UltraBook:
Defining the new Portable Desktop

September 1997
Confidential

RDI Computer Corporation
2300 Faraday
Carlsbad, CA  92008

Table of Contents
1.  Introduction	3
2.  Background	3
3.  UltraBook Design Goals	4
3.1  Meeting and exceeding the key feature thresholds	4
3.2  Matching Sun’s Sweet Spot	4
3.3  Leveraging Important Technology Improvements	5
3.4  Effective Mobile Usage	5
4.  UltraBook: An Effective Desktop Alternative	6
4.1  Performance	6
4.1.1  Compute Performance	6
4.1.2  Graphics Performance	6
4.1.3  Data Bandwidth	7
4.1.4  System Performance	7
4.2  Memory and Disk Storage	7
4.3  Expansion Interfaces	8
4.4  Desktop Usability 	9
4.4.1  Displays	9
4.4.2  Pointing Devices	9
4.4.3  Keyboards	10
4.5  Beyond the Desktop	10
4.5.1  Easy User Configuration	11
4.5.2  PC Cards	11
4.5.3  Shock and Vibration	11
4.5.4  Power Benefits	11
4.5.5  Better Use of Space	11
5.  UltraBook: An Effective Portable	12
5.1  Portable Performance	12
5.2  Weight	12
5.3  Size	13
5.4	Power Management and Battery Operation	14
5.4.1  Power Management States	14
5.4.2  Display Dimming & Blanking	16
5.4.3	PowerTool:  The User Interface	16
5.4.4  Battery Operation	16
5.5  Docking & Expansion	17
5.6  Dynamic network management	18
5.7  Remote networking support	19
5.7.1  PPP Support	19
5.7.2  Analog POTS	19
5.7.3  ISDN	19
6.  Summary	19

1.  Introduction
This document provides a comprehensive overview of the design goals, features, and benefits of RDI’s new UltraBook.  It provides comparisons to both comparable desktop systems, as well as other portables.  

The document supports the proposition that UltraBook breaks through long standing barriers to broad adoption of portables by mainstream workstation users, and establishes a new category of portable systems.  UltraBook provides true desktop equivalent performance and capacity in a highly portable format. 
2.  Background
In 1989, RDI introduced the first portable workstation, the BriteLite.  The luggable BriteLite employed a standard Sun SPARC IPC motherboard, a 180MByte 3.5” HDD, and a 10” passive matrix 640x480 monochrome LCD. Portable workstations, like other portables, have evolved dramatically since that time.  Intel x86 architecture notebooks have set the pace, driven by the demands of mobile business professionals.  During this evolution, mobile professionals have been willing to accept limited configurations and performance in order to have the benefits of portability.  The result has been a steady increase of portables penetrating the PC space.  Today, approximately 50% of the PCs sold for business use are portables.

The workstation market, by contrast, is focused on scientific, engineering, and large enterprise applications.  These users have historically purchased workstations because of their high compute and graphics performance, which could not be provided by PC solutions.  These users want the highest performance, the most memory, the largest displays, and the biggest storage.  Workstation users are, and continue to be, characteristically unwilling to compromise on these high-end capabilities.

This high capability threshold has meant that past generations of portables have simply not met the demands of mainstream workstation users.  Only those with applications demanding portability were willing to drop below that functionality threshold.  This has resulted in a very small penetration of portables into the workstation space.  The desire to realize the benefits of portability has always been there.  But, serious penetration in the workstation space could not occur until portables reached this threshold, i.e meeting the desktop in performance and capability.

Until now, workstation portables have provided performance equal to only the lowest end of the workstation range.  Further, products have only provided low-end graphics capability, limiting their use in serious visualization applications.  RDI’s new UltraBook breaks through this workstation functionality threshold.  The proven value of portability is now realizable by workstation users as well.

3.  UltraBook Design Goals
The primary goals of the UltraBook design were as follows:

1.	Provide a product that would meet and exceed the requirements of the mainstream desktop workstation user.
2.	Provide a product in the range where workstations have their strongest advantages.
3.	Leverage the important improvements in portable component technologies.
4.	Provide effective mobile usage features when users need them.

3.1  Meeting and exceeding the key feature thresholds
It was imperative that the UltraBook provide desktop level capabilities in order to satisfy the needs of the mainstream workstation user.  This was most important to achieve in the areas where workstations provide their key differentiation over PC workstations.  From a platform hardware viewpoint, these are primarily: compute performance (integer and floating point), graphics performance, network performance, configuration range, and compatibility.

