mobile Computing 155
1056 Site Technologies 155
976 AnyWare 4DIS 20 992 Hi-Grade 401S 20 N SkyOata 4DIS 3
Apple Computer 24, BONA 1 987 Hypertec 4DIS 20 1112 NEC Technologies 114.BONA 1
Softlab 112S
1049 Athena Design 155 NetCom 24
1048 Sqribe Technologies 155
1053 AvantGo 155 1089 Netgear 131
IBM 76,B1. 111. 125.155. Sun Microelectronics 60
Axent Technologies 112C 11 2M,112S Network Associates 112C
Sun Microsystems 49, 112M
996 Axis Communications 4DIS 20 IBM PC BONA 1 1060 NewCo Partners 155
Sun Microsystems/JavaSoft 24, 60
1087 lndigita 131 1125 Newer Technologies 155
B lnformix Software Bl 997 Nexus Telecom 401S 20 1081 SunSoft 76
Baan Nederland 4DIS 7 Nokia 4DIS 15 1075 SuperCede 60, 76
lnktomi B9
Bell Allantic 24 Nortel 401S 15 1082 Sybase 76,B1
Instantiations 60
Bocom 4DIS 3 Novell 24 1083 Symantec 60. 76
1067 Intel 24, 155. 4DIS 3
1076 Borland International 60. 76 Intel (Vtune) 60 Nu Mega 60 1085 Syncronys Softcorp 131
Bosch 4DIS 15 lntentia International 401S 7 1059 Synon 155
Brazos Project 4DIS 3
0 1041 SyQuest Technology 155
lntercai 401S 15 The Object Peop le 107
Breaker Technologies 4DIS 3 1035 Intergraph Computer 155 1116 Sys Technology 114
978 On Time lnformatik 401S 20
c Internet Mail Consortium
Internet Security Systems
24
112C
Oracle B1.112M T
Cabot Software 4DIS 3 Ovum 4DIS 15 111 7 TagramSystem 114
1070 lntraSoft 12B
CacheFlow B9
1065 Intrusion Detection 155.112C
p 1045 Tandberg Data 155
Calypso Project 401S 3 1042 Tangent Computer 155
1069 Iomega 155 Packeteer B9
1091 Cavedog Entertainment 131 Tc. XDataKon sultAB 57
lriscan 24 1040 Panasonic Consumer Electronics 155
Check Point Software B9 995 Telelink 4DIS 20
Patriot Scientific 60
Cisco Systems 112C J 1097 Pionex Technologies 125 Teradata (NCR) Bl
1062 Citadel Technology 155 JavaSoft 55 Platinum Technology 112S Texas Instruments BONA 1
1096, Compaq Computer 24. 114. 125, JBA International 401S 7 1099, Polywell Computer 114,125 The Santa Cruz Operation 24
1101 BONA 1 1046 JVC Professional Computer Products 155 1113 Thought 112M
1102 CompUSA 114 1090 PowerQuest 131 3Com B9 .BONA 1
1078 Cosmo Software 76
K
Preemptive Solutions 60 1126 30 labs 42
1108 Kingdom Computers 114
1006 Co vad 129 1114 Premio Computer 114 1036 Toshiba America 24, 155,BONA 1
1058 Kl Group 60, 155
1103 CyberMax Computer 114 PSI Net 24 Information Systems
D L Psion BONA 1 Tower Technology 60
1061 LAN shark Systems 155 TreadMarks Pro ject 401S 3
1124 Diamond Multimedia Systems 155 Q
1039 Lexmark International 155 Trusted Information Systems 112C
1057 Differential 155 QNX Software Systems limited 47
989 Linotype CPS 401S 20
Digital Equipment 24
1068 LivePi x 155 R u
1086 Distributed Proc essing Technology 131 LogicWorks 112S 1118 Unicent Technologies 114
986 RAOlinx 401S 20
Dragon Systems BONA 1 988 Logitech 4DIS 20 Unisys 112S
1052 Ramp Networks 155
1104 OTK 114 1079 Lotus Development 76 Rational Software 112S Unwired Planet 401S 15
1105 Ouracom Computer
1030 Ovforum
114
401S 20 M 1037 ROI Computer
1088 Ricoh Consumer Products Group 131
155 v
10 51 Magnifi 155 Viasoft 112S
E
1050 Empirical Software 155
1043 Maxtor 155 s 1054 Virtual Architechs 155
McGraw-Hill 103 1115 SAG Electronics 11 4 Vodafone 401S 15
Ericsson
1106 Everex Systems
4DIS 15
114
Metrowerks
1109 Micro Express
60
114
1092 The Santa Cruz Operation
SAP
24, 45
401S 7
w
Web logic 112M
111 0, Micron Electronics 114,BONA 1 991 Scensys 401S 20
F 1111 WinBook Computer BONA 1
1066 Seaga te Software 155
Fantastic 4DIS 3 1064, Microsoft
1080,
24, 41. 46, 60,
76, 155,112S
Sensar 24 x
G 1123, Sequent 24 XcelleNet International 401S 15
1107 Gateway2000 114 11 27 Sharp Electronics BONA 1 Xedia B9
GoSite 24 Millipede Project 401S3 994 Siemens A&D 401S 20 1119 Xi Computer 114
IS pages appear only in the International edition. C, M , and S pages appear only in the Reseller edi tion. NA pages appear only in the North America edition.

1 54 BYTE MAY 1998 www.byte.com

 Hardwar e

This month, we look at a PC backup product, image-editing

software for business, PA-RISC notebooks, and easy Web access.

Workstations

Brawnier 3-D
Workstations

INTERGRAPH HAS BEEFED UP ITS LINE OF expansion slots. Both systems have
graphics workstations with the 5tu­ an integrated 512-KB L2 cache, the
dioZ T- RAX 3-0 system, powered Intel 40l.X chip set, up to 256 MB
by dua l 300-MHz Pentium II pro­ of 50RAM, and ATI 3-0 Rage Pro
cessors.The 5tudioZ maintains the 64-bit PCI graphics with up to 6 MB
same seria l digital (01/501) video of5GRAM.
capabilities as previous-generation Contact: Toshiba America
systems, but it adds the capabilities Information Systems, Irvine,
of lntergraph 's RealiZm 3-0 graph­ CA, 800-334-3445 or 714­
ics subsystem, designed for 3-0 ani­ 583-3000;
mation creation. The machine costs http://computers.toshiba.com.
$28,895 and comes with 128 MB Enter HotBYTEs No. 1036.
of EDO memory and 40 GB of on­
board storage.
Notebooks
Ditto Max Professional Iomega Contact: Intergraph Computer
External Roy, UT Systems, Huntsville, AL,
$z99 (street price) 800-697-8833 800 -763-0242; A Workst ation
(supports DOS and Windows, 801 -778- 1000 http://www.intergraph.com. in a Notebook
optional for NT) [email protected] Enter HotBYTEs No. 103 5.
ROI'S PRECISIONBOOK IS THE EQUIVALENT
Enter HotBYTEs No. 1069. http ://www.iomega.com
of a Hewlett-Packard Visualize B­
Systems
class desktop workstation in a 7.5­
Big Backup on a Budget pound, 2.3-inch-thick notebook
Pentium II and More with a 14. 1-inch active-m atr ix
t may seem like a chore, but backing up your PC is a smart thing
I to do. So, when Iomega claimed that its latest tape drive, the Ditto
Max Professional, offers cost-effective, easy, high-performance
WORRIED THAT LOW-COST SYSTEMS ARE
color screen. The Precision Book

