Virtual Address Extension

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What Does Virtual Address Extension Mean?

A Virtual Address Extension (VAX) was a midrange server computer developed in the late 1970s by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). The VAX was introduced as mainframe computers were being developed. The VAX computer had a 32-bit processor and a virtual memory setup.

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Techopedia Explains Virtual Address Extension

Industry reports show that many thousands of VAX systems are still in use with an operating system called OpenVMS. These systems can be compatible with Windows NT servers and can use various programming interfaces.

As a successor to the Digital PDP-11 unit, the original VAX was prized for its reliability, power and user-friendly design, and could be used with a variety of languages including FORTRAN, BASIC and PASCAL. Today’s VAX has changed to accommodate the highly progressive nature of modern hardware.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Specialist
Margaret Rouse
Technology Specialist

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.