To accomplish this, UltraBook utilizes the same chipset and core architecture as the Sun Ultra1 desktop.  More specifically, it incorporates the UltraSPARC I processor, 512KB of second level cache, the full speed and width of Sun’s UPA cross-bar switched interconnect, and the full 288 bit path to main memory.  UltraBook also needed to provide support for Creator™ 2D and 3D graphics for those applications requiring the highest graphics performance.  Without Creator support, UltraBook would have missed a key component of Sun’s Ultra Computing platform offering

All this allows UltraBook to provide the same performance metrics as Sun’s Ultra1 Creator desktops.  And more importantly, reaching the threshold in each of those key workstation differentiators, on which mainstream users remain uncompromising.

3.2  Matching Sun’s Sweet Spot
Sun and other workstation providers focus their energies at the high end of their lines, where their differentiation and message is clear.  They remain in constant pursuit of the highest performance in those key areas discussed above.  For Sun, this is currently in their UltraSPARC product lines --- Ultra 1 and 2 systems.  These systems are where Sun’s sweet spot is.

Past SPARC portables have been based on Sun’s lowest performance line of systems -– the SPARCstation 5.  Although this platform has seen steady improvements in performance, it has not benefited from the key technology advances Sun developed in the UltraSPARC platform.  For example, SS5 based systems do not have the VIS instruction set, they are not Version 9 architecture compliant, they do not support the UPA interconnect and devices such as the Creator.  Further, SS5 based systems are now being eclipsed by the performance of PC workstations, and at a significantly lower price.

It was important for UltraBook to hit the same sweet spot as Sun, leveraging the same important technology advances, and maintaining a strong differentiation over PC based portable solutions.

3.3  Leveraging Important Technology Improvements
Over the last several years there has been a relentless march of technology to meet the mobile users’ needs.  LCDs are a good example; just two years ago displays had 10” diagonals, 4K colors, they were dim and had serious viewing angle variations.  Today they achieve CRT level performance, and in some aspects exceed them.  The advances in disk storage capacity are equally astounding.  In just the last 2-3 years, 2.5” HDD devices have gone from 520MB to 5GB in the same form factor.

It was important for UltraBook to leverage these technology improvements in meeting the needs of the workstation user.  This is most important in the areas of displays and storage capacity.  UltraBook needed to provide a desktop equivalent LCD display, which a workstation user would not consider a compromise.  Further, it needed to provide storage levels at least at par with the desktop.

3.4  Effective Mobile Usage
Today’s PC notebooks use special “mobile” versions of the Pentium processors.  This allows them to achieve lower power consumption levels and hence longer battery life.  While this is an important consideration to any portable user, for the workstation user, battery life cannot come at the expense of performance.  Therefore, UltraBook needed to balance a fine line of providing the highest performance, while also providing a reasonable level of portable usability.

The strategy RDI took in developing the UltraBook was to: 1) use the standard UltraSPARC1 chipset, 2) provide the most advanced/flexible power management possible for these devices, 3) give the user flexibility in deciding between highest performance and long battery life, and 4) utilize low power PCI and IDE based I/O devices.  This combination provided a full performance, yet highly manageable portable system.

It was also important that the system have the right physical characteristics as well.  UltraBook needed to weigh around 8 pounds, be in a notebook form factor.  This required the highest density packaging, the smallest peripherals, and the lightest components.  UltraBook compares favorably with the latest crop of high-end multimedia enabled PC portables in these measures.

The resulting product, UltraBook, defines a new class of portable system --- the MobileStation.  These systems provide desktop equivalent performance while maintaining a surprisingly mobile format.  This category will continue the penetration of portables into the realm of desktops.
4.  UltraBook: An Effective Desktop Alternative
This section looks in detail at UltraBook as an alternative to a desktop Sun system, and to some popular PC desktop systems.
4.1  Performance
One of the barriers to portable workstation adoption has been performance, requiring the user to sacrifice performance in order to gain the benefits of portability.  Past systems either had low end processor performance, low end graphics performance, or both.  Further, smaller caches or limited bus bandwidth often restricted performance on real world applications, particularly where large amounts of data was being manipulated.

4.1.1  Compute Performance
UltraBook breaks through these past limiters to performance. First, UltraBook provides mid to high-end workstation performance, not just entry-level model capability.  Because it is based on the same chipsets, UltraBook provides identical compute performance to Sun’s mid-range Ultra1 desktop workstations.  The numbers are shown in the comparison chart below, and are identical to the Sun Ultra1 performance numbers at the same processor speeds.  Also for reference, a typical high end Pentium desktop is shown for reference.

