[comp.arch] Re^2: R6000 PCs?

rwa@cs.AthabascaU.CA (Ross Alexander) (01/17/90)

roy@phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) writes:
>In <220@tw-rnd.SanDiego.NCR.COM> jml@tw-rnd.SanDiego.NCR.COM (Michael Lodman):
>> heat outside the room some other way. ECL equipment can heat up a room FAST!
[in my opinion, this misses the point... we are only talking one board's
worth of ecl; however....]
>	Since most (handwave) users of supercomputers access them by network
>connections, it doesn't much matter where they are located physically.  Which
>is more cost efficient, to build a cooling system for a big ECL monster
>located in, say, St. Louis, or to run a T3 link to the Yukon, where getting
>rid of heat is not usually a problem?  Just idle curiosity.

T3 to the Yukon ??  For a start, _you_ can't do it.  The CRTC sez
'take a hike'.  (That's the Canadian telecomm regulating body;
Americans can think FCC here, or whatever).  Only whichever monopoly
telecomm carrier servicing the area can do that; Bell or maybe
CNCP/Rogers.  And of course, you will get an extra special price: cost
plus maybe 300% or so.  I've been trying to get a miserable 56kb lease
line from Edmonton, Alberta to Athabasca (152 klicks) for _years_; we
can't afford the ~ $3000/month.  In fact, 5 x 9600 baud lines (which we
can push to 19,200) would be cheaper by ~ 20%.  Alberta Government
Telephones (a monopoly created by a radical _right_ _wing_ government,
folks, back in the dirty 30's) has decided we are a cash cow to be
milked.

Build your airconditioner in St. Louis.  It's a clear win.

PS: For those who haven't figured it out,

	a) Deregulation hasn't hit Canada, &

	b) I'm p*ssed off.  Followups to comp.dcom.telecomm.
-- 
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Ross Alexander    (403) 675 6311    rwa@aungbad.AthabascaU.CA    VE6PDQ