Editing Digital Equipment Corporation (section)

==== 32-bit MIPS and 64-bit Alpha systems (1992) ====
[[File:Locale_RS6_AlphaServer-2100-guts.jpg|thumb|Inside view of AlphaServer 2100]]

The press described DECstation as a defensive product with which DEC would capture some of the inevitable migration of VAX customers to RISC, even as it and comparable products from rivals would greatly increase the migration.<ref name="marshall19890206">{{Cite magazine |last=Marshall |first=Martin |date=1989-02-06 |title=The Year of the Workstation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OzoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT42 |access-date=2025-06-27 |magazine=InfoWorld |pages=43–44 |volume=11 |issue=6}}</ref> Eventually, in 1992, DEC launched the [[Alpha 21064|DECchip 21064]] processor, the first implementation of their [[DEC Alpha|Alpha]] [[instruction set architecture]], initially named Alpha&nbsp;AXP; the "AXP" was a "non-acronym" and was later dropped. This was a [[64-bit computing|64-bit]] [[RISC]] architecture as opposed to the 32-bit [[Complex instruction set computer|CISC]] architecture used in the VAX. It is one of the first "pure" 64-bit [[microprocessor]] architectures and implementations rather than an extension of an earlier 32-bit architecture. The Alpha offered class-leading performance at its launch and was used in the massively-parallel [[Cray T3D]]. Subsequent variants continued that performance trend into the 2000s, along with the Alpha-derived Pentium Pro, II, and III CPUs.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/1997/10/intel-dec-settle-alpha-chip-dispute/|title=Intel, DEC Settle Alpha Chip Dispute|magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]|last1=Levine|first1=Daniel S.|date=October 27, 1997}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web| last1=Shandor | first1=John |url=https://www.hpcwire.com/1997/05/16/dec-sues-intel-alleges-architecture-patent-infringement/|title = Dec Sues Intel, Alleges Architecture Patent Infringement| work=HPCwire |date = May 16, 1997}}</ref> An AlphaServer SC45 supercomputer was still ranked No.&nbsp;6 in the world in November 2004.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.top500.org/lists/2004/11|work=TOP500 Top 10 Supercomputing Sites|title=November 2004}}</ref> Alpha-based computers comprising the DEC AXP series, later the [[AlphaStation]], and [[AlphaServer]] series respectively superseded both the VAX and MIPS architecture in DEC's product lines. They supported [[OpenVMS]], DEC [[OSF/1]] AXP (later known as [[Tru64 UNIX|Digital Unix]] or Tru64 UNIX) and Microsoft's then-new operating system, [[Windows NT]], an operating system made possible by ex-Digital Equipment Corporation engineers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.itprotoday.com/compute-engines/windows-nt-and-vms-rest-story|title=Windows NT and VMS: The Rest of the Story|first=Mark|last=Russinovich|date=November 30, 1998|website=ITPro Today}}</ref>

In 1998, following the takeover by Compaq Computer Corporation, a decision was made that Microsoft would no longer support and develop Windows NT for the Alpha series computers, a decision that was seen as the beginning of the end for the Alpha series computers.