just obsolete, low-powered ma­

backup with room for growth, we decided to put it to the test. We
ch inessold at cut-rate costs?Toshi­
came away impressed.
The distinguishing feature of this drive is its innovative OmniTray ba's Equium 7000 Series corporate
cartridge caddy, which can accept any of four 1.5-, 2.5-, 3.5-, or desktops attempt to dispel that per­
5- GB native-capacity cartridges. The tapes have street prices of ception by offering Pentium 11­
$20, $26, $30, and $35, respectively. The drive itself is available based systems with an NLX chassis,
as an external parallel-port device or as a 5 X-inch internal unit (which starting at $1229. You can slide the
we evaluated) that comes with its own 16-bit JSA accelerator card. Intel industry-standard Nl.Xmother­
A$199version that supports only the 1.5-, 2.5-, and 3.5-GB car­ board in and out of the machine
tridges is available for budget-conscious users. without unscrewing a single screw.
Iomega claims a data transfer speed of about 2 GB per hour (at
This simplifies upgrades. You can inc ludes a 160- or 132-MHz PA
2-to-1 data compression) for its internal unit and about half that for
mount the 70005 machine on a wall 7300LC processor, up to 12 GB of
its external unit. Our real-world testing of a mix of both compress­
ible and incompressible files (averaging 1.4-to-1 compression) pro­ to make it less intrusive. The 70005 storage, 512 MB of memory, and
duced a slower but respectable 1 GB per hour. At this speed, a full has a slim form factor with a 233-, Visualize-EG graphics. Prices start
system backup is still an overnight task, though incremental daily 266-, or 300-MHz Pentium II pro­ at $11,995.
backups could be performed over a lunch hour. With the bundled cessor. Th e 70000 machine sup­ Contact: RD! Computer,
Ditto Tools backup software, single-button backup and restore or ports up to a 333-MHz CPU and has Carlsbad, CA, 760-929-0992;
complete file-by-file control are possible. -Robert L. Hummel expansion capabilities the 70005 http://www.rdi.com.
Jacks, with five drive bays and four Enter HotBYTEs No. 1037.
continued
www.byte.con MAY 1998 BYTE 155
 What's New Hardware

resolution paper are ava ilable. termina l ada pters can't match . 800-826-3237 or
Contact: Lexmark Adtran has t he Express L128T inte­ 805-579-1000;
International, Lexington, J( Y, grated ISDN and ID SL modem http://www.tandberg.com.
800-539-6275 or ($795). Express L768 SDSL modem Enter HotBYTEs No. 1045.
606-232-2000; ($995 ). and Express L1.5 HDSL
http://www.lexmark.com. modem ($1495). Th ese stand-alone
Cameras
A Skinnier Notebook Enter HotBYTEs No. 1039. remote-access products feature IP
an d IPX routing and bridging, and
HEWLffi-PACKARD'SOMNI BOOK SOJOURN
Servers support an unlimited number of A Digital Camera
($6599) is likely the thinnest, light­ users over 1OBase-T Ethernet ports. in a Camcorder
est full-size notebook on the mar­ Contact: Adtran, Huntsville,
ket.At3.2 pounds and 0.7 inch thick, Flexible Pentium II AL, 800-923-8726 or PANASONIC HAS INCORPORATED ITS VHS
this notebook isskinny but not mal­ Servers 205-963-8000; Palmcorder camcorder and a digi­
nourished. It packs a233-MHz Pen­ [email protected]; tal sti ll camera in one unit, the PV­
tium processor with MMX, a 128­ DUALPENTIUM 11 PROCESSORSPOWER THE http://www.adtran.com. L858 ($1000). This combination sys­
bitgraphicscontroller with 2 MB of newest ge neration of enterprise Enter HotBYTEs No. 1047. tem can capture either regular
video RAM, 64 MB of RAM, and a serversfrom Tangent Computer. The video or 640- by 480-pixel stil l
12.1-inch TFT 800- by 600-pixe l­ Enterpri se X- D is highly config­ images. A flip-out 3.2-inch color
Storage
resolution screen. The system is a monitor serves as a viewer for both
result of aco llaborative effort with still-camera and camcorder func­
Mitsubishi. 4.7 GB of Removable tions. The camcorder can input still
Contact: Hewlett-Packard Storage imagesfrom memory onto tape and
Mobile Computing Division, can take still frames from tape and
Palo Alto, CA, SyQuEST's Ou EST DRIVE HASMORE THAN download them to a PC. The cam­
800-527-3753 or t riple th e capacity of previous gen­
650-857-1501; era tions of removable hard drives,
http://www.hp.com. offering 4.7 GB of storage. SyQuest
Enter HotBYTEs No. 1038. estim ates that th e Quest drive can
hold over 9 hours of digital audio,
1 hour of 16-track audio, or a f ull­
Printers
length DVD-q uality movie. It con­
urabl e, with up to two Pentium lls nects via Ultra Wid eSCSI and uses era hasoptical 23x zoom lenses and
Laser Technology running at 266 or 300 MHz, up to IBM'snew magnetoresistive heads. 1 MB ofon-board memory for cap­
in an Ink-Jet 512 MB of EDO RAM or SD RAM, Pricing sta rts at $599 with one car­ turing 30 still photos.
redundant power an d coo ling op­ tridge, whi le individual cartridges Contact: Panasonic Consumer

LEXMARK'S 5700 COLOR INK-JET PRINTER tions, hot-swap disks and power cost $199. Electronics, Secaucus, NJ,

generates high-quality output at supplies, and nine expansion slots Contact: SyQuest Techno logy, 800 -662-3537 or

an affordable price ($249).The Lex­ (six PCI, two ISA, and one sha red). It Fremont, CA, 510-226-4000; 201-348-7068;

mark 5700's laser-crafted print isset for 120-ready system software http://wt.vw.syquest.com. http: //www. pan asonic.com.

heads deliver laser-like, sharp text and comes with built-in RAID sup­ Enter HotBYTEs No. 1041. Enter HotBYTEs No. 1040.
and imag e cop ies. The printer's port using on-board Ultra SCSI and
Accu-Feed paper-feed system helps an i960 processor. A machine with Backup Tape Drives Hard Drives
avoid paper jams and can handle a two 300-M Hz Pentium II CPUs, 12
GBofstorage, 128MBofRAM,and TANDBERG'SMLR3 TAPEDRIVE ($2749)
Windows NT loaded wil l cost $6995.
has 50 GB of co mpresse d data A Hard Drive
Contact: Tm1gent Compute1; capacity (25 GB native) and trans­ with Head Room
Burlingame, CA, 888-826­ fe r rates of up to 240 MB per min­
4368 or 650-342 -9388; ute. MLR techno logy is simi lar to THELATEST MAXTOR DRIVE USING IBM's
http://www.tangent.com. DLT and 8-mm tec hnologies in the magnetoresistive-head technology,
Enter HotBYTEs No. 1042. midrange segment of the server the 11.5-GB Diamond Max 2880
backup market. MLR3 isthe second shou ld provide eno ugh desktop
generation ofTandberg's multi­ storage space for all your hard­
Remote Access
channel linea r recording technol­ drive-hogging files and app lica­
ogy, wh ich isco mpatible with exist­ tions. The 3'h-inch EIDE hard drive
wide range of paper stock.The 5700 New Modems ing quarter-inch-tape techno logy, offers a 9-ms average seek time,
can create 1200- by 1200-dpi-res­ for New Standards but uses mag netic rails to guide the 5400-rpm spindle speed, a256-KB
olution images at speeds that Lex­ hea ds into pl ace to simplify the cache buffer, and on-the-fly error
mark rates up to 8 ppm for black THE HDSL, IDSL, ANDSDSL STANDARDS mechanisms of data recovery. correction. It's priced at $479.
text and 4 ppm for co lor. An op­ are making possible remote-access Contact: Tandbe rg Data, Contact: Maxtor, Longmont,
tional photo ink cartridge and high- speeds that today's modems and Simi Valley, CA, CO, 800-262 -9867

