PRESS RELEASE: Spherical Solutions announces Pyro 50Mhz Accelerator for NeXT 25 Mhz Hardware
Samuel Goldberger
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information please contact:
Samuel M. Goldberger, President
Spherical Solutions
47 Myrtle Avenue
Mill Valley, CA 94941
415-383-2919--voice
415-381-9556--fax
s...@orb.com--email
May 4, 1995
Spherical Solutions is pleased to annouce the availability of its
"Pyro(TM) 50 mhz Accelerator Board" for all 25 mhz Motorola 68040-based
NeXT hardware, including the Cube, NeXT Station and NeXT Station
Color. Manufactured to Spherical's specifications by Newer Technology,
one of the leading designers and manufacturers of accelerator
products for the Apple Macintosh (tm) line, the Pyro effectively
doubles the processing power of the original NeXT computer.
Spherical's President, Sam Goldberger, says, "Many NextStep users
love the original "black" NeXT hardware, because of the reliability,
quality, appearance and the range of applications available, some
of which haven't been ported to non-Motorola machines (Improv,
WriteNow, etc.) Moreover, many users have made significant investments
in their hardware and want to derive maximum value. But they want
to maximize performance of their machines at a reasonable price.
This is why we designed the Pyro."
"It Just Works"
The Pyro is a small daugherboard that plugs into the existing '040
socket on the NeXT motherboard. It contains a 50 mhz '040 chip with
integral cooling fan and support circuitry. No additional software
is required, and there are no known incompatibilities with the
operating system or any tested application. All other features and
ports (DSP, printer and serial ports, ethernet, etc) operate
normally. "It just works," says Goldberger. Different models of
the Pyro are designed to operate with both Cube and Station
configurations.
Say Goldberger, "We've tested the Pyro against the 33 mhz Turbo
and even the famous 'Nitro' 40 mhz board (which never became
commercial production). Pyro significantly outperforms the Turbo
in most measures, and is essentially the equal of the Nitro.
Moreover, the Nitro was only designed for Turbo machines, leaving
the 25 mhz user without an upgrade path."
He continued, "We selected Newer Technology to design and manufacture
the Pyro because of their excellent track record in the Macintosh
market, their outstanding and reliable product line, and their depth
of engineering expertise, particularly with the Motorola CPU. We
are delighted with the product and documentation they have produced,
their warranty program, and their commitment to the Next marketplace."
Research is currently underway into an accelerator board for Turbo
machines.
Test Results
A series of tests have been performed to compare the performance
of the Pyro board to the unmodified 25 mhz Next, the Turbo and the
Nitro. Tests included both standard benchmarks and a suite of
real-world applications. Results are available over the Internet
from the Pyro Web Page:
or by ftp from
ftp://ftp.cs.orst.edu/software/NeXT/submission/Pyro.test.ps.
Availability and Pricing
Spherical Solutions is the exclusive reseller of the Pyro board on
behalf of Newer Technolgies, Inc.. It is available directly to end
users, and is warranteed for one year by Newer Technology, Inc.
Reseller inquiries are welcome, and should be addressed to Spherical
Solutions.
Introductory pricing for the Pyro 50 mhz Accelerator Board is $899
for all platforms. Orders are currently being accepted for delivery
beginning May 20, 1995.
For further information and ordering information, please contact:
Samuel M. Goldberger
Spherical Solutions
47 Myrtle Avenue
Mill Valley, CA 94941
415-383-2919--voice
415-381-9556--fax
s...@orb.com--email
Spherical Solutions has been in the business of supplying Next
hardware and software solutions to the Next community since 1991.
***
Pyro 50 mhz Accelerator Board is a trademark of Newer Technology.
All other trademarks mentioned belong to their respective owners.