[HECnet] DECnet Area Router question

[Marc Chametzky]

Am I remembering correctly that in order to have a DECnet Phase IV area
router you need to be running a VAX?

It's been ages, but I didn't think this was a requirement. A quick Google check found this article - http://www.openvms.compaq.com/wizard/wiz_5081.html - which does say that a VAX is required. It mentions DECnet Phase V routing supporting "host-based routing".

As an aside, the only VAX routing requirement that I did remember was that MRGATE, the Message Router gateway product, was VAX only, so for those systems running Message Router with Alphas, they'd have to keep a VAX around to get their content out. Back in those days, I worked at Innosoft and we had a product, PMDF-MR, which allowed for e-mail gatewaying to Message Router without requiring a VAX since we emulated MRGATE.

--Marc