Conference heron::euro_swas_ai

361.0. "FWD: press announcement of DECmpp hardware and soft" by ULYSSE::ROACH (TANSTAAFL !) Thu Aug 22 1991 12:34

 

                  I N T E R O F F I C E   M E M O R A N D U M

                                        Date:     21-Aug-1991 10:46pm CET
                                        From:     PAPAGEORGE
                                                  PAPAGEORGE@SELECT@SELECT@ULYSSE@MRGATE@VALMTS@VBO
                                        Dept:      
                                        Tel No:    

TO:  PATRICK ROACH@VBE


Subject: FWD: press announcement of DECmpp hardware and software products from MasPar

From:	AIAG::PUNDIT "ASDS Research, dtn 291-8100  21-Aug-1991 1628"   
21-AUG-1991 16:29:17.77
To:	@aitclist
CC:	
Subj:	FWD: press announcement of DECmpp hardware and software products from 
MasPar

-----------------Forwarded item dated 21-AUG-1991 15:28:32.46-----------------

From:	OLCROW::SOPKA "Smiling Jack  21-Aug-1991 1453"
To:	@DIST$:PP_INTEREST
CC:	
Subj:	press announcement of DECmpp hardware and software products from MasPar

From: [email protected] (Dave Price, USS Press Relations)
Subject:Digital Introduces Family Of Massively Parallel Computers
Date: 20 Aug 91 19:21:08 GMT


                  
 +---------------------------+ TM
 |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |       Digital Equipment Corporation
 | d | i | g | i | t | a | l |       Maynard, Massachusetts 01754-2571
 |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
 +---------------------------+ 

Editorial Contact:

Joseph D. Codispoti		
(508) 493-6767	                



              DIGITAL EQUIPMENT INTRODUCES FAMILY OF

                   MASSIVELY PARALLEL COMPUTERS

MAYNARD, Mass. -- August 20, 1991 -- Digital Equipment Corporation 
today introduced a family of computers based on massively parallel 
processing (MPP), an emerging, high performance technology targeted 
at very complex problems of technical, scientific and commercial 
users.
     The new DECmpp 12000 system series features configurations 
ranging from 1,024 to 16,384 processors with performance up to 1.2 
billions of floating point operations per second (GigaFLOPS), and 
26,000 millions of instructions per second (MIPS). 
     The new systems, supplied under a previously announced 
agreement with MasPar Computer Corporation of Sunnyvale, California  
are priced from $240,500 to $1,502,500.  Worldwide shipments will 
begin in the fall.
     All DECmpp systems are configured with Digital DECstation 5000 
full color front-end workstations, as well as ULTRIX and DECnet 
software licenses. In addition to the family of computer 
processors, Digital also announced a comprehensive line of 
software, a family of high speed disk arrays, and full service and 
support programs.   Digital's standard one year product warranty 
will apply. 

     With this announcement, Digital becomes the first main line
systems vendor to formally introduce a family of massively parallel
systems, and it is the first time users of systems in this 
performance class can take advantage of Digital's high level of 
warranty, service and support. 
     Charles Wilson, director of Digital's Massively Parallel 
Systems Group, noted  "We feel this is a milestone in the evolution 
of massively parallel technology.  There are many businesses, 
government agencies and universities that want to move to massively 
parallel technology, but are looking to more application software 
and higher levels of enterprise service and support. 
     "Digital's entry in the market is important to these users for
two reasons.  First, we will stimulate application program 
development both directly through our independent software 
developers, and indirectly by adding the commitment of an 
established, major systems vendor to this relatively new market.
     "The second reason is Digital's leadership in delivering 
effective, highly reliable, enterprise-wide support to large 
organizations.  MPP systems are yet another important technology to 
be integrated into the total computing environment."
     Introduced today were:

     o	DECmpp 12000 systems -- eight field-upgradable  models 
        incorporating 1,024, 4,096, 8,192 and 16,384 processor 
        elements, and memory capacity from 16MB to 1GB. Priced from 
        $240,500 to $1,502,500;


     o	DECmpp Programming Language -- a C-like high level compiler 
        for programming DECmpp systems included with the DECmpp 
        System Software license, $100;

     o	DECmpp Parallel Programming Environment -- a comprehensive 
        suite of development tools for data-parallel programming.  
        Features an interactive DECwindows point-and-select 
        interface. Includes symbolic debugger, machine animator and 
        data visualizer. License, $4,000; 

     o	DECmpp Image Processing Library -- a facility for supplying 
        common visual and data objects to help speed program 
        development.  License, $4,000. 