Table 1 – Compute performance comparisons

	RDI UltraBook
Model 200	Sun Ultra1 200E	Pentium Pro 200MHz 
(Dell Dimension XPS Pro 200n)	
SPECint95	7.44	7.44	8.20	
SPECfp95	10.4	10.4	6.21	

4.1.2  Graphics Performance
Second, UltraBook supports high-end 3D graphics capabilities by providing Sun’s Creator™ 2D and 3D graphics subsystem.  Creator continues to be Sun’s flagship graphics and visualization.  Creator provides accelerated 24-bit 2D/3D graphics and imaging with 8-bit overlay plane, high-speed convolution, rotation, panning, zooming, and color conversion.  The Creator option is configured inside the UltraBook main unit, and displays to the internal LCD and to external displays.  Performance numbers for UltraBook with Creator are shown in Table 2 below.  These numbers are identical to the Sun Ultra1 workstation products with Creator 2D or 3D options.

Table 2 – Graphics performance comparisons

	RDI UltraBook
Model 200
Creator 3D	Sun Ultra 1
Model 200E
Creator 3D	Hewlett Packard B160L 
Visualize 24	
Xmark93	20.79	20.79	24.39	
PLBwire93	146.8	146.8	144.7	
PLBsurf93	208.3	208.3	181.6	

4.1.3  Data Bandwidth
UltraBook also implements Sun’s Ultra Port Architecture (or UPA) interconnect.  This interconnect provides a crossbar switched access for the processor and graphics controller to cache and memory.  The UPA provides up to 1.6GB/s bandwidth to main memory.  UPA provides 144-bit wide paths into the processor, and is ECC protected.  The memory subsystem is a double-width path providing 288-bit paths to main memory.  Again, in this regard, UltraBook provides identical data and bandwidth paths, resulting in the same performance as the Sun Ultra1 desktops.

Table 3 – UltraBook and Sun Ultra1 Bandwidths

	Sun Ultra1
Model 200E	RDI UltraBook
Model 200	
UPA connect width	144 bits	144 bits	
UPA bandwidth 
(@100 MHz	1.6GB/s	1.6 GB/s	
Memory path width	288 bits	288 bits	
Memory bandwidth 
(@ 100 MHz)	3.2GB/s	3.2 GB/s	

4.1.4  System Performance
Possibly even more important than compute and graphics performance is real, delivered system performance.  In the workstation realm, this usually includes networking performance.
4.2  Memory and Disk Storage
Another historically weak area for portables is configurability.  In the past, portables often could not provide large enough configurations to support real world technical applications.  UltraBook was designed to expand to configurations larger than only the largest desktop systems, while maintaining a highly portable format.  Information densities of mobile hard disk drives (HDD) and memory have increased dramatically over the last few years to surpass those of standard desktop technology.

UltraBook main memory is expandable from a base of 32MB, up to a maximum of 512MB at introduction.  This matches all but the largest Sun desktop configurations, and supports the most demanding applications without running up against memory limitations.  The memory is also field-installable, providing quick access through a door on the bottom of the system.

UltraBook allows either two or three (w/o battery) HDDs to be installed in the main unit.  At introduction, 3GB drives will be offered.  This provides up to 9 GB of internal disk storage.  With the UltraBook Portable Expansion Module (PEM), which can add another three HDDs, storage can be expanded to a whopping 18GB!  Sun’s Ultra1 desktops, by comparison, provide only 8.2GB on two internal HDDs.  Further, UltraBook HDDs are easily swapped, allowing additional off-line data to be accessed, effectively expanding the data availability over fixed internal drives found in the desktop product.

Table 4 – Memory and HDD comparison

	Sun Ultra 1 170E	RDI UltraBook Model 170(or 200)	Dell Dimension XPS 266 w/Pent.II	
Main memory
(Base/Max)	32MB / 1GB	32MB / 512MB	32MB / 128MB	
HDD
(Base/Max)	2.1GB / 8.2GB	3GB / 9GB
(18GB w/PEM)	2GB / 6.4GB	

4.3  Expansion Interfaces
Sun desktops have provided the same basic set of expansion interfaces for several years now.  The most recent are: ethernet (10/100Mb, twisted pair and MII), parallel, serial (2 ports), keyboard/mouse, video, audio (16-bit), and SCSI (Fast/Wide).  