156 BYTE MAY 1998 Enter HotBYTEs No. at http://www.byte.com/hotbytes/

 Software What's New

or303-651-6000; CD-ROM, CD-R, and DVD-when SOFTWARE commerce efforts. This enterprise
http: //www.maxtor.com. the latter is available. The MC­ software resides between your
Enter HotBYTEs No. 1043. Printer Model 200 is a CD-ROM m!~!!Y,~i.s ~ · company's intranet firewall and
library with disc duplication and Internet customers and business
Hard Drives label printing built in, capable of Java Reporting partners to control access to data,
for Any System burning 18 CDs an hour. Priced at and Analysis secure data shari ng, ma nage
$16,395, it can hold up to 130 GB accounts, and process data. It pro­
IBM ISUSING ITSGIANT MAGNETORESIS­ of data, has a SCSl-2 connection, UNLIKE HTM l-BASED REPORTING TOOLS vides extensible data-processing
tive hard drive technology to boost and has an average disc load time that you access though a Web
hard disk capacities in all form fac­ of 4 seconds and disc exchange browser, PowerSqribe is an applet
tors. Following its announcement ti me of 8 seconds. written entirely in Java for deploy­
last year of an 8.1-GB hard drive in Contact: JVC Professional ing OLAP tools on an individual
a 17-mm form factor for high-end Computer Products Division, user's desktop. The company claims
notebooks, IBM now introduces the Cypress, CA, 714-816-6500; that this desktop-based technol­
Travelstar 6GT ($695), a6.4-GB hard http://www.jvc.net. ogy is faster than browser-based
drive in a 12.5-m m form factor Enter HotBYTEs No. 1046. analysis tools, which claim to be
(about the size of adeck of playing faste r than client/server applica­ AP/s, has user acco unt man age­
cards) for slim notebooks. It has the tions. The company designed th e ment, controls accounts according
Graphics
highest areal density of any IBM tool for nontechnical users with no to business policies, and tracks
disk drive with 4.1 Gb per square knowledge of SOL to process com­ billing and order information. Th e
inch and has software power man­ More RAM plex database queries. It costs $99 package starts at $40,000, works
agement to minimize power usage. for Your Buck per user. with SSL-enabled browsers, and
Contact: IBM Storage Systems Contact: Sqribe Technologies, runs on Sun Solaris or HP-UX. The
Division, Sanjose, CA, DIAMOND MULTIMEDIA'SMONSTER 3D II Men lo Park, CA, 650-326­ company plans to release a Win­
800-426-7777; graphics card ups the ante for 5000; http://www.sqribe.com. dows NT version sometime this year,
http://www.ibm.com/storage. graphics accelerators by including Enter HotBYTEs No. 1048. and future releases will support
12 MB of memory (previous gen­ LDAP.
RAID erat ions had 8 MB) on a board Java Spreadsheet Contact: Differential,
priced at $299.95. It offers 4 MB of Component Cupertino, CA,
fast EDO DRAM for the Voodoo 2 408-864-0600;
RAID Solutions pixel engine and 4 MB for each of INTEGER, AREAL-TIMESPREADSHEET COM­ [email protected];
two texture engin es, generating ponent for Java, lets you integrate http://www.differential.com.
AD APTEC 'S flLEARRAY ACCELERATOR 1024- by 768-pixe l resolution. spreadsheet functionality into dis­ Enter HotBYTEs No. 1057.
($2995) product doesn't rely on the Contact: Diamond Multimedia tributed client/server applications.
host CPU to handle 1/0 requests, but Systems, Sanjose, CA, Integer ($3000 per server, $500 per
processes data itself. This PCl-to­ 408-325-7000; developer seat) provides real-tim e
SCSI accelerator card has 4 MB of http://www.diamondmm.com. data feeds, JDBC support, and com­
ECC-protected, nonvolatile DRAM Enter HotBYTEs No. 1124. patibility with legacy spreadsheets Java for the Enterprise
and support for a 16-MB parity­ and macros. Multiple users can col­
protected data cache. laborate on a single server-based SYNON HAS UPGRADED 0BSYDIAN 3.0, ITS
Upgrades
Contact: Adaptec, Milpitas, spreadsheet in real time.The spread­ client/server application develop­
CA, 408-945 -8600; sheet server is made up of the en­ ment environment, with TCP/IP
http://www.adaptec.com. New Life for Your Mac gine, which you can implement as
Enter HotBYTEs No. 1044. aJava Bean or Enterprise Java Bean,
NEWER TECHNOLOGIES' G3 UPGRADE CARDS and a Java Bean-based user inter­
take advantage of the capabilities face. Integer was designed for dis­
CD-ROM
of the G3 processor to add power to tributed component systems.
your old Mac, Umax, or PowerPC Contact: Athena Design, San
CD-ROM Today, system. The high-end MAXpowr 300 Francisco, CA, 415-512-3870;
DVD-ROM Tomo rrow {$1999) 300-MHz upgrade with a http://www.athena.com. support for AS/400 systems and
1-MB cache manages to run the L2 Enter HotBYTEs No. 1049. automatic importofdatabasestruc­
JVC's NEW CD-ROM LIBR ARY SYSTEM cache bus at the same speed as the tu res from ODBC databases. The
~---- company also introduced a new
offers up to 200-disc capacity for CPU. The NUpowr 1400 ($999) will
upgrade a PowerBook 1400 to 250 Javacode generator for th is rel ease,
MHz with a 1-MB L2 cache. called Obsydian for Java. Program­
Contact: Newer Technologies, Coordinate Your mers using Obsydian for Java can
Wichita, KS, 316-943-0222; E-Commerce Efforts automatically generate Java appli­
[email protected]; cations for multi platform server
http://www.newertech.com. THE EXTRAN ET CREATOR ISAKIND OF ALL­ environments and deploy Java
Enter HotBYTEs No. 1125. purpose middleman for your e- applications from any platform that

www.byte.com MAY1998 BYTE 15 7

 What's New Software

is running aJVM. Obsydian 3.0costs Java Troubleshooting GUI displays the calling relationships Put Your Intranet
$23,000 with two code generators. between all your Java methods, let­ on a Hand-Held PC
Obsydian for Java is priced at $7800 JPROBE PROFILER ($499) IDENTIFIES AND ting you drill down and navigate

as a stand-alone product. aids in the elimination of inefficient through an individual method's WITH AVANTGo's WEB CU ENT AND DESK­

Contact: Synan, Larkspur, CA, algorithms, 1/0 blockage, excessive source code to better understand top programs, you can put your

415-461-5000; method calling, excessive object and and untangle the code. intranet in your pocket. The pro­

[email protected]; thread creation, inefficient mem­ Contact: KL Group, Toronto, grams co nsol idate, compress, trans­

http://www.synon. com. ory usage, and other performance Ontario, Canada, 800-663- f er, and render Web content onto

Enter Hot~YTEs No. 1059. bottlenecks in your Java code. Its 4723 or416-594-1026; PalmPilot and Windows CE hand­

http://www.klg.com/jpro be. held PCs. Graphics are automati­

Enter HotBYTEs No. 1058. cally converted to gray-scale

images, and Web pages are scaled

to fit the smaller screens.The Desk­

top program lets you manage syn­

chronization and Web replication,

Organize Your lnbox and the bundle costs $99 per seat.

