Alpha firm API is readying a low cost Alpha system set to appear in July or August this year. According to postings on an Alpha NT mail list, the UP1100 will include embedded processor, and have features in common with the UP1000 in terms of memory, performance and chipsets. The reports add that the UP1100 will also include embedded 10/100 Ethernet technology, and cost around the $2,000 mark. The UP1100 uses Compaq's EV6 technology, and while the UP1000 offers this level of functionality, some have claimed that prices are too steep. A "cheap" API box, however, would be considered expensive by users of x86 technology. Although API introduced an ambitious roadmap at the beginning of last year, so far it seems to have made not much of a dent in the market. A reseller of API kit said: "There is already a pretty cheap package based on the UP1000. Look here. "This is a full (albeit lightweight on disk and RAM) Linux based 600MHz 21264 system. Most of the vendors building them support upgrades to the basic package. The actual vendor cost on the board and CPU is $2000. The only problem right now is that boards are heavily back ordered at present." ® See also Analysis: An Omega for Alpha?