UltraBook provides all these interfaces, at the same performance, and some additional ones.  

First is the PC Card (PCMCIA) interface, which is standard on all systems.  Two stacked type I/II slots are provided, which will also support one type III device.  Version 2.1 of the PCMCIA specification is supported.  Hardware support for Cardbus is also supported as well.  In addition to basic support for Card/Socket services in Sun’s Solaris 2.6 OS, RDI provides drivers for a variety of device types, including modems, memory, and hard disks.

Since UltraBook uses EIDE (ATA-2) type HDDs, this interface is available inside the Portable Expansion Module (PEM) for ATA type CD-ROM drives and other devices (e.g. DVD-ROM drives). 

Like Sun, RDI is migrating to PCI bus for card expansion.  During 1997, Sun announced products with PCI bus as their primary I/O bus.  RDI is following the same path, providing the same support levels and leveraging the same PCI support cards and devices.  The UltraBook will provide one full-length PCI card slot, in the PEM, for expansion.  This slot provides support for 32 bit width and 33 MHz bus rates.  It supports the full PCI specifications for 5-volt PCI cards.  A comparison of expansion interfaces is shown in the following table.

Table 5 – Expansion Interface Comparison

	Sun Ultra1 170E 
(or 200)	RDI UltraBook Model 170 (or 200)	Dell Dimension XPS 266 w/Pent.II	
Standard Interfaces (external)	Serial – 2
Parallel
Video
SCSI (Fast/Wide)
Keyboard/Mouse
Audio (16-bit)	Serial – 2
Parallel
Video
SCSI (Fast/Wide)
Keyboard/Mouse
Audio (16-bit)
PCMCIA - 2	Serial – 1
Parallel
Keyboard/Mouse
Audio (16-bit)
USB - 2	
HDD Interface (internal)	SCSI (Fast/Wide)	EIDE (ATA-2)
Removable	EIDE or UW SCSI	
Network Interface	Ethernet (10/100Mb)
  Twisted Pair
  MII	Ethernet (10/100)
  Twisted Pair
  MII (w/ PEM)	None standard.
Ethernet (10/100)     optional	
Bus expansion	3 Sbus slots	1 PCI slot (w/ PEM)	3 PCI slots (1 for video card)	

4.4  Desktop Usability 
Portables have been considered a compromise when compared to desktop machines.  If you consider the miniature displays and tiny keyboards of past notebooks, this conclusion was easy to reach.  Times have changed, and today’s LCDs are rivaling desktop monitors.  For the desktop user, the important usability categories revolve around user interfaces.

4.4.1  Displays
Over the last 5 years, enormous investment has been channeled into advancing flat panel displays, and as a result, LCDs have improved tremendously.  UltraBook utilizes this latest display technology, a 14.1” diagonal XGA TFT display.  This display provides a 285.7mm x 214.3mm viewable area, about the equivalent of a 17” CRT monitor.  Further, since LCDs have fixed pixels, defined by the TFT substrates themselves, there are none of the typical optical aberrations (e.g. pincushioning, blurred pixels and keystoning) found in CRT monitors.  Also, since portables are much easier to move around, they are often easier to position for optimum viewing than CRTs.  The conclusion of many user reviews show that the usability of LCDs is much greater than a CRT with a comparable viewing area.  LCDs still have limits to their viewing cone, outside of which color changes occur and brightness drops.  Tremendous strides have been made in this area as well, with the current crop of LCDs having viewing angles of +/- 40 horizontal, +10/-30 vertical.  For single user usage, this is well beyond the typical user requirements.

4.4.2  Pointing Devices
Pointing devices are a matter of personal preference.  The most popular pointing devices in portables today are “touchpad” and “trackpoint” types.  The most popular for desktops is the venerable mouse.  Trackpoint devices are characterized by the little eraser-heads in the middle of the keyboard, and were pioneered by IBM in their ThinkPad series.  The primary benefit of the trackpoint device is in allowing the user to keep his hands positioned on the keyboard while manipulating the pointing device.  These take a certain amount of patience and dexterity to master.  Many users complain that they are not as intuitive as other linear movement type devices, such as the mouse.  UltraBook integrates a Cirque® GlidePoint™ touchpad style-pointing device, which is located in front of the keyboard.  Three pointing buttons are provided around the front of the pad, providing for easy usage while “pointing” on the pad.  These pads are linear movement type devices, and usage is very intuitive. 

