Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 18:44:50 02/02/99
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On February 02, 1999 at 13:53:29, Terry Presgrove wrote: >Is this the next generation IBM Blue? > > > Tuesday February 2 11:04 AM ET > > >IBM unveils fastest supercomputer >SOMERS, N.Y. -- IBM Corp. Monday unveiled a more powerful supercomputer that is >part of IBM's plan to extend the use of what it calls "Deep Computing" by >business users. >The new supercomputer is an example of IBM's (NYSE=IBM) effort to commercialize >Deep Computing, which is the capacity to tie together unprecedented computer >processing power and advanced software and algorithms to solve complex problems >and derive meaning from vast mountains of data. > >"The Internet revolution is creating unprecedented quantities of data. The SP >excels at helping people turn that data into valuable information," said Rodney >Adkins, general manager, RS/6000. > >"The lines between technical and commercial computing are blurring as both >researchers and businesses routinely analyze vast amounts of data," he said. > > >Next-generation 'Deep Blue' >IBM's next-generation RS/6000 SP supercomputer system contains the POWER3 >microprocessor, the direct successor to the POWER2 Super Chip inside "Deep >Blue," known for its chess victory over world chess champion Garry Kasparov in >1997. > >IBM said the POWER3 microprocessor can perform up to two billion operations per >second and is more than twice as powerful as IBM's preceding RS/6000 machine. > >The POWER3 chip is aimed at applications such as computer analysis and >simulation programs used by aerospace, automobile and drug manufacturers, the >company said. > > >Nodes work together >The SP is a scalable system made up of building blocks called nodes, which can >function alone or work with hundreds of other nodes. The system allows >researchers to throw massive amounts of data-processing capacity at single >tasks, or divide the processing power to handle a range of less intensive work. > >The next generation RS/6000 chip has a retail price of $56,160 for a two-way >node, according to an IBM spokesman. > >As of this month, IBM has shipped more than 5,500 SP systems, with more than >55,000 nodes included, in the five-and-a-half years since the SP first was >introduced. > >while the processor may can handle 2billion calculations per second it doesn't >say if there is an available computer that is operational achieving that? Does >it? this isn't remarkable. A 400 mhz pentium II xeon can execute 3 instructions in one clock cycle, which turns out to be 1.2 billion instructions per second... Alphas are far faster, so the basic 'chip' they are talking about is not anything wild and wonderful, just a good chip... IBM is pretty good at putting clusters of machines together into one wad however, so the overall SP machine might be quite good when you factor in multiprocessing...
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