Ubiquitous - Issue 1, File 2:
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(See http://apt.usa.globalnews.com/unigram for more details on
Unigram.X) about the new Cray T3E parallel processor. In brackets 
are comments by myself :-)


Cray claims Firsts in New Parallel T3E Machine.
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    Cray research Inc has duly unveiled its new Cray T3E
scalable parallel processor and claimed $92m (fuck!!!) in advance
orders for the system. The Digital Equipment Corporation Alpha
RISC-based machines scale to 2,048 processors for a theoretical
peak performance of 1.2 TFLOPS (jesus fucking christ!!); the
entry price is lowered and upgrades can be made in smaller
increments than with the T3D. It comes with a new Unicos/mk Unix
System V-derived operating system and GigaRing scalable
input-output and networking channel, which will also be moved
into Cray's current and future supercomputers and even it's
business servers. Cray claims Unicos/mk is the first truly
scalable operating system: the single operating system has a
series of microkernals which are distributed across the system.
It is designed to provide a single image and coherent view of all
system resources for users and system administrators. Within the
operating system, local "servers" process requests local to each
processor, while global servers process system-wide requests.
Where other vendors require a new copy of the operating system to
be installed on each new node when a machine is expanded,
Unicos/mk only needs to be told the new number of processors. The
GigaRing channel is described as the key component in the
high-speed input-output and networking subsystem, with "virtually
unlimited" capacity to store and move data into and out of
systems at a peak speed of up to 128 Gigabytes per second,
supporting Petabytes - millions of Gb - of disk capacity.
The GigaRing, based on the Scalable Coherent Interface, is a
bi-directional, dual-ring channel providing high-bandwidth
connections in excess of 800 Megabytes per second. Users are able
to add input-output capacity to the system as it is needed. It
supports distances of 35 feet between nodes, 600 feet with an
optical channel option. The T3E machines range in price from
$900,000 (A bargain!!) to $45m (not sure whether this is Aussie
or American Dollars!). As it did with the T3D, the Pittsburgh
Supercomputing Center will get the first T3E, in March.


(Yeah and I'll bet the fucking NSA are next on the bloody list!!
Bastards!!)

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