The GlidePoint™ uses a capacitive sensing technology, and has no moving parts.  No contact pressure is required for the device to function.  Touchpad devices are particularly effective because they essentially never need cleaning and are more resilient to dirt, dust, and liquids.  Users can also simply tap on the pad for “clicking” and “double-clicking”.  Positioning with the Glidepoint is ultra precise, providing 1000 counts/inch.  

UltraBook provides an external keyboard/mouse connector (Sun type 5), allowing the user to plug in any type of external device desired.  There may be times when users want the convenience of an integrated pointing device --- at other times, a standard desktop device.

4.4.3  Keyboards
UltraBook provides a full-size, full travel 3mm 98-key keyboard, including the typical Sun “edit” key set and system control keys.  An inverted “T” cursor movement keypad is provided in the upper right of the keyboard. This is shown in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1 - line drawing of the keyboard.

4.5  Beyond the Desktop
For the typical workstation user, portables can provide some very useful benefits above and beyond the typical desktop machine.  Since portables are meant to be connected more to the user, and not to the office, many useful features have been developed to allow users to manage their own machines more efficiently.  As a result, aside from the obvious benefits of mobility, there are other less obvious benefits.

4.5.1  Easy User Configuration
The user can easily exchange many system components.  HDDs, batteries, PC Cards, memory, and PCI expansion cards are all easily removed.  HDDs, for instance, are removed simply by sliding a latch under the unit and pulling out the drive.  The same goes for the battery.  This allows systems to be easily “personalized”, simply by installing a specific set of HDDs.  PC Cards are even better --- most can be hot-plugged while the system is running, allowing the slots to be used for the most important function at any given time.  Memory is user installable, and can be accessed by removing a single screw on the bottom of the unit and opening a door. PCI expansion cards are located in the PEM, and can be accessed by removing the PEM top cover.

4.5.2  PC Cards
PC Cards are a much cleaner and easier way of adding functionality to systems.  Sun desktop users who want to add a second ethernet connection, for instance, would have to open their machine (not a simple task) and install another Sbus or PCI card.  Contrast this with hot-plugging a PC Card into the side of the unit.  PC Cards are a simple and easy way to add functionality to a system without ever having to use a screwdriver.  Not opening up systems avoids lots of other problems --- and make the IS group very happy!

4.5.3  Shock and Vibration
Portables inherently provide more resilience to shock and vibration than typical desktop systems.  They are lower mass, and can withstand bumps and abrasion from handling better than desktop systems.  This can be an advantage where environments are more harsh that a typical office environment.  

4.5.4  Power Benefits
Portables are inherently “power managed” products.  They support battery operation for mobile use.  Battery operation can be extremely useful during minor power outages within a building or city area.  In some countries, “brown-outs” or power fluctuations are regular occurrences.  With UltraBook, battery operation can act as an Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) in those instances.  Further, power consumption of a base Sun Ultra1 desktop (with monitor) is approximately 300 watts.  UltraBook is less than 75 watts in typical operation.  At larger installations, this can become a significant issue.  In these situations, significantly lower power and air conditioning costs can be realized.

4.5.5  Better Use of Space
Within the office environment, portables can provide benefits associated with their small size and easy adaptability.  When space is at a premium, portables take much less room than a typical desktop workstation.  Further, they can be moved from office to office easily, and by the user.

5.  UltraBook: An Effective Portable
In the paragraphs above, we have shown how UltraBook can be an effective alternative to conventional desktop systems.  This section will look at how well the UltraBook serves as a traditional portable.
5.1  Portable Performance
Simply put, UltraBook provides higher performance than any other portable on the market today.  This includes other workstation portables, Wintel notebooks, and Apple/Mac notebooks.  

It is difficult to compare system level performance of UNIX systems with Wintel systems.  In all categories of performance (e.g. graphics, compute, network, etc.), UltraBook is substantially greater.  UltraBook with Creator provides many times greater performance on manipulation of 2D/3D and multimedia information.
5.2  Weight
UltraBook is intended to be a desktop alternative portable.  It is therefore in the emerging class of portables at the very high end of the notebook range.  The UltraBook class of portables sits above the PC notebook “mega-portables”, which are emerging now in the PC market.  UltraBook can be broken down into several components of weight.  They are as follows:

Table 6 – System Component Weights

System Component	Weight (Lbs)	
UltraBook main unit
(Plastics, main electronics, HDD, memory)	7.5
	
Battery Pack	1.0	
HDD Module	0.5	
PEM (empty)	3.0	
Travel Floppy	0.5	
CD-ROM (PEM mounted)	0.62	
Standard carry bag	4.6	

A base system consists of the UltraBook main unit, a battery pack, an HDD module, and a carry bag.  This is a total weight of 13.1 pounds for the base system.  If you do not include the carry bag (as most notebook providers don’t), the total weight is 8.5 lbs.  Table 7 shows a comparison with other desktop alternative notebooks on the market.  These PCs all provide 13.3” LCDs, which are the closest to 14.1” on the market at this time.

