Advanced Computing Research Facility Offers Opportunities for Experimentation in Multiprocessing:Argonne National Laboratory Advanced Computing Research Facility, Mathematics and Computer Science Division
Abstract
AnnouncementsAdvanced Computing Research Facility Offers Opportunities for Experimentation in MultiprocessingArgonne National Laboratory Advanced Computing Research Facility, Mathematics and Computer Science Division SAGE Publications, Inc.1987DOI: 10.1177/109434208700100113 Five new multiprocessors are available to scientists to experiment with innovative machines and to develop software tools for state-of-the-art computers. The multiprocessors are operated by the Mathematics and Computer Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory as part of the Advanced Computing Research Facility. The ACRF was established in 1984 in response to an expanded effort at Argonne in advanced scientific computing. The first machines installed were a Denelcor HEP, featuring a multiple-instruction multiple-data stream (MIMD) design and a locally built system with eight processing units. Over the past year, five new commercial multiprocessors have been added: an Alliant FX/8 system, with eight vector processors sharing 32 megabytes of memory; an Encore Mul- timax system, with 20 processors sharing 20 megabytes of memory; a Sequent Balance 21000 system, with 24 processors sharing 16 megabytes of memory; an Intel iPSC four-dirnensional hypercube system, with 32 nodes sharing a hypercube system, with 16 vector nodes sharing one megabyte of memory. "`These machines let us experiment with very different configurations," states Jack Dongan-a, scientific director of the