What can 16 CP/M user have in common?

This advert almost didn't make it in as it's one of those text-heavy layouts with not much apparently going on.

However, it's worth an entry because it's for a microcomputer which has possibly the most CPUs of any machine - certainly in this collection.

The Newtons Laboratories' Accron-MPS "multi-processor series microsystem" sported no fewer than 17 4MHz Z80A CPUs - one for the system and 16 for up to 16 additional users, each with their own dedicated "computer" - CPU, memory and input/output - on an S-100 card.

Each user's machine, which was accessed via a terminal over RS-232, ran standard CP/M - the industry standard, at least until the IBM PC launched in 1981. The host system, meanwhile, ran the proprietary DPC/OS - the Distributed Processing Operating System.

Newtons Laboratories was established in 1976 and appears to have been popular in corporates and government, listing British Telecom, the Department for Health and Social Security (DHSS), local councils and Plessey as some of its customers.

Sadly, there's no price, but a box with 17 entire microcomputers inside it and which was popular with local government is likely to be on the expensive end of the scale.