MEMORANDUM

TO:     Bill O'Brien
FROM:   Keith Corbett
DATE:   7/20/87
SUBJ:   Status of VAX System Purchase/Upgrade Investigation 
COPY:   Ron Genest, Clovis Regis

This memo is to update you on the progress I have made in getting prices
for purchasing a new VAX and/or upgrade to the existing MicroVAX.

The only issue requiring an immediate decision is whether to buy the old
VAX from Westinghouse.  They want it back soon, unless we pay them $10K
for it.  If we bought it, we could use it until it dies; or we could
give it to the PICON group for development use after acquiring a
replacement.  I think the old 750 is worth $10K for this, especially
since we have tape duplication requirements coming up that would cost us
at least about $4K to send out.

As I see it we have two options for our long-term VAX needs.  The rough
costs I've worked up so far are listed.

  1) Purchase a second VAX to support a distributed ASK
     setup, with ASK/Serviceman [SV] running on the second VAX.

	Cost: $90-110K + TCP/IP (unknown)

  2) Upgrade the existing MicroVAX to accomodate SV; it needs
     more terminal ports, user licenses, memory, disk. 

	Cost: probably at least $25K

     Then either:

     (a) purchase a VAX 750 to replace the one we have
         (which is not maintainable long-term)
       Cost: $40-50K + TCP/IP

     (b) purchase the old 750 from Westinghouse and
         upgrade it with DEC parts (especially a real
         tape drive) to extend its life.
       Cost: unknown

Obviously my bias is toward option 1: purchasing a second system will
allow us room to grow with ASK for a long time (up to 32 users), and
will provide plenty of capacity to support other in-house needs for
software manufacturing and testing.  However, when we have firm prices
for the system purchase vs. upgrade, we can choose the best cost
solution.

Before we can get prices, we have to determine the minimal configuration
required for SV.  There are several tasks to be completed (mostly by
myself):

        * I have a lot of ASK manuals to finish reading.
        * I need to meet with (at least) Ron and Gina to go
          over the SV sizing (configuration load) routine.
        * I need to meet with an ASK technical specialist
          to go over the results of the sizing.

				   -1-

STATUS OF VAX SYSTEM PURCHASE/UPGRADE INVESTIGATION                 -2-


After working with ASK on the sizing, I can get quotes on both options.
In parallel, I am getting prices from a third-party.  I asked DEC to
refer someone from Sales, but instead they put me in touch with Jim Gill
of Hamilton-Avnet.  (Apparently DEC is not very interested in selling
just one small system.)

Last week I met with Hamilton-Avnet and described our needs.  We are
dealing with a hypothetical configuration, but I can approximate our
needs as follows:

  * MicroVAX II with VMS, 8 users
  * 8mb or 16mb memory
  * 8 user ports, 6 Wyse terminals, 1 modem
  * TK50 cartridge boot device
  * system disk (70-80mb)
  * ASK user/data disk (100-250mb)
    (I would prefer a removeable disk plus extra media)
  * auxiliary 1/2" tape device (for s/w manufacturing)
  * LAVC (Local Area VAX Cluster) hardware and software
    to link the two MicroVAXES
  * one DecWriter (line-printer)
  * DEC software options: DBMS, CDD, TDMS, FORTRAN
  * standard DEC system maintenance

Based on a range of memory/disk configurations, Hamilton-Avnet estimates
a full hardware system price of between $85K and $110K.  Hamilton-Avnet
is sending me quotes for systems in this range which we can use in
conjunction with information from ASK to make the best deal.

I don't have an estimate for optional DEC software yet. Except for
FORTRAN, the options should have been delivered with our MicroVAX.  I
will look into the prices on "license to copy" agreements from DEC.

If, based on discussions with ASK, it turns out we can effectively
upgrade the existing MicroVAX (option 2 above), we could then purchase
the used VAX-750 from MMC, Inc. to meet our non-ASK internal needs
(option 2a).  The used 750 would be a substantial improvement over the
750 we are using now for software duplication and testing. I believe
they are looking for about $45K, but they may accept as little as $35K.
MMC states that they can transfer the VMS license to us.

The only major additional cost under any option will be to purchase
TCP/IP from Excelan.  If we buy the used 750, we might be able to kludge
this together from what we already have on the old 750.


KMC