Past, Present, Parallel

A Survey of Available Parallel Computer Systems
1. Auflage. 1991
ISBN: 978-3-540-19664-8
Verlag: Springer

Buch, Englisch, 392 Seiten, Format (B × H): 170 mm x 242 mm, Gewicht: 709 g

Past, Present, Parallel is a survey of the current state of the parallel processing industry. In the early 1980s, parallel computers were generally regarded as academic curiosities whose natural environment was the research laboratory. Today, parallelism is being used by every major computer manufacturer, although in very different ways, to produce increasingly powerful and cost-effec- tive machines. The first chapter introduces the basic concepts of parallel computing; the subsequent chapters cover different forms of parallelism, including descriptions of vector supercomputers, SIMD computers, shared memory multiprocessors, hypercubes, and transputer-based machines. Each section concentrates on a different manufacturer, detailing its history and company profile, the machines it currently produces, the software environments it supports, the market segment it is targetting, and its future plans. Supplementary chapters describe some of the companies which have been unsuccessful, and discuss a number of the common software systems which have been developed to make parallel computers more usable. The appendices describe the technologies which underpin parallelism. Past, Present, Parallel is an invaluable reference work, providing up-to-date material for commercial computer users and manufacturers, and for researchers and postgraduate students with an interest in parallel computing.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Trew, Arthur

Wilson, Greg

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1 Introduction.- 1.1 An Introduction to Parallel Processing: Greg Wilson.- 2 SIMD: Specialisation Equals Success.- 2.1 Active Memory Technology: Arthur Trew.- 2.2 MasPar Computer Corporation: Arthur Trew.- 2.3 Thinking Machines Corporation: Arthur Trew.- 3 Shared Memory Multiprocessors: The Evolutionary Approach.- 3.1 Alliant Computer Systems: Malcolm Brown & Billy Taylor.- 3.7 Sequent Computer Systems: Sandy Robertson.- 4 Hypercubes: A Geometry that Works.- 4.1 Intel Scientific Computers: Rob Scott.- 4.2 NCUBE Corporation: Rob Scott.- 5 The Transputer and Its Offspring.- 5.1 Inmos Limited: Mark Smith.- 5.2 Caplin Cybernetics: Mark Smith.- 5.3 Meiko Scientific Limited: Neil MacDonald.- 5.4 Parsys Limited: Mark Smith.- 5.5 Parsytec GmbH: Malcolm Brown.- 6 New Machines For New Niches.- 6.1 Cogent Research Incorporated: Neil MacDonald.- 6.2 Silicon Graphics Incorporated: Mark Smith & Matthew White.- 6.3 Stardent Computer Incorporated: Mark Smith & Matthew White.- 6.4 Teradata Corporation: Greg Wilson.- 7 Vector Supercomputers: It’s Never too Late to Parallelise.- 7.1 Cray Research Inc.: Rob Scott.- 7.2 NEC: Greg Wilson.- 7.3 Supercomputer Systems Inc: Rob Scott.- 8 The Giants: Biding Their Time.- 8.1 Digital Equipment Corporation: Colin Brough.- 8.2 Fujitsu: Greg Wilson.- 8.3 IBM Corporation: Arthur Trew & Mark Smith.- 9 Software: Efficiency vs. Protability?.- 9.1 Express: Mike Norman.- 9.2 Helios: Malcolm Brown.- 9.3 Linda: Neil MacDonald.- 9.4 STRAND$$ \underline {88} $$: Mark Smith.- 10 Machines Past.- 10.1 BiiN: Greg Wilson.- 10.2 ETA Systems: Rob Scott.- 10.3 Multiflow: Neil MacDonald.- 10.4 Myrias Research Corporation: Greg Wilson.- 10.5 Symult Incorporated: Malcolm Brown.- 11 Machines Future.- Appendices:.- A Technology.- A.1 Cache Memory: Sandy Robertson.- A.1.1Performance.- A.1.2 Cache Update Policies.- A.1.3 Multicache Consistency.- A.2 Message Passing Systems: Mike Norman.- A.2.1 Addressing of Messages.- A.2.2 Deadlock and Related Issues.- A.2.3 Controlling Message Transfer.- A.2.4 Delivering Messages.- A.2.5 Message Selection.- A.2.6 Placing Tasks.- A.3 Visualisation: Matthew White & Greg Wilson.- A.3.1 Doing It In Hardware.- A.4 Parallel Compilers: Neil MacDonald & Colin Brough.- A.4.1 Vectorising Compilers.- A.4.2 Parallelising Compilers.- B Units.- C Glossary.- D Trademarks.