Table 7 – Portable Weight Comparison

Product	Weight (lbs)
w/o AC Adapter	Weight (lbs)
w/AC Adapter	
RDI UltraBook Model 200	8.5	9.8	
NEC Versa 
6200MX	7.9	8.6	
Toshiba Tecra 740CDT	8.45	8.45	
Sun Ultra1 200E
(w/ 17” monitor)	84.5
(shipping wt.)	N/A	

Compared to other high-end multimedia portables, UltraBook is very competitive. When bags and other accessories are added, the small differences in unit weight become a small percentage of the overall carry weight. Further, RDI also offers a cool bag which converts into a backpack, allowing users to distribute the weight more effectively during longer travels.
5.3  Size
An important design goal of UltraBook was to provide an effective partitioning of components between the main and expansion units, yet still provide a highly mobile system for those who need minimal configurations.  Additionally, it was important not to get too far away from the accepted norm for portable system formats --- i.e. the clamshell format notebook.

Due to the increase in display diagonals, notebooks have actually been increasing their desktop footprints.  To counteract this, vendors have been reducing thickness.  Most high-end PC notebooks are now around 2” thick.  UltraBook includes a 14.1” display, which is the primary driver of the desktop footprint.  Since there are no other 14.1” notebooks on the market, it is difficult to make comparisons.  When those arrive, they will likely be nearly identical footprints to UltraBook.  There are several notebooks available today with 13.3” displays.  A comparison between UltraBook and a few of these is shown in Table 8.

Table 8 – Comparison of portable size and volumes

Product	Dimensions
(thick x width x depth in inches)	Volume
(cu.in.)	
RDI UltraBook Model 200	2.5 x 12.8 x 11.6	371.2	
NEC Versa
6200	2.1 x 9.5 x 11.7	233.4	
Toshiba Tecra
740CDT	2.28 x 9.25 x 11.77	248.2	
Sun Ultra1 200E
(w/o monitor)	4.03 x 16.44 x 17.44	1,155.5	
 
As portable form factors become increasingly driven by display sizes, overall dimensions and volumes will be very similar on high-end portables.  As a result, UltraBook will be very competitive, in terms of size, with high-end PC notebooks.
5.4  Power Management and Battery Operation
Workstation processor chipsets are developed to provide the highest possible performance within the limits of space, cooling, and packaging.  Workstation chipsets typically do not provide internal power management or convenient hooks for external management.  Therefore, portable workstation manufacturers must develop effective external power management techniques.

The goals for UltraBook power management were:
-	To provide the lowest possible power consumption under full performance when the user desires (under AC or battery power).
-	To provide up to 2 hours of life on one battery pack when running an interactive application (on a base configuration).
-	To provide a minimum of 40 minutes of life on one battery pack when running a max performance.
-	To provide multiple levels of power management as the system reaches longer periods of inactivity.
-	To provide users the option of slowing system performance (clock rate), thereby reducing power consumption and prolonging battery life.
-	To provide for both user-invoked and automatic suspend modes.

UltraBook achieves these goals, as described in the following paragraphs.

5.4.1  Power Management States
From the user’s viewpoint, there are 6 operating states in which UltraBook can operate. These are:

1.	Normal
2.	Managed
3.	Standby
4.	Doze
5.	Suspend
6.	Off

To understand the power management scheme of UltraBook, it is important to understand the meaning of each of these states.

In the Normal state, the system is running and there are no power management techniques in effect.  This state is entered when the system is running and connected to an active external DC power source, such as an AC adapter.

The Managed and Standby states are the basic battery operating states of the system.  These states are utilized by default when under battery operation.  They cause the system to slow or stop processing when there are no processes to run or I/O to do.  The Managed state is entered when the system is running from battery, unless the user has disabled power management via the PowerTool (see below).  The Managed state provides the highest user performance and responsiveness of the two states.  In the Managed state, the system intelligently reduces the power of all the subsystems while the system is running at full performance.