Contact: AvantGo, San Mateo,

IF YOUR E-MAIL INBOX IS AMESS OF UNUSED CA, 650-638-3399;
messages, Sharkmail 4.02 ($29) http://www.avantgo.com .
might be of help. You can set it to Enter HotBYTEs No. 1053.
automatically update folders as you
receive new mail or move and delete Easier Web Surveys
messages, keeping track of mes­ On-Line
sages that are based on subject,
sender, and/or content. It is MAPl- VIRTUAL AR CHITECHS' SURVEYBUILDER
1- and SMTP/POP-compliant, and .com is an automated, self-service
can access proprietary formats, system that lets you create and con­
including Microsoft Exchange and duct customized e-mail and Web
cc: Mail. surveys. It eliminates the need for
LivePix Deluxe 2.0 LivePix
Contact: LANshark Systems, you to buy, program, and maintain
$49 San Francisco, CA
Columbus, OH, survey software, as all operations,
800-727-1621

614-751-1111; from survey creation to reporting,

Enter HotBYTEs 415-908-1067

http: //www.lanshark.com. are done on the SurveyBuilder Web

No. 1068. fax: 415-908-1058

Enter HotBYTEs No. 1061. site. You manage the survey cre­
[email protected]
ation-and-analysis process your­
http://www.livepix.com
self using aWeb.browser. Prices vary
by sample size, but they start at
Business Gets the Picture $1500 for 100 respondents.
Ramp Onto Contact: Virtua/Architechs,
hoto-image editing has largely been the province of either
P home consumers or professional designers. But as the new
LivePix Deluxe 2.0 shows, entry-level image-editing software can
the Internet Sausalito, CA, 800-809-9764
or 415-332-0992;
RAMP NETWORKS' IP TUNNELING KIT info @vtechs.com;
also satisfy the needs of business users.
Perhaps the essence of LivePix 2.0 is its collection of approxi­
($249) makes VPN technology http://www.surveybuilder.com.
mately 150 photo-based project templates. Many templates are available at a price that sma 11 busi­ Enter HotBYTEs No. 1054.
for home and family use, but templates for stationery, Web pages, nesses can afford. For use with
and business uses are included. LivePix templates are photo-based, Ramp's WebRampM3 integrated Get on the Web
so substituting your own photos into a template is easy, probably router/hub devices, the IP kit sup­ for Less
the easiest of any similar applications I've used. Infinite redo and ports Microsoft's Point-to-Point
undo make experimenting fairly painless. Tunneling Protocol, currently avail­ Qu1 cKSITE 3.0 DROPS THE PRICE BARRIER
A full range of photo-retouching tools are standard, along with able for Windows-based PCs. The to getting on the Web.For $49, you
a useful clone tool that lets you duplicate any object in a photo.
software and hardware combina­ get a WYSIWYG layout editor, tem­
There are nifty plug-in effects from XaosTools and connections to
tion lets you establish asecure VPN plates, an HTML editor, and style
on-line photo services (e.g., Kodak Picture Network and Pietra
Net) . LivePix is also notable for its overall power and performance. using analog phone lines and with­ wizards, as well as CSS, Java, and
Based on FlashPix technology, the program does an especially out having to invest in ISDN or ActiveX support. It automatically
good job at making rapid edits to high-resolution images. frame relay. builds product catalogs and order
Perhaps the best news for the business user is the expected Contact: Ramp Networks, forms for running an on-line busi­
release of additional photo-based business templates for LivePix Santa Clara, CA, ness, and has a built-in database
this year. At $49, LivePix is worth investigating. It provides an easy 408-988-5353; engine to simplify updating your
way to add photos to documents and other projects. -Jon Pepper http: //www.rampnet.com. site.
Enter HotBYTEs No. 1052. Contact: Site Technologies,

