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From: info-vax@ucbvax.ARPA
Newsgroups: fa.info-vax
Subject: Connecting Supercomputers to DEC's Cluster Systems
Message-ID: <5217@ucbvax.ARPA>
Date: Mon, 4-Mar-85 15:47:39 EST
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.5217
Posted: Mon Mar  4 15:47:39 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 5-Mar-85 03:08:00 EST
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.ARPA
Organization: University of California at Berkeley
Lines: 42

From: Reed B. Powell 

We are investigating the methods useful to the market for connecting
the various "supercomputers" in the industry (Cybers, Crays, etc) to
Digital's clustered systems.  There are many reasons people have for
desiring this, but usually it falls into the general catagory of 
"front-ending" the expensive supercomputers with lower cost
systems used for data-preperation, data-presentation, etc.  IE:  Keep the
supercomputer busy doing what it is best at.

There are a number method of doing this.  Hyperchannel seems to be doing
well in the most general case of connecting anything to anything, but
also seems to be adversely affected by coping with those generalities.
What DEC is looking at is a method of hooking those systems up to
DEC's systems.  

The only thing we have pretty much decided -- and even this is not cast
in concrete -- is that is should be oriented around a connection to the
CI bus, which is what connectes the systems of a cluster, as well as
their disk servers, together.

What we are specifically soliciting is information in two broad areas:

   1. What functionality does the market want?  Should we look into
      servers, gateways, rje-s, or what?  Should the supercomputers
      "look" like another DEC computer on a cluster, or should there
      be something in between that performs a "monkey in the middle"
      function.

   2. Ideas on implementation.  It would be best if anyone submitting
      ideas in this catagory also include some information from the
      above catagory, since we must in the end justify our actions
      based on market needs.

Since most of the supercomputers are in sites related to ARPAnet,
this seems to be the best, most effecient way to gather this data.
Anyone wanting to talk directly about this should leave a phone number,
and someone related to this project will be glad to talk.

thanks in advance,
-reed
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