Digital Equipment Corporation
                                               Maynard, Massachusetts 01754-2571

Editorial contact:

Lisa Lipson
(508) 568-4352

Patricia McGloin
(508) 568-5102


                   DIGITAL MICROPROCESSOR POSTS WORLD RECORD

          Alpha AXP Billion-Instruction-Per-Second Chip Leads Industry


MAYNARD, Mass. -- September 7,  1994  --  Digital  Equipment  Corporation  today
reported a major breakthrough in semiconductor technology with the  introduction
of the world's first commercially available microprocessor  capable  of  issuing
more than one billion instructions per second (BIPS).

In announcing the accomplishment, Digital President and Chief Executive  Officer
Robert B. Palmer said the Alpha AXP 21164 chip is also the  computer  industry's
most powerful and the first to break the 300MHz barrier.

The 9.3 million transistor Alpha microprocessor delivers performance  at  speeds
previously possible only in large multiprocessing  systems,  such  as  expensive
supercomputers. When compared to the fastest competitors, the  Digital  chip  is
more than two times faster than Pentium, PowerPC, and MIPS microprocessors,  the
company said.

"Digital continues to have the fastest single microprocessor in the  world.  The
new chip is 75 percent faster than the previous record  holder,  our  Alpha  AXP
21064A microprocessor," Palmer said.

"For customers, this announcement shows Digital is  meeting  and  exceeding  its
goal to  offer  the  highest-performance  microprocessors  and  systems  in  the
industry. And it is further proof that the Alpha AXP architecture  provides  the
blueprint for unbeatable performance gains."

The Alpha AXP 21164  microprocessor  will  power  the  most  demanding  customer
client/server  applications  involving   multiple   databases,   groupware   for
departments and workgroups, high-performance graphics and  imaging,  multimedia,
voice recognition, and scientific and financial analysis. Customers  can  choose
from nearly 6,000 applications  running  on  Windows NT,  DEC  OSF/1  UNIX,  and
OpenVMS AXP operating systems.

Digital said the Alpha chip's performance is further enhanced by the first  two-
-level, on-chip cache memory. This unique feature also eliminates the  need  for
an external cache for the most widely used desktop applications.

In a comparison of  transactions  per  second  with  competitive  multiprocessor
systems, a prototype Alpha AXP 21164 single-processor  system  delivered  nearly
twice the performance of the Compaq Proliant 4000 server  with  four  Pentium-66
processors, and 1.5 times the performance of Sun  Microsystems'  eight-processor
SPARCserver 1000 system.

Digital is making available two versions of the  microprocessor.  The  Alpha AXP
21164-300MHz has an estimated performance of 330 SPECint92,  500  SPECfp92,  and
600 TPS (transactions per  second),  all  industry  records  for  a  single-chip
microprocessor. The Alpha AXP 21164-266MHz chip  has  performance  estimated  at
290 SPECint92 and 440 SPECfp92.

The  Alpha AXP  21164-300MHz  and  Alpha AXP  21164-266MHz  microprocessors  are
priced at $2,669 and $1,865, respectively, in quantities of 5,000. Samples  will
be available next month. Fabrication is taking place at the firm's  Hudson,  MA,
semiconductor facility.

Digital Equipment Corporation  is  the  world's  leader  in  open  client/server
solutions from personal computing to integrated worldwide  information  systems.
Digital's  scalable  Alpha AXP  platforms,  storage,  networking,  software  and
services, together with industry-focused solutions from business partners,  help
organizations compete and win in today's global marketplace.

                                      ####

Note to Editors:  Digital, the Digital logo, DEC, Alpha AXP, OpenVMS and AXP are
                  trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation.

                  Pentium is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation.

                  PowerPC is a registered trademark  of  International  Business
		  Machines Corporation.

                  Windows NT is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

                  Compaq  and  Proliant  are  registered  trademarks  of  Compaq
		  Computer Systems, Inc.

                  Sun  and  SPARCserver  are  registered   trademarks   of   Sun
		  Microsystems, Inc.

                  MIPS is a trademark of MIPS Computer Systems, Inc.

                  UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and  other
		  countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open Company, Ltd.

CORP/95/627
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mcgloin@chipbz.enet.dec.com 
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