158 BYTE MAY 1998 Enter HotBYTEs No. at http://www.byte.com/hotbytes/

 Software What's New

Scotts Valley, CA, Keep Tabs

408-461-301 7; on Your Data
http://www.sitetech.com. Software Updates
Enter HotBYTEs No. 1056. MAGNIFl'SENTERPRISESERVER 2.0SIMPLl ­
Microsoft Office 97 Small Business Edition ($499) includes Word
fies keeping t rack of multimedia
97, Excel 97, Publisher 98, Outlook 98, financial-analysis tools, and
data on distributed pl atforms by
the Expedia Streets 98 business and mapping program.The Outlook
locating and indexing information,
98 e-mail/calendar/contact client lets you view all your appoint­
including audi o-vid eo, text, and
ments, tasks, e-mail, and Web alerts from a single Outlook Today
Your PDA Is view. You can drag and drop an e-mail message onto other Outlook
a Notepad modules to create a new task, contact, or calendar entry without
typing. Publisher 98 adds numerous features for business and per­
WITH THE VIRTUAL NOTEPAD($20), YOU
son al desktop publishing. The program now shares Word's look and
can take notes or make sketches in
feel. New color schemes help you add coordinated colors consistently
your own handwriting . It works
to your publication, and an auto-convert lets you repurpose infor­
with a number of PDAs, including
mation. For example, you can design a brochure and convert it into
3Com's Palm Pilot, and a software
HTML fo rmat for the Web.And Expedia Streets 98 now includes new
viewer plug-in for Web browsers is
restaurant listings, links to the Expedia hotel database, and enhanced
available to download files to a
maps.
desktop system. images. Accesse d through a Web
Contact: Microsoft, Redmond, WA, 425-882-8080; info
Contact: NewCo Partners, browser, it presents any files it in ­
@m icrosoft.com; http://www.microsoft.com/office/info.
Philadelphia, PA, dexes, including HTML, GIF, JPEG,
Enter HotBYTEs No. 1064.
215-625-3950; MIDI, and a number of video, ani­
newco@newcopartners. com; mation, and 3-D fil e types, in a Kane Security Analyst security suite has been upgraded with a new
http://members. aol. com / graphical format that tell s you th e rel ease for Novell NetWare and an enhanced version for Windows NT.
newcoptnrs/ index. htm I. file size and format, and gives you Th e product for NT has the ability to cross trusted NT domains and
Enter HotBYTEs No. 1060. sample text, an image, or a vid eo supports the 32-bit Crystal Reports reporting-and-analysissoftware.
snippet. You can enter queries to Kan e Security Analyst for NetWare includes customizable reports and
--- ----- - - -
search the samples it has extracted.
Business ; has enhanced password-cracking capabilities, including more words
Magnifi promises future versions and complete files from the password cracker's dictionary. Both re­
th at can index Oracle databases and leases start at $695 per server.
Report Card Lotus Notesshared data. It will pub­ Contact: Intrusion Detection, N ew York, NY, 2 12-348-8900;
for Your Applications lish APls so users can support pro­ [email protected] ; http://www.intrusion.com.
prietary form ats. Pricing starts at Enter HotBYTEs No. 1065.
EMPIRICAL SOFTWARE'S DIR ECTOR2.0 $20,000 per server CPU.
gives you a leg up for planning, Contact: Magnifi, Cupertino, Seagate's unified NT/Unix console for NerveCenter 3.0 ($2195 for a
measuring, and improving service CA, 408-863 -3800; single-server license) correlates SN MP events, helping network admin­
on your mission-critical applica­ http://www.magnifi.com. istrators identify points of failure, and monitors network traffic, per­
Enter HotBYTEs No. 1051. formance, security, and error conditions. Automated features include
~ ·ri,.Jl ~ ... " ii! e'II' .
•m-~~D.~~~
the ability to execute NT or Unixcommands, execute Perl subroutines,
page personnel, and generate an SNMP command across both plat­
forms.This release has a fully distributed architecture, integrates Sea­
gate's Crystal Reportsanalysissoftware,supports HPOpenView NNM
Learn to Share 5.0 and IT/O 4, and has expanded action-routing capabilities.
Contact: Seagate Software, Heathrow, FL, 800-327-2232 or
tions. You set and define service ANNOYED WITH OTH ERS MESSING UPYOUR 40 7-53 1-7500; [email protected]; http://www
requirements, and the software computer?WinShield 2. 1 ($69) ca n .seagatesoft ware.com.
notifies you of violations while pro­ help anyone who sh ares a system Enter HotBYTEs No. 1066.
viding a graphical representation with others, including computer lab
of how an application is perform­ administrators and MIS directors, VTune 3.0 ($279). from Intel, is notjusta software optimization tool
ing.1he program includes new rules to control desktop clutter and for Java, C, C++, Visual Basic, and FORTRAN. It has also been updated
for relational database applications, reduce th ecost ofcomputer main­ with morefeaturesto help programmers write better code.TheASM
analyzes 1/0 distribution, identifies tenance. It preventsaccidental and coach not only points out bottlenecks but offers suggestions on how
and corrects poorly written SOL deliberate damage to your Win­ to rewrite code and has been updated to include adviceforC++. Intel
statements, and has a Web inter­ dowsNT/9 5con figurati on and lets claims ittakes 30seconds forthe program to point out "performance
face for remotely correcting any administrators configure options hot spots," and it now watches for problematic events in the OS and
problems discovered. on all other networked computers. processor when analyzing code.
Contact: Empirical Software, Contact: Citadel Technology, Contact: Intel, Santa Clara, CA, 408-765-8080;
Richmond, VA, 804-794-0354; Dallas, TX, 2 14-520-92 92; http://www.intel.com.
http://www.empiricalsoft.com. http://www.citadel.com. Enter HotBYTEs No. 1067.
Enter HotBYTEs No. 1050. Enter HotBYTEs No. 1062.

www.byte.com MAY 1 998 BYTE 1 59

 Advances and Retreats
in Computing

he remote-control TV time you see it, press the De­ a very satisfying product. from advertisers to modify

T clicker gives us control

of many things, yet it
still cannot filter out televised
lete key. It will vanish from
your screen, and whenever
It's also a product that's stir­
ring up commercial resis -
these codes and defeat the
Clickjab technology.

fluff. That's about to change,

however.
We're not talki ng V-chip
I
he Click of Doo
here. We're not talking about episodes of Touched by an tance. Clickjab recognizes Take heart, though. Unless
the bl underbuss snuffing of Angel are broadcast, the chan­ programs by deciphering the someone comes up with an ex­
entire channels. We're talking nel is removed from the myr­ coded tremely clever idea,
pinpoint personal control. iad of channels availab le to signals disabling Click] ab
Click] ab (tm) is a simple, you. As soon as that program that would also dis­
universal remote control that ends, its channel aga in be­ able most of the
has one unique feature. Press comes available. other channel-
its Delete key, and Clickjab Gefingerpoken GmbH, se lection conve­
will delete the program you're of Mannheim, Germany, niences that consumers want.
watching. That show will van­ manufactures ClickJab. are Our prediction on the future
ish from your TV viewing ex­ It retai ls for $59.95 in the ' broadcast of Cli ck] ab is: Score one for
perience forever. U.S. Those of us who have with them. Cable and convenience in the (some­
You don't like Touched by already used it would pay satellite broadcasters times) struggle against crass
an Angel, for example? Next twice the price, or more. It's are facing pressure commercialism.
ost of us love trees and f lowers,
Chance Gardener M
yet few are the people who can
name more than three of the species growing in their own backyards, if they have backyards. Yes,
there are guidebooks, but this is 1998, and no one should have to read a book.

p t p t
A device called the Chance Gardener (tm)-from Chance Devices, in Oakland, Californ ia-can
identify any species of plant life. The

T~i~~~~~~~~emw~~~~~:~:; e r0Jec I
Chance Gardener uses a small PCR hanks to yet another new
(polymerase chain reaction) probe to
sample, amplify, and pre-analyze the
DNA from even a small piece of veg­ be any confusion about pets.
The Chance Housepet Analyzer
etable matter. A Pentium II (tm)
(tm) is a close cousin to the Chance Gardener (tm). The
chip-driven hand-held computer fin·
Housepet Analyzer can identify any dog, cat, hamster, Viet·
ishes the analysis and identifies the
namese potbellied pig, garter snake, guppy, emu, or other
species by name in English, Latin,
/, animal that you have as a pet. It can even identify
and 174 other languages. At d.~, ;00~ mutts, thanks to a clever use of fuzzy logic.
$299, the device is ~ f~ The only drawback, aside from its extravagant
pricey, but look for >IS'P" price tag of $299, is that the Housepet Analyz·
the cost to drop dra­ ' er's sampling probe destroys approximately 5
matically over ~ J percent of the samples pre·
the next year­ '1 sented to it. If the product's price Marc Abrahams is the editor
along with that drops low enough, howev· of the Annals of Improbable
Research. You can contact
of other consumer- · ..... i:\ \. er, t~is might prove to be
oriented botanical · tfjlliiiiiiil1i~· ··.- , him by sending e-mail
aglltchthat'sworthover· [email protected].
equipment. ~ ' ­ looking.
160 BYTE MAY 1998 www.byte.com
 * 13.3" XGA Active Matrix TFT Display
* 32MB SDRAM Memory
• 512KB L2 Pipeline Burst Cache
* 4GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
• Modular Bay accepts 24X Max" Variable
CD-ROM. 35" Floppy Drive(both included)
or Optional 2nd Li-Ion Battery
• 128-bit Graphics Accelerator with
65K Colors at 1024x768
• Zoom Video and USB Ports
* Stereo Speakers with 3D Surround
Sound and Yamaha SW Wavetable
• Smart Lithium Ion Battery
• Cardbus Ready/Fast IR1.1
* MS'' Office 97 Small Business Edition
• MS Windows• 95/MS Internet Explorer
* FREE MS Windows 98 Upgrade Packet­
* 6.9 Pounds'/Touchpad
• Extendable 1-Year Limited Warranty'
* Upgrade to 64MB SDRAM. add $799.
* 56K Capable" xZ Modem, add $749.
* 2nd Smart Lithium Ion Battery. add $169.