     o	DECmpp FORTRAN -- built on FORTRAN 90, this compiler will 
        provide facilities to program in high level language and 
        generate code for data parallel execution.  Available in 
        December; 

     o	DECmpp Disk Array Systems -- high speed disk-array 
        subsystems, provide parallel access to large data files.  
        The disk array features 720 megabytes of formatted storage 
        per disk with a capacity up to 11.2 gigabytes of storage 
        and sustained I/O rate of nine megabytes per second.  
        Priced from $129,000 to $261,000; 

     o	Digital Service -- the complete worldwide service offering 
        from Digital, including enterprise integration, consulting, 
        customer training, and maintenance and repair services, is 
        available to DECmpp customers.



                    SOFTWARE AIDS MARKET GROWTH
     Massively parallel processor architectures are considered by
many industry experts to have the greatest potential for solving
highly complex problems in technical, scientific and commercial
computer applications such as scientific visualization, geographic 
database management, econometric  modeling, and financial analysis. 
     MPP computers are able to break down problems into smaller 
parts, then process these parts simultaneously, at very high speed.  
As a result, performance can be extremely fast for applications 
that lend themselves to this type of processing.

     Key to market acceptance, however, is software, ranging from 
application development and network integration tools to the 
applications themselves that can take advantage of this technique.
     Digital is working to advance MPP software development on
several fronts, according to Wilson.
     "First, we're focusing on basic software elements such as 
language compilers, libraries, networking designs and basic 
development tools.  In some cases, we're going to create 
parallelized versions of existing products; in other cases, we're 
developing entire new products.  For example, we are looking to 
extend Digital tools such as our Language Sensitive Editor, 
Friendly UNIX, and Test Manager to massively parallel 
architectures.
     "Secondly, we're committed to directly stimulating third-party
application development in strategic application areas."
     Targeted applications include: structural dynamics in 
automotive and aerospace industries; seismic processing and 
reservoir analysis in oil and gas exploration; and database 
retrieval, searching and sorting.
     Two application toolkits recently ported to these systems are
"Elexir", an information retrieval system from Third Eye Software,
Inc. of Menlo Park, California, and "Table-Maker", a statistical 
database package from CHISQ Ltd., Reading, England.


             DECmpp EXTENDS HIGH PERFORMANCE SOLUTIONS
    The new DECmpp 12000 Series Systems add an important MPP
component to Digital's high-performance computing products.  
Digital currently manufactures and markets VAX 9000 and VAX 6000 
systems, including mainframes and vector equipped versions for 
supercomputing.  Digital also offers a range of high-performance 
workstations.  These and other Digital products maintain industry 
leading interoperability with non-Digital systems via the company's 
open NAS architecture of standard software interfaces.     
     Digital Equipment Corporation, headquartered in Maynard,
Massachusetts, is the leading worldwide supplier of networked
computer systems, software and services.  Digital pioneered and
leads the industry in interactive, distributed and multi-vendor
computing.  Digital and its partners deliver the power to use the
best integrated solutions -- from desktop to data center -- in open
information environments.
                               ####

Note to Editors:   MasPar is a trademark of MasPar Computer 
                   Corporation.
     		   Table-Maker is a trademark of CHISQ Ltd.
     		   Elexir is a registered trademark of Third Eye 
                   Software, Inc.
     		   UNIX is a trademark of Unix System Laboratories, 
                   Inc.
     		   DECnet, DECstation, DECmpp, VAX and ULTRIX are 
                   trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation.
CORP/92/284

===========================================

This news about Digital Equipment Corp. is emailed as a courtesy to
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     Digital Equipment Corporation
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     Email:  [email protected]