This would mean that the ClearPath OS2200 mainframe operating systems, which now run on CMOS ClearPath systems, would be ported to run on an Intel system, said Esnouf. He noted that the company intends to continue to offer upgrades for customers and to invest in research and development on the OS 2200 systems -- as well as its other mainframe operating system, MCP.

A migration off CMOS could save money for ClearPath mainframe user Greg Schweizer, a systems administrator at Oregonian Publishing Co. in Portland, Ore. Any Unisys plan that allows users to move the mainframe operating system to a commodity server "will be very well received, I think." Oregonian Publishing runs custom-built applications on its two-processor Unisys mainframe.

Moreover, focusing on systems and services instead of processor development "should make Unisys stronger," said Schweizer.

Schweizer said his understanding -- based on customer briefings by Unisys -- is that any potential move to Intel will happen only if the chip maker can produce chips as good as CMOS. "That"s what they"ve told us, and I believe that," he said.

Marian Ritland, development and operations manager at the University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire, began using a ClearPath-based mainframe running MCP on Intel chips in April after previously using a CMOS-based system. She said it"s been obvious to users that Unisys is heading to a single hardware platform.

But Ritland, who is also chairwoman of a Unisys user group in Claire Shores, Minn., said Unisys "has been proceeding cautiously in this direction" and is giving users a choice of environments "at a pace that allows people to pick and choose."