INTRODUCING THE NEW DELL INSPIRON 3200 NOTEBOOK

FEATURING THE MOBILE PENTIUM II PROCESSOR.

Shift into fifth gear wi th th e latest mobile Pentium' II processor. It moves at top speed to better
handle all yo ur company's productivi ty needs. And beca use it's from De ll it's maxed-out on TO ORDER TOLL-FREE
great new technol ogy, not on price. Not on ly wi ll you get the faste st mobi le Pentium' II
800-553-6023

processor available, 266MHz. you will also get SDRAM. th e fastest mainstream memory
I TO ORDER ONLINE 24 HRS./DAY j
technology. To top that off. the Ultra ATA hard drive transfers data at twice th e speed in
burst mode of a normal ATA hard drive. And. if that doesn't blow you away,
www.dell.com/buydel I
Mon-Fri 7am-9pm CT •Sat 10am-6pm CT

then maybe the 13.3" XGA active matrix display and 3Dsurround sound wi ll. Sun 12pm-5pm CT •In Canada~ call 800-233-1589

GSA Contract #GS-35F-4076Q

The new Oe Wlnspiron"" 3200 notebook with a mobile Pentium II processor

I Keycode #01317 I
allows you to up th e ante and hold on to you r wal let. To take advantage
P.~.'1,iHi:r!®ll give us a ca ll or stop by our website. Feel free to loosen your grip now.
Common features: • Mini-Tower Model • 512KB Integrated L2 Cache • 3.5" Floppy Disk Drive Two USB Ports • MS " Office 97 Small Business Edition plus Bookshelf 98
• McAfee VirusScan • MS Windows'"' 95 • FREE MS Windows 98 Upgrade Packet' • MS Internet Explorer • De li »OuietKey" Keyboard • MS lntel liMouse ' • 3-Year
Limited Wa rranty •• 1-Yea r On-site ' Service Upgrades: • HP " DeskJet ' 722C. add $299 HP LaserJet' 6Lse. add $429 • APC Back-UPS Pro 650 PnP. add $289
DELL DIMENSION XPS D333 DELL DIMENSION XPS D300 DELL DIMENSION XPS D266 DELL DIMENSION XPS D233
333MHz PENTIUM• II PROCESSOR 3DOMHZ PENTIUM 11 PROCESSOR 266MHz PENTIUM II PROCESSOR 233MHz PENTIUM II PROCESSOR
FEATURING MMX™TECHNOLOGY FEATURING MMX TECHNOLOGY FE ATUR IN GMMX TE CHNOLOGY FEATURING MMXTECHNOLOGY
Common features li sted above plus: Common features li sted above plus: Common features listed above plus: Common features li sted above plus:
• 128MB SDRAM Memory • 128MB SDRAM Memory • 64MB SDRAM Memory • 32 MB SDRAM Memory
• 16.8GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive (9 5ms) • 8.4GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive (9 5ms) • 6.4GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive (9 5ms) • 6.4GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive (95ms)
• 1200HS19"(179"vis. 26dp) • 1200HS 19" (179" vis ...26dp) • lOOOLS 17" (15.9" v i s. 26dp) • 1000LS 17" (1 5 9" v. i s.) Monitor
Monitor Monitor Trinitron Monitor • STB nVidia 4MB 3DAGP Video Card
• NEW Diamond Pe rm ed ia 2 8MB 3D • STB nVidia 4MB 3D AGP Video Card • STB nVidia 4MB 3D AGP Video Card • 32X Max' Variable CD-R OM Drive
AGP Video Card • 2X DVD-ROM Drive and Decoder Card • 32X Max'· Variable CD-ROM Drive * Upgrade to 64MB SORAM. add $99.
• 32X Max' Varia bl e CD-ROM Drive • NEW Turtle Beach Montego A3D • Integrated Yamaha Wavetab le Sound * Upgrade to an 8.4GB Ultra ATA
• NEW Turtl e Beach Montego A3D 64 Voice PCI Sou nd Card • Allee Lansing ACS-90 Speakers Hard Drive. add $49.
64 Voice PCI Sound Ca rd • Altec Lansing ACS-90 Speakers • Iomega Zip lOOMB Intern al Drive * 3Com 3C905 Fast Etherlink XL
• ACS-295 Speake rs with Subwoofe r * Upgrade to a 1600HS 27"(19 8" vi.s . • 3Com ' 3C905 Fast EtherLin k"' XL 10/100 PC/ Card. add $79.
• Iomega Zip lOOMB In terna l Drive 26dp) Trinitron ' Monitor. add $539. 10/1 00 PCI Card

$3149
Business Lease ' : $11 6/Mo.. 36 Mos.
$2799
Business Lease•: $106/ Mo.. 36 Mos.
$2199
Business Lease•: $83/ Mo.. 36 Mos.
$1699
Bus iness Lease•: $64/Mo.. 36 Mos.
Order Code #590401 Order Code #590402 Ord er Code #590403 Order Code #590404

Common features: • Min i-Tower Model + 51 2KB Integrated L2 Cache • 56K Capable** U.S.R. x2 WinModem • 35" Floppy Di sk Drive • Two USB Ports • MS Home
Essentials98 with Money 98 • McAfeeVirusScan • MS Windows 95 • FREE MS Windows 98 Upgrade Packet' • MS Internet Explorer • MS lntelliMouse
• 3-Year Limited Warranty' • 1-Year On-site-' Service Upgrades: • 3-Year On -site·' Service. add $99 • HP ScanJet 5100Cse Scanner. add $299
DELL DIMENSION XPS D333 DELL DIMENSION XPS D333 DELL DIMENSION XPS D300 DELL DIMENSION XPS D233
333MHz PENTIUM II PROCESSOR 333MHz PENTIUM II PROCESSOR 300MHz PENTIUM II PROCESSOR 233MHz PENTIUM 11 PROCESSOR
FEATURING MMXTECHNOLOGY FEATURIN GMMX TECHNOLOGY FEATURIN GMMX TECHNOLOGY FEATURING MMXTECHNOLOGY
Common features listed above plus: Common features listed above plu s: Common featu res listed above plus: Common features listed above plu s:
• 128MB SDRAM Memory • 128MB SDRAM Memory • 64MB SDRAM Memory • 32MB SDRAM Memory
• NEW16.8GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive • 8.4GB Ul tra ATA Hard Dri ve (9 5ms) • 6.4GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive (9.5ms) • 4.3GB Ul tra ATA Hard Drive (9 5ms)
(9.5ms) • 1200HS 19" (17 9" vis. 26dp) Monitor • lOOOTX 17" (159" v.i.s .. 26dp) • 1OOOLS 17" (15.9" v i s) Moni tor
• 1200HS 19" (17 9" v.i.s ..26dp) Monitor • NEW Diamond Permedia 2 8MB 3D Trinitron Monitor • STB nVidia 4MB 3DAGP Video Card
• STBnVidia 4MB 3D AGP Video Ca rd AGP Video Card • NEW Diamond Permedia 2 8MB 3D • 32X Max' Variable CD-ROM Drive
• 2X DVD-ROM Dri ve and Decoder Card • 32X Max' Variable CD-ROM Drive AGP Video Card • Integrated Yamaha Wavetabl e Sound
• NEW Turtle Beach Montego A3D • NEW Turtle Beach Montego A3D • 32X Max' Va ri able CD -ROM Drive
• Altec Lansing ACS -90 Speakers

