Expert opinion: traditional mainframes and supercomputers are losing the battle
Article Abstract:
The days of traditional emitter-coupled logic (ECL)-based mainframes and supercomputers may be numbered, as system architectures based on multiple CMOS and bipolar CMOS processors offer greater performance and lower cost than ECL-based systems. The first two quarters' worth of sales of Digital Equipment Corp's VAX 9000 mainframe in 1991, for example, were less than one-tenth of original forecasts. Conversely, the massively-parallel Thinking Machines CM-5 supercomputer, which employs single-instruction, multiple data (SIMD), multiple instruction, multiple data (MIMD) and vector processing in a single unit, may be a landmark in the new trend. The CM-5 can be configured with 32 to 16,384 processing nodes, each based on a standard reduced-instruction-set computer (RISC) processor, for prices ranging from about $1 million to over $100 million. The CM-5 reflects a move to defining classes of computers by the number of CMOS or BiCMOS processors included in the hardware.
Publication Name: IEEE Spectrum
Subject: Engineering and manufacturing industries
ISSN: 0018-9235
Year: 1992
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Massive parallelism rivals supercomputers
Article Abstract:
Visualization is a new supercomputer characteristic that lets a user instantly see the results of a computation in graphical form. A single-user workstation capable of visualization is priced at $100,000. Visualization is expanding into higher-level computers. Multiple instruction, multiple data architecture emerges as the standard for parallel processing machines, although a few companies offer single-instruction, multiple-data, massive parallelism machines. There is a growing need for high-speed networks to tie high level computers together.
Publication Name: IEEE Spectrum
Subject: Engineering and manufacturing industries
ISSN: 0018-9235
Year: 1989
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