No abstract

Nectar is a "network backplane" for use in heterogeneous multicomputers. The initial system consists of a starshaped fiber-optic network with an aggregate bandwidth of 1.6 gigabits/second and a switching latency of 700 nanoseconds. The system can be scaled up by connecting hundreds of these networks together.The Nectar architecture provides a flexible way to handle heterogeneity and task-level parallelism. A wide variety of machines can be connected as Nectar nodes and the Nectar system software allows applications to communicate at a high level. Protocol processing is off-loaded to powerful communication processors so that nodes do not have to support a suite of network protocols.We have designed and built a prototype Nectar system that has been operational since November 1988. This paper presents the motivation and goals for Nectar and describes its hardware and software. The presentation emphasizes how the goals influenced the design decisions and led to the novel aspects of Nectar.

Nectar is a "network backplane" for use in heterogeneous multicomputers. The initial system consists of a star-shaped fiber-optic network with an aggregate bandwidth of 1.6 gigabits/second and a switching latency of 700 nanoseconds. The system can be scaled up by connecting hundreds of these networks together.The Nectar architecture provides a flexible way to handle heterogeneity and task-level parallelism. A wide variety of machines can be connected as Nectar nodes and the Nectar system software allows applications to communicate at a high level. Protocol processing is off-loaded to powerful communication processors so that nodes do not have to support a suite of network protocols.We have designed and built a prototype Nectar system that has been operational since November 1988. This paper presents the motivation and goals for Nectar and describes its hardware and software. The presentation emphasizes how the goals influenced the design decisions and led to the novel aspects of Nectar.

No abstract

A high-performance systolic array computer called Warp has been designed and constructed. The machine has a systolic array of 10 or more linearly connected cells, each of which is a programmable processor capable of performing 10 million floating-point operations per second (10 MFLOPS). A 10-cell machine therefore has a peak performance of 100 MFLOPS. Warp is integrated into a UNIX host system. Program development is supported by a compiler.The first 10-cell machine became operational in 1986. Low-level vision processing for robot vehicles is one of the first applications of the machine. This paper describes the architecture and implementation of the Warp machine, and justifies and evaluates some of the architectural features with system, software and application considerations 0884-7495/86/0000/0346501.00 © 1986 | EEE