64 Voice PCI Sound Card

64 Vo ice PCI Sound Card • Integrated Yamaha Wavetab le Sound • De ll Comfort Key Keyboard
• Altec ACS-495 Full Dolby Surround • Altec ACS-495 Ful l Dolby Surround • Altec Lansing ACS-295 Speakers * Upgrade to 64MB SORAM. add $99.
Sound Speakerswith Subwoofer Sound Speakerswith Subwoofer with Subwoofer
• Iomega Zip 100MB Internal Drive • Dell QuietKey Keyboard • Iomega Zip lOOMB Internal Drive
* Upgrade to A/tee Lansing ACS-295
Speakers with Subwoofer, add $59.
• Dell Comfort Key Keyboard • Del l OuietKey Keyboard

$3479
Personal Lease ' · $168/Mo.. 24 Mos.0
$2899
Personal Lease' · $140/ Mo.. 24 Mos .
$2399
Personal Lease ' $117/Mo. 24 Mos.
$1799
Personal Lease ' : $88/Mo.. 24 Mos.
Order Code #500404 Order Code #500403 Order Code #500402 Order Code #500401
Reference the appropriate order code tc
Pricing 1snot discoumable 'Foracomplete cop'( of Guara.nteesor L1rrn ted Warramies ..please wrne Dell USA LP . A!ln Warrant res. OneDell Way, Round Rock. rx
78682 Business leasingarranged by Dell Financial ~e rv1ces L.P:. anindependent en111y. to qualified customers Above leas epaymentsbased on 36·momh lease 'Personal leasing arranged by Dell Financial Se
anddo not include taxes. fees. shipping char~es. subiect to credit approval andava ilab1l1ty. Above le as~ term ssub1ect tochanJlewill1out notice. ·Systemweigt11 an independent entity, to qualified customers;
~~ho~~0~f:a~'. iy,e2~~ca~~~1~~M0,~11 r£ixbMaxf12·~i~i~~~31~
1
~~~11~dlMi~1u?~!21 ~r~ J~~~c;rg~~1r:h~e\~ft~6aK ~~~(~b~JrWa~d~~io~~ ~~tC~~~es~h~~'. ;~~~rl~1 ~e;~~~ monthly lease payments above are based upor
ou1pu1. however. current download speeds are limi ted to 53Kbps. Upload speeds are limi1ed to ~3 6Kbps. Actual speedsmay vary depend ing 011 lrne o::ond1tion s
' Each Dell Di mension XPS 0 Simes system or Oell lnspiron n o ~e book. \'11.th Windows 95 fac1ory installed. shipped a_
her 4/1 /98 and prior to 9/1 /9B. will he lease . All above monthly lease payments exc l
1
;~~~~~ t0~n~t~eo~ ~~(~~~~b]~c~~~r~~~~g~i 8
~~~~·~~i9sp~~hde;1v~~
1
~~~:nJ1~~~c~ 1\~~e;~n~i~~odn; 0 0~~ ~~ 5FE8n1~~~t~~1 ~~s~~~~~d~si~~hu~~ 'Sd eafeaf~;~ i~~~.P~~K~~~
1 1 1 which may vary !for example, Hartford City, IN
0 S8.40/month) ; shipping cost due with first pa
5 1 1
~~d ~~sa;~~1 Fn~~\~;rt~~~~,r;~,dMns~~i~~~s ~fi.Y1~~e~Ir~~~;~. ~~~~~~:s\~~l~~lnndod~~; Jf~r~;~g1~~~~~J t~~d~~a~:~6~Mi~~~~~r1t~;i~r ~t1~~~~~~aanndd~~:r~fnt
1 1 11 0

are regi stered trademar ksand Fast Etherlink .is ayademark o! 3Com Co rpora1 ion Trini uon is a registered 1radernark oi Sony Corpora11on. HP. La serJ et ~ rid
security deposit required; subject to credit ap 1
DeskJet are registered trademarks.and .DpenV1ew 1s a tradema rk of He\·1lett Packard Co rporation Oell. the Oel l log_o. Powe rEdge. Ouie1Ke ' -~ nd Del l Dimension availability. lease terms subject to change withu
are registeredtrademarksandlnsp1ron 1s atradema rk of Dell Computer Corooratmn ©1998 Oell ComputerCorporation All rights reserved
 . ,. ' - ",.~ ·," , __ f~-~liif;'~~~i\:~2._~1?.'.,: 1 <:.1:¥.-.lh'IW:Ii~
1~i~11-'~"':".\ ',"<''·:·~~
SOFTWARE OPTIONS DELL WORKSTATION .DELL POWEREDGE"
~.-
' SERVERS,3G~f'ifil,~~.,
~ ~ ;.fi,,.~,.•.#ili>'illif'
,"' ~. '~ ~~~-1f~ • .. W, .... ffi"r.... ','L
for Dell Dimension Systems DELL WORKSTATION 400 Common features: • 512KB Integrated L2 EC CCache • Integrated PC\ Ultra-
NEW333MHz PENTIUM II PROCESSOR Wide SCS l-3 Controll er • Intel Pro/ l DOB PC I Ethernet Adapter • HP OpenView'"
Microsoft®Office 97 Small FEATURING MMX TECHNOLOGY NNM Spec ial Edition • 24X Maxi Variable SCS I CD-ROM Drive
Business Edition includes: (DUAL PROCESSOR CAPABLE)
DELL POWEREDGE 2200 SERVER DELL POWEREDGE 2200 SERVER
I • Word 97
• 128MB ECC EDO Memory (512MB Max) NEW 333MHz PENTIUM II PROCESSOR 266MHz PENTIUM II PROCESSOR
• Excel 97 DUALPROCESSOR/RAID CAPABLE DUAL PROCESSOR/RAID CAPABLE
• 9.1GB Ultra-Wide SCSl-3 Hard Drive
• Publisher 97
• 1600HS 21" 119 8" v i.s I Trinitron

WORKGROUP SERVER WORKGROUP SERVER

• Outlook Monitor
Common features li sted above plus: Common features li sted above plus:
I • Small Business Financial Mgr. 97 • Matrox 8MB WRAM PCI Video Card • 128MB ECC EDO Memory • 64MB ECC EDO Memory
• Automap Streets Plu s • 24X Max 1 Va riable SCSI CD-ROM • 9GB Ultra.Wide SCSl-3 Hard Drive • 4GB Ultra.Wide SCSl-3 Hard Drive
Microsoft Home Essentials (7200rpm) 17200 rpm)
• Integrated Sound Bl aster Pro

98 includes: Compatible Sound

• 12/24GB Variable SCSI DATTape • APC Smart-UPS700 Power Supply
• Word 97 • Integrated 3ComEtherLink®XL 10/100 Backup Unit • 6 Expansion Slots: 3 PCl /3 EISA
• Encarta 98 Encyclopedi a • Remote Manageability vi a DMI 2.0 • 6 Expansion Slots: 3 PCl/3 EI SA • 6 Drive Bays: 3 External 5.25"/
• Money 98 • MS Windows NT®Workstation 4.0 • 6 Drive Bays: 3 External 5.25"/ 3 Interna l 3.5"
3 Internal 3.5" • 3·Year NBO On-site' Service
• Works 4.5 • Microsoft Mouse
• 3-Year NBD On-site·' Service • 7x24 Ded ica ted Server Hardware
• Greetings Workshop 2.0 • 3-Year Limited Warranty1
• 7x24 Dedicated Server Hardware Techni cal Telephone Support
• Puzzle Collection • 1-Yea r On- s i te ~' Service Technical Telephone Support
Software Upgrades:
• Quicken Deluxe 98, add $62.
