Workstation
A workstation is a special computer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by a single user, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems. The term workstation has been used loosely to refer to everything from a mainframe computer terminal to a PC connected to a network, but the most common form refers to the class of hardware offered by several current and defunct companies such as Sun Microsystems, Silicon Graphics, Apollo Computer, DEC, HP, NeXT, and IBM which powered the 3D computer graphics revolution of the late 1990s.
Workstations formerly offered higher performance specifications than mainstream personal computers, especially in terms of processing, graphics, memory, and multitasking. Workstations are optimized for the visualization and manipulation of different types of complex data such as 3D mechanical design, engineering simulations like computational fluid dynamics, animation, video editing, image editing, medical imaging, image rendering, computational science, generating mathematical plots, and software development. Typically, the form factor is that of a desktop computer, which consists of a high-resolution display, a keyboard, and a mouse at a minimum, but also offers multiple displays, graphics tablets, and 3D mice for manipulating objects and navigating scenes. Workstations were the first segment of the computer market to present advanced accessories, and collaboration tools like videoconferencing.
The increasing capabilities of mainstream PCs since the late 1990s have reduced the distinction between PCs and workstations. Typical 1980s workstations have expensive proprietary hardware and operating systems to categorically distinguish from standardized PCs. From the 1990s and 2000s, IBM's RS/6000 and IntelliStation have RISC-based POWER CPUs running AIX, versus its corporate IBM PC Series and consumer Aptiva PCs which have Intel x86 CPUs and typically run Microsoft Windows. However, by the early 2000s, this difference largely disappeared, as workstation manufacture shifted to the use of highly commoditized hardware dominated by large PC vendors, such as Dell, HP Inc., and Fujitsu, selling x86-64 systems running Windows or Linux.
History
Origins and development
Workstations are older than the first personal computer. The first computer that might qualify as a workstation is the IBM 1620, a small scientific computer designed to be used interactively by a single person sitting at the console. It was introduced in 1959. One peculiar feature of the machine is that it lacks any arithmetic circuitry. To perform addition, it requires a memory-resident table of decimal addition rules. This reduced the cost of logic circuitry, enabling IBM to make it inexpensive. The machine is codenamed CADET and was initially rented for $1000 per month.In 1965, the IBM 1130 scientific computer became the successor to 1620. Both of these systems run Fortran and other languages. They are built into roughly desk-sized cabinets, with console typewriters. They have optional add-on disk drives, printers, and both paper-tape and punched-card I/O.
Early workstations were generally dedicated minicomputers, a multiuser system reserved for one user. For example, the PDP-8 from Digital Equipment Corporation, is regarded as the first commercial minicomputer.
Workstations have historically been more advanced than contemporary PCs, with more powerful CPU architectures, earlier networking, more advanced graphics, more memory, and multitasking with sophisticated operating systems like Unix. Because of their minicomputer heritage, from the start workstations have run professional and expensive software such as CAD and graphics design, as opposed to PCs' games and text editors. The Lisp machines developed at MIT in the early 1970s pioneered some workstation principles, as high-performance, networked, single-user systems intended for heavily interactive use. Lisp Machines were commercialized beginning 1980 by companies like Symbolics, Lisp Machines, Texas Instruments, and Xerox. The first computer designed for a single user, with high-resolution graphics, is the Alto developed at Xerox PARC in 1973. Other early workstations include the Terak 8510/a, Three Rivers PERQ, and the later Xerox Star.
