February:
DIGITAL announces the TK50 cartridge tape drive.

The TK50 cartridge tape system was developed by DIGITAL as the first tape drive to use CompacTape. CompacTape was the industry's first standard 1/2 inch tape cartridge, allowing for the free interchange of recorded data.

April:
DIGITAL announces the Rdb relational database management system.

The two new relational database products, VAX Rdb/VMS and VAX Rdb/ELN, were implemented in a common architecture, spanning the full range of VAX processors -- from the MicroVAX I to the VAX-11/785.

April:
Introduction of the VAX-11/785, the most powerful single computer to date in DIGITAL's VAX family.

CPU cycle time in the VAX-11/785 was 133ns, 50% faster than the 200ns cycle time of the VAX-11/780. The accelerated cycle time allowed all CPU operations to run up to 50% faster, resulting in higher throughput, faster response time and the ability to support more users.

June:
DIGITAL introduces ULTRIX-32, the first native UNIX from DIGITAL for the VAX family of systems.

ULTRIX-32 was an interactive, timesharing operating system derived from VM/UNIX Version 4.2BSD developed at the University of California at Berkeley. ULTRIX-32 combined all the features of 4.2BSD with enhancements for servicablitiy, documentation and the ability to tailor the kernel without sources.

September:
VMS V4 ships.

VMS V4 supported the new VAX 8600 processor, MicroVAX I and II, and VAXstation I and II. V4 features included VAXclusters, connection manager, distributed lock manager, distributed file system (F11BXQP), security enhancements, command line editing and command recall, local area terminal server, implementation of access control lists, cluster wide operator control and variable prompt strings.

October:
Announcement of the VAX 8600, the first of a new generation of computers within the VAX family and, at the time, the highest performance computer system in DIGITAL's history.

The VAX 8600, shown here during assembly, offered up to 4.2 times the performance of the industry standard VAX-11/780 and increased I/O capacity, while maintaining I/O subsystem compatibility with the VAX-11/780 and the 11/785 Synchronous Backplane Interconnect (SBI). The VAX 8600 was the first VAX implementation in ECL technology and the first to include macropipelining.

October:
Introduction of the VAXstation I, the company's first 32-bit single-user workstation.

The VAXstation I was the first in a new family of MicroVAX-based technical workstations. It was a powerful, single-user computing system supporting the professional user, sold in packaged form.