The Standby state is entered when the system enters the UNIX idle loop.  In this state, system clocks are slowed and other power management steps are taken.  This state could be entered many times per second, as the system enters/exits the UNIX idle loop, which occurs whenever there are no run-able processes or I/O.  The more time the system spends in this state, the lower the overall power consumption.  In highly interactive applications, such as word processors or editors, the system can spend more than 95% of its time in the idle loop.  The user sees no discernable performance or responsiveness degradation as a result of being in this state.  The Standby state is exited when the user hits a key, or when other I/O activity occurs.

The Doze state is entered after some longer period of inactivity.  This is selected by the user’s power management preference.  In this state, the system effectively shuts down the clocks and reduces power of all subsystems to their lowest level.  The housekeeping associated with entering and exiting this state result in some minor responsiveness effects when the user takes the next action (such as hitting a key or moving the mouse).   

The Suspend state is entered when the system is to be suspended, in anticipation of a later resume.  Upon entering the suspend state, the system executes a Checkpoint command, which will save the system state to disk and then shutdown the operating system.  This state can be entered either by a long period of inactivity (e.g. minutes), closing the lid, or pushing the power switch (if suspend is the defined power down action).  It is then followed by the Off state, where the system is powered down.  

The relative reduction in power consumption of each of these states is shown in Table 9 below.

Table 9 – Power Management States

State	User Performance Effects	Display	Relative Power Consumption	
Normal	No effects 	On	1.0	
Managed	No effects	On/Dimmed/Off	0.5	
Standby	No effects	On/Dimmed/Off	0.3	
Doze	Minor response degradation upon exit	Off	0.25	
Suspend	Temp state on way to Off	On/Dimmed/Off	N/A (temp state)	
Off	System shutdown	(Off)	0	

Users, who want to reduce power consumption even further, can reduce the clock speed of the system through the PowerTool.  This can also be set up as an automatic occurrence when under battery operation.  Users who know they need the longest battery life, and are willing to temporarily sacrifice performance, can use this feature.  Processor clocks can be reduced to 100 MHz, which can increase battery life by as much as 50%.

5.4.2  Display Dimming & Blanking

UltraBook manages the LCD display subsystem by dimming and shutting down the backlight, turning off the LCD, reducing screen refresh rate, and putting the graphics controller into low power states.  Default power management provides for 2 progressive states of management.  The first is entered when the first time period has expired (e.g. 1-2 minutes) without activity.  As a result, the display would be dimmed and the refresh rate slowed.  If the inactivity persists for another set time period, the LCD and backlight are powered down and the graphics controller is put into a low power mode.

5.4.3  PowerTool:  The User Interface

PowerTool is a GUI interface where the user can control the power management and battery functions of the system.  It allows the user to select a particular power management profile, or to create a customized profile, which will meet his specific, needs.  It allows users to adjust almost any detail of the power management subsystem, if desired.  It also provides important status to the user regarding events and battery levels.   PowerTool runs in either CDE or Open Windows.

5.4.4  Battery Operation

UltraBook provides battery state information to the user via three different mechanisms:  PowerTool GUI, the status LCD, and the battery pack gas gauge.  PowerTool provides state information for individual batteries, as well as cumulative state for multiple battery configurations.  The status LCD resides above the keyboard on the base of the system.  Through this icon-based display, the user is informed of battery charging, discharging, and the cumulative capacity of the entire battery system via a small bar graph.  And finally, each individual battery pack provides a push-button gas gauge on the pack itself, which indicates the battery charge level.

When a low battery condition is reached, the user is alerted via four specific events.  They are:

•	A periodic audible alarm is started
•	The PowerTool GUI is started and a blinking icon appears
•	The battery icon on the Status LCD blinks
•	Periodic warning messages are sent to the console

The user can control these alerts through the PowerTool.  When the battery reaches the shutdown threshold, the system executes the designated shutdown action.

Users can also swap additional batteries into the system.  This requires the use of the Portable Expansion Module to be installed, which contains additional battery bays.  The user must perform a simple procedure to accomplish the battery swap.   This involves the de-selection of the battery pack, waiting briefly for the system to release the pack, and then removing and replacing the battery.

5.5  Docking & Expansion
The design goal for UltraBook was to meet the needs of the broad range of workstation users.  Compared to PC users, workstations generally require significantly larger configurations of memory and disk.  This range is large enough that a single “clamshell” format notebook cannot effectively house the components (and still look anything like a notebook!).  The most effective format was to provide for the typical workstation user within the main unit, and allow for expansion in a separate attached enclosure.

