The Engineering Applications Support Environment (EASE) Programme differed from the former Common Base Programme (CBP) in that it was oriented towards the Applications software needs of the Community rather than concentrating on the hardware and basic software systems. There were now two categories for hardware: Fully Supported (as before) and Approved. Machines in the Approved category could be expected to run a wide range of EASE software, communicate with the EASE distributed infrastructure and demonstrate good performance. However, there would not be any specifically funded support (for example, no effort was available to port software to those machines).
Identifying a machine for Fully Supported status took a considerable amount of time and effort. Consequently, it was not undertaken very often. The aim was to keep the Approved list up to date, using a selection technique which would provide the required information with sufficient accuracy without taking a lot of time. The Approved list would form the basis of the shortlist from which candidates for Full Support would be selected.
Workstations was the first assessment exercise. The Engineering Computing Newsletter contained a summary of the report which presented the results. A more detailed version was available on request. Even this did not contain all the information available manufacturers often provided confidential information.
The assessment was carried out by producing a questionnaire, intended to elicit the desired technical information from the suppliers, and by running benchmarks on machines loaned for the occasion. These tests were designed to give a rough guide to the performance of the machines, and the results take this into account. Much more stringent tests were needed for a full evaluation. The final report was presented to the Computing Facilities Technical Advisory Group (CFTAG) after each assessment and it was their responsibility to decide on what changes, if any, should be made to the approved list.
See also:
First EASE Workstation Assessment, July-September 1988
Second EASE Workstation Assessment, February-May 1989
Third EASE Workstation Assessment, September 1989
EASE X-Terminal Assessment, February-May 1990
Fourth EASE Workstation Assessment, June-August 1990
