After seven years in development, Salt Lake City-based ISYS Technologies is ready to introduce its next-generation computer, designed to replace the typical desktop computer with a small, 3.5-inch cube that has the versatility to adapt to a changing computer world without the user having to buy a new computer system.
Created by Jason Sullivan, the Xi3 Processing Control Unit is a new modular computer platform created for the computer’s core processing technology that is adaptable for all types of computing.
“This is a computer that will never become obsolete,” Sullivan said. “Anything that a typical computer can do, this can do.”
The difference, however, is that the Xi3 PCU has no moving parts, no fans and no hard drives that can crash and lose data. It can function as a workstation, a server or desktop computer through a series of interchangeable parts called backplanes — a circuit board containing sockets into which other circuit boards can be plugged — that can be interchanged by any user.
The Xi3 processing core allows multiple processing units to be added or subtracted as dictated by application or user demands. Additionally, units can be hooked up to work together with the original cube to increase functionality in a network-like environment, allowing additional processing capability to be added to the processing core or subsystems to satisfy the new processing requirements. The ability to strip out the same units to create additional workstations provides the elusive flexibility to a successful infrastructure.
According to Sullivan, the unit can also be hooked up to multiple monitors so that users can multi-task as needed for both work uses and entertainment purposes.
“If someone wanted to watch a movie while doing work in another program, they can do that, all from one cube instead of having to have multiple systems operating at the same time,” Sullivan…