As already described, UltraBook provides for two HDDs and one battery in the main unit.  Electronic feature expansion on the main unit is provided only through the PC Card interface.  Users who need more expansion must attach the Portable Expansion Module, or PEM.  The PEM snaps, or “docks”, to the main unit and interfaces to the main unit through a docking connector.  The PEM is a lightweight, plastic enclosure, which provides for flexible expansion of several features.  Figure 2 shows the PEM alone and attached.

Figure 2 – The Portable Expansion Module

The PEM provides expansion of several important features.  First, the PEM provides for port replication of all the main interfaces on the UltraBook main unit.  This includes video, serial, parallel, ethernet (TP and MII) and keyboard/mouse.  DC power input is also replicated.  Second, the PEM provides a single, full-size PCI card expansion slot.  Third, the PEM provides for any mix of three HDDs or batteries; or two plus a CD-ROM drive.

The PEM is intended to be light and small enough to be transported with the main unit.  The PEM receives its DC power through either the UltraBook main unit, or through a separate AC adapter.  The main unit AC adapter is designed to power both a main unit and configured PEM.  

The PEM can function in the following ways:
1.	As a desktop port replicating dock.
2.	As a mobile expansion unit.
3.	As a desktop battery charger.

As a port replicating dock, the PEM allows quick and simple connection and reconnection to fixed desktop devices, such as CRT monitors and network connections. 

As a mobile expansion unit, the PEM simply acts like an extension to the main unit.  Charging and discharging of batteries in the PEM is managed by the main unit, and is transparent to the user.  Additional batteries can be hot-swapped, and operation continues as long as the user has charged batteries.

As a desktop charger, the PEM will provide off-line charging and battery management of up to three batteries.  These batteries are then ready for use in the UltraBook main unit, or to operate through the PEM if attached.

The PEM meets the design goal of providing effectively for the broad range of configurations required by the workstation user.
5.6  Dynamic network management
Mobility, or movement from one location to another, usually means connection to a different network, or at least another sub-net.  Unfortunately, it could also mean operation with no network (i.e disconnected).  Typical desktop users rarely deal with these issues, since they have fixed network connections.  For most mobile users, dealing with changing network configurations is beyond their capability.

RDI provides a tool called AutoNet™ to assist users in managing these changing network environments.  AutoNet™ provides several important features.  They are:

-	System management when disconnected from a network.
-	Management of multiple network configurations (associated with different locations)
-	Support for DHCP based internet address management
-	Automatic detection of network

AutoNet™ provides an easy GUI based interface for network configuration and setup.  Once network configurations are setup, AutoNet ™ automatically detects and configures to the right network when connected.
5.7  Remote networking support
UNIX has always been synonymous with networking.  Rarely are UNIX workstations used in a totally standalone fashion.  As a result, disconnected users are totally down, or have a severely limited range of usability.  Only recently has remote and multi-site networking become available to the broad market.  The availability of high-speed analog and digital wide-area networking options has allowed users to connect nearly anywhere.   As a result, portable workstation users can now expand the range of their workgroup or enterprise cheaply and easily.

An important goal of UltraBook is to provide effective support for remote connectivity.  By remote connectivity we mean those who cannot connect through a high speed LAN, but must resort to slow speed serial connections.  The most prevalent examples are connected over analog POTS lines or through digital ISDN links.  UltraBook will provide support for both of these.

5.7.1  PPP Support
Solaris 2.6 provides PPP as a standard feature.  RDI provides a GUI interface, which provides defaults for typical setup, and makes configuration easy.  It also provides pre-configured support for analog PC Card modems and ethernet connected ISDN routers.

5.7.2  Analog POTS
At introduction, RDI will offer a 56K analog PC Card modem for use in UltraBook.  Other PC Card modems, which support the X2 and the Rockwell K56flex™ standard, can also be used. 

5.7.3  ISDN
UltraBook will provide support for several third party ISDN routers. 
6.  Summary
As discussed in the sections above, UltraBook provides an effective alternative to Sun desktops, allowing users to have the benefits of portability without having to own two machines.  Further, when compared to desktop workstation prices, for only a fractional cost increase workstation users can easily justify the cost through improved productivity.

When compared to other portable alternatives, UltraBook is competitive with other high-end PC notebooks in almost all respects.  It is clear that portables will continue to steal seats from desktop systems, increasing to over 50% penetration in 1997.  Further, this trend will also carry over into the workstation space, as technology allows portables to eclipse desktop capability.  RDI believes UltraBook will lead that charge.