1980s rise in popularity
In the early 1980s, with the advent of 32-bit microprocessors such as the Motorola 68000, several new competitors appeared, including Apollo Computer and Sun Microsystems, with workstations based on 68000 and Unix. Meanwhile, DARPA's VLSI Project created several spinoff graphics products, such as the Silicon Graphics 3130. Target markets were differentiated, with Sun and Apollo considered to be network workstations and SGI as graphics workstations. RISC CPUs increased in the mid-1980s, typical of workstation vendors. Competition between RISC vendors lowered CPU prices to as little as $10 per MIPS, much less expensive than the Intel 80386; after large price cuts in 1987 and 1988, a personal workstation suitable for 2D CAD costing to was available from multiple vendors. Mid-range models capable of 3D graphics cost from to, while high-end models overlapping with minicomputers cost from to or more.InfoWorld in 1989 described Sun as "the unquestioned leader in the workstation arena". It and other RISC workstation vendors like Hewlett-Packard were very successful in luring customers from traditional minicomputer companies like DEC and Data General with more performance per dollar, forcing them to release their own workstations that year. Apollo said that systems costing less than were half of all workstation sales. By then a "personal workstation" might be a high-end PC like Macintosh II or IBM PS/2 Model 80, low-end workstation, or a hybrid device like the NeXT Computer, all with similar, overlapping specifications. Workstation prices were declining by 20% annually; the Apollo DN2500 cost as little as, which an industry analyst said was the "magic price point" where customers would consider workstations over PCs. BYTE predicted "Soon, the only way we'll be able to tell the difference between traditional workstations and PCs will be by the operating system they run", with the former running Unix and the latter running OS/2, classic Mac OS, and/or Unix. Many workstations by then had some method to run increasingly popular and powerful PC software such as Lotus 1-2-3 or Microsoft Word. Another differentiator between PC and workstation was that the latter was much more likely to have a graphics accelerator with support for a graphics standard like PHIGS or X Window, while the former usually depended on software rendering or proprietary accelerators. The computer animation industry's needs typically caused improvements in graphical technology, with CAD using the same improvements later. BYTE demonstrated that year that an individual could build a workstation with commodity components with specifications comparable to commercially available low-end workstations.
By 1990, when IBM announced RS/6000, workstations were the fastest-growing segment of the PC market. Competition decreased prices so quickly that Gartner Group that year advised depreciation for Unix RISC systems of 45% or more annually, twice the normal rate. Workstations often featured SCSI or Fibre Channel disk storage systems, high-end 3D accelerators, single or multiple 64-bit processors, large amounts of RAM, and well-designed cooling. Additionally, the companies that make the products tend to have comprehensive repair/replacement plans. As the distinction between workstation and PC fades, however, workstation manufacturers have increasingly employed "off-the-shelf" PC components and graphics solutions rather than proprietary hardware or software. Some "low-cost" workstations are still expensive by PC standards but offer binary compatibility with higher-end workstations and servers made by the same vendor. This allows software development to take place on low-cost desktop machines.
Thin clients
Workstations diversified to the lowest possible price point as opposed to performance, called the thin client or network computer. Dependent upon a network and server, this reduces the machine to having no hard drive, and only the CPU, keyboard, mouse, and screen. Some diskless nodes still run a traditional operating system and perform computations locally, with storage on a remote server. These are intended to reduce the initial system purchase cost, and the total cost of ownership, by reducing the amount of administration required per user.This approach was first attempted as a replacement for PCs in office productivity applications, with the 3Station by 3Com. In the 1990s, X terminals filled a similar role for technical computing. Sun's thin clients include the Sun Ray product line. However, traditional workstations and PCs continued to drop in price and complexity as remote management tools for IT staff became available, undercutting this market.
3M computer
A high-end workstation of the early 1980s with the three Ms, or a "3M computer", has one megabyte of RAM, a megapixel display, and one "MegaFLOPS" compute performance. RFC 782 defines the workstation environment more generally as "hardware and software dedicated to serve a single user", and that it provisions additional shared resources. This is at least one order of magnitude beyond the capacity of the personal computer of the time. The original 1981 IBM Personal Computer has 16 KB memory, a text-only display, and floating-point performance around . Other features beyond the typical personal computer include networking, graphics acceleration, and high-speed internal and peripheral data buses.Another goal was to bring the price below one "megapenny", that is, less than, which was achieved in the late 1980s. Throughout the early to mid-1990s, many workstations cost from to or more.