• Game Pack I (Command & Conquer:
Business Lease 0 : $184/Mo.. 36 Mos.
$4499
Business Lease 0 : $165/Mo.. 36 Mos.
$2999
Business Lease 0 : $114/Mo.. 36 Mos.
GOLD. Myst and WarCraft II). add $59.
Order Code #990401 Order Code #2501 19 Order Code #250123

Common features: • Modular-Options Bay accepts 24X Max" Variabl e CD-ROM, 3.5" Floppy Drive (both included) or Optional 2nd Smart Lithium-Ion Battery • 512KB
L2 Pipeline Burst Cache • Stereo Speakers with 3D Surround Sound and Yamaha Software Wavetable • Zoom Video and USB Ports • Smart Lithium Ion Battery •
Cardbus Ready/Fast IR1 .1 • MSWindows 95 • FREE MS Windows 98 Upgrade Packet' • MS Internet Explorer • Touchpad • Extendable 1-Year Limited Warranty 1
NEW DELL INSPIRON 3200 D266XT NEW DELL INSPIRON 3200 D266XT DELL INSPIRON 3000 M233XT DELL INSPIRON 3000 M200ST
266MHz PENTIUM II PROCESSOR 266MHz PENTIUM 11 PROCESSOR 233MHz PENTIUM PROCESSOR 200MHz PENTIUM PROCESSOR
FEATURING MMXTECHNOLOGY FEATURING MMXTECHNOLOGY WITH MMXTECHNOLOGY WITH MMXTECHNOLOGY
Common features listed above plus: Common features listed above plus: Common features listed above plus: Common features listed above plus:
• 13.3" XGA Active Matrix TFT Display • 13.3" XGA Active Matrix TFT Di splay • 13.3" XGA Active Matrix TFT Display • 12. 1" SVGA Active Matrix TFT Di splay
• 144MB SDRAM Memory • 64MB SDRAM Memory • 32MB SDRAM Memory • 32MB SDRAM Memory
• 4GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive • 4GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive • 3.2GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive • 3.2GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
• 128-bit Graphics Accelerator with • 128-bit Graphics Accelerator with • 128-bit GraphicsAccelerator with • 128-bit Graphics Accelera tor with
65K Colors at 1024x768 65K Colors at 1024x768 65K Colors at 1024x768 16 Mil lion Colors at 800x600
• 56K Capable" K-Flex Modem • 56K Capabl e" K-Flex Modem • 56K Capable" K-Flex Modem • MS Office 97 Small Business Edition
• Leather Carrying Case • MS Office 97 Smal l Business Edition • Leather Carrying Case • 6.4 Pounds *
• MS Office 97 Small Bu siness Edition • 6.9 Pounds* • MS Office 97 Smal l Business Edition * Upgrade to a 233MHz Pentium
• 6.9 Pounds* * Upgrade to 96MB SDRAM. add $199 • 6.9 Pounds* Processor. add $200.
* lnspiron Port Replicator. add $759. * 2nd Smart Lithium Ion Battery, add $169. * Upgrade to 64MB SDRAM. add $199. * Upgrade to 64MB SDRAM. add $199.
* 3Com 70/700 Fast Ethernet Adapter. * Leather Carrying Case. add $99. * Upgrade to a 4GB Ultra ATA Hard * Upgrade to a 4GB Ultra ATA Hard
add $169. Drive, add $99. Drive. add $99.

$3999
Business Lease 0 : $147/Mo . 36 Mos.
$3399
Business Lease 0 : $125/Mo.. 36 Mos.
$2899
Business Lease 0 : $110/Mo.. 36 Mos.
$2199
Business Lease 0 : $83/Mo.. 36 Mos.
Order Code #890401 Order Code #890413 Order Code#890415 Order Code #89041 1
:ceive featured configuration and pricing.
----------------------~
oes LP., TO ORDER TOLL-FREE
ount of ACCESS SPECIAL PROMOTIONS
ORDER
-month
' taxes ONLINE DESIGN YOUR IDEAL COMPUTER 800-553-6023 Mon-Fri 7am-9pm CT•Sat 10am-6pmCT
es tax:
ent; no
24HOURS CHECK THE STATU SOF YOUR ORDER ! TO ORDER ONLINE I Sun 12pm-5pm CT •In Canada~ call 800-233-15B9
•al and
ADAY ACCESS 24HR ONLINE TECH SUPPORT GSA Contract #GS-35F-4076D
otice.
www.dell.com/buydel I I Keycode #01318 I
 • 51 2KB Integrated L2 Cache
* 6.4GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive (9.5ms)
* 1200HS 19" (17.9" v.i.s., .26dp) Monitor
• NEW Diamond Permedia 2
8MB 3D AGP Video Ca rd
• 32X Max' Variabl e CD-ROM Drive
• Integrated Yamaha Wavetable Sound
• Altec Lansing ACS-90 Speakers
• Iomega Zip 100MB Internal Drive
* Microsoft' Office 97 Small Business
Edition Plus Bookshelf 98;
McAfee VirusScan
• Microsoft Windows' 95 and
Internet Explorer
• FREE MS ' Windows 98 Upgrade Packet'
• Del l" Oui etKey" Keyboard
• MS lntelliMouse'
• 3-Year Limited Wa rranty'
• 1-Year On- site' Service
* Upgrade to a 16.BGBUltra ATA Hard
Drive (9 5ms). add $349.

THE DELL DIMENSION XPS D333 - 333MHz

PENTIUM II PROCESSOR FEATURING MMX TECHNOLOGY.

You need a hard-hitting system with solid performance to blow your competition away. But you TO ORDER TOLL-FREE
shouldn't have to blow your budget to get it. That's where the Dell Dimension' XPS D333 comes in.
It offers all the power and reliability you require at a price that's hard to beat. It's loaded with
800-553-6023
I TO ORDER ONLINE 24 HRS./DAY
an ultra-fast 333MHz Pentium~ II processor, a ma ssive 19-inch (17 .9" v.i.s ., .26dp) monitor and an
www.dell.com/buydel
impressive BMB AGP video card for amazing 20 and 30 performance. Plus 64MB Mon-Fri 7am-9pm CT• Sat 1Oam-6pm CT

Sun 12pm-5pm CT• In Canada: call 800-233-1589

of SORAM memory, which bursts data twice as fa st as EDO RAM . And we offer an
GSA Contract #GS-35F-4076D

optional 16.BGB Ultra ATA hard drive to store al l your critica l data. So, if you've been I Keycode #01 316 j
holding out for the champion of values, you just won the fight. Call us or visit our
Reference the appropriate order code to
P.~,11,iHin•ll website at wwwdell.com. receive featured configuration and pricing