CHARON-VAX/6610 /6620 /6630 and /6660 Plus for Windows

The CHARON-VAX products are software packages that accurately simulate and create a virtual VAX system on a modern host platform. They are designed to run VAX software in unmodified binary form on that new platform. CHARON-VAX/6610 Plus, /6620 Plus, /6630 Plus and /6660 Plus for Windows are third generation implementations of CHARON-VAX, tested with AXE, the VAX architecture compatibility verification tool used by DEC in the design of VAX hardware.

CHARON-VAX's compatibility with the VAX computers is verified with AXE. HP will provide existing VAX customers with VMS and layered product licenses for transfer from a hardware VAX to CHARON-VAX. When CHARON-VAX is running on HP products, the transfer license permits customers to maintain their HP VAX software warranties. Transfer license information can be found here.

CHARON-VAX/6610 Plus, CHARON-VAX/6620 Plus, CHARON-VAX/6630 Plus and CHARON-VAX/6660 Plus crerate virtual SMP VAX 6000 systems with one, two, three and six CPUs. The emulated maximum memory sizes are 1 GB, 2 GB, 3 GB, and 3 GB. The products can be clustered using NI clusters or shared disk clusters. A Storage Area Network (SAN) device can be used to provide high-speed access to shared storage across the cluster.

To beat or exceed the system performance required, CHARON-VAX/66x0 products come with the Accelerated CPU Emulation (ACE) as a standard. ACE optimises VAX instruction interpretation by substituting common VAX code sequences with native instructions, improving the VAX CPU emulation speed 3 to 4 times. ACE does not compromise VAX instruction decoding accuracy; the products remain fully VAX hardware compatible and ACE is completely transparent to VAX operating systems and applications.

CHARON-VAX/66x0 running OpenVMS/VAX can replace not only the VAX 6000 family but any large and most modern mainframe VAX systems, as VMS strictly separates the applications from the underlying hardware characteristics. CHARON-VAX/66x0 systems running OpenVMS can be networked via Ethernet, DECnet and TCP/IP, and can be shared-disk clustered with other OpenVMS systems running on CHARON-VAX/66x0 or on CHARON-VAX/XX. Even mixed clusters with VAX or Alpha hardware can be created with NI clusters. Depending on the host platform, CHARON-VAX/6620 Plus can exceed the CPU performance of a VAX 7000-740, and CHARON-VAX/6630 Plus can exceed the CPU performance of a VAX 7000-760. There was no VAX ever built to match the performance of CHARON-VAX/6660 Plus (currently 700+ VUPS running on a fast 8-CPU Intel Core 2 system).

Pointers to Software Product Descriptions (PDF files)

The Software Product Description (SPD) includes a detailed description of the product as well as order number, license and support options.

Product Virtual VAX model
CHARON-VAX/6610 Plus
>> Download SPD (PDF)		 VAX 6000-610, 1 GB memory, accelerated VAX CPU
CHARON-VAX/6620 Plus
>> Download SPD (PDF)		 VAX 6000-620, 2 GB memory, accelerated VAX CPU
CHARON-VAX/6630 Plus
>> Download SPD (PDF)		 VAX 6000-630, 3 GB memory, accelerated VAX CPU
CHARON-VAX/6660 Plus
>> Download SPD (PDF)		 VAX 6000-660, 3 GB memory, accelerated VAX CPU