NT workstations gain power

Intergraph (INGR) released two high-end digital media workstations based on the Windows NT operating system (OS), powerful machines targeting a market segment still dominated by the Unix OS.

Intergraph's StudioZ Pro 3D and StudioZ T-RAX 3D each come with dual 300-MHz Pentium II processors, and feature the ability to integrate digital video and high-quality sound clips into 3D animation. They're intended for professionals working in broadcast TV and film and video production.

To date, NT workstation users haven't been able to output "broadcast quality" multimedia content on a single system using Intel processors and Windows NT, according to Intergraph. Most high-end workstations continue to run on the Unix platform.

Windows NT-based workstations have been making significant inroads at the low end of the market, in tasks like computer-aided design, prompting Unix vendors like Sun Microsystems to dismiss these systems as fast PCs. But sales of low-cost NT workstations are growing rapidly, while Unix sales are flat.

Moreover, Hewlett-Packard recently supplanted Sun as the No. 1 workstation vendor, according to market research firm International Data Corporation. HP sells both NT and Unix systems--importantly, twice as many NT boxes--while Sun sells only Unix machines.

Late last month, the NT camp seemingly gained another convert when HP executive Rick Belluzzo was named Silicon Graphics' new chief executive officer. Belluzzo immediately said he would introduce NT products to the once Unix-only vendor, just as he did at HP.

Besides dual Pentium II chips, Intergraph's StudioZ Pro 3D and StudioZ T-RAX 3D come with 128MB of memory, a Intergraph-made graphics subsystem, and 40GB of storage. Both machines are immediately available through resellers.