mercer@ncrcce.StPaul.NCR.COM (Dan Mercer) (10/08/89)
A short history: my company uses NCR's 32 bit VLSI CPU chip in one of its products. Emulating the machine code used in our other processors we were get about 280 KIPS (yup, that's right). I had clipped an article from UNIX World about another company that used the chips (it was founded by some of the chip's designers) but were getting 8 MIPS. Obviously, I'd like to find out how. I finally ran across the article while cleaning out my files to make room for new files. And it was celerity. So, does anyone out there have any useful info. Did celerity bite it? Anyone know where the celerity people went. HELP!! Thanks in advance, -- Dan Mercer Reply-To: mercer@ncrcce.StPaul.NCR.COM (Dan Mercer)
jml@tw-rnd.SanDiego.NCR.COM (Michael Lodman) (10/10/89)
In article <1602@ncrcce.StPaul.NCR.COM> mercer@ncrcce.StPaul.NCR.COM (Dan Mercer) writes: >A short history: my company uses NCR's 32 bit VLSI CPU chip in one of >its products. Emulating the machine code used in our other processors >we were get about 280 KIPS (yup, that's right). I had clipped an article >from UNIX World about another company that used the chips (it was founded >by some of the chip's designers) but were getting 8 MIPS. Obviously, >I'd like to find out how. I finally ran across the article while cleaning >out my files to make room for new files. And it was celerity. Celerity used the NCR32 as a direct execution engine, with an external register windowing mechanism. They sold both uni-processors and a diatic version. I imagine that it was the diatic version which you saw rated at 8MIPS. The NCR32 in direct execution mode is a RISC. >So, does anyone out there have any useful info. Did celerity bite it? >Anyone know where the celerity people went. HELP!! Celerity was purchased by Floating Point Systems about a year and a half ago. They are still in the same location, but are no longer producing systems based around the NCR32. Their new system is a vector processor built using BIT's ECL VLSI register unit etc. Many off the engineers are still there, but management has been moved around and Vallender, the president, is off with a new company, also called Celerity, that does some computer consulting work. Rumor has it that they also make bird cages, but I've been unable to confirm this. -- +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | Michael Lodman Mike.Lodman@SanDiego.NCR.COM | | NCR Corporation - Distributed Systems Lab - San Diego | | 9900 Old Grove Rd. San Diego, CA. 92131 (619) 693-5353 | +-----------------------------------------------------------+
dave@fps.com (Dave Smith) (10/10/89)
In article <1602@ncrcce.StPaul.NCR.COM> mercer@ncrcce.StPaul.NCR.COM (Dan Mercer) writes: >A short history: my company uses NCR's 32 bit VLSI CPU chip in one of >its products. Emulating the machine code used in our other processors >we were get about 280 KIPS (yup, that's right). I had clipped an article >from UNIX World about another company that used the chips (it was founded >by some of the chip's designers) but were getting 8 MIPS. Obviously, >I'd like to find out how. I finally ran across the article while cleaning >out my files to make room for new files. And it was celerity. > >So, does anyone out there have any useful info. Did celerity bite it? >Anyone know where the celerity people went. HELP!! > We got the extra speed out of the chip by using its native instruction set. Celerity didn't quite bite it, we were absorbed by FPS Computing about a year ago and are now selling our latest and greatest as the FPS Model 500. Upwards-compatible instruction set, 30ish MIPs. Why not bundle a 500 along with your product? It's only the size of a Frigidaire and you should be able to get a solid MIP running in emulation mode. :-) David L. Smith FPS Computing, San Diego ucsd!celerity!dave or dave@fps.com "Repent, Harlequin!," said the TickTock Man
kahn@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Shahin Kahn) (10/14/89)
Here's a response I made to a similar enquiry:
Celerity Computing was one of the first companies to go after the
Unix market and made superminicomputers. It was bought by
Floating Point Systems of Portland Oregon and their name was
changed to FPS Computing. They make supercomputers running
very good Unix, capable of accomodating many users, and sitting
in a network as a high-powered compute-server, in a pretty wide price-range.
The Unix machines are based on a vector-processing architecture, but
are quite powerful without the vector option, nonetheless.
(Not too unlike an ibm-3090,,, with native bsd-4.3 unix).
I work for FPS and am on-site at the Cornell Supercomputer Center.
You may contact
FPS Computing
9692 Via Excelencia
San Diego, CA 92126
619-271-9940
and ask for more information. The sales people in charge of your area will be
happy to send you more information, I am sure.
(If StPaul is the one in Minn, you may call 612-835-3220.)3220.)3220.)
Of course, I can provide you with more info, as well, if you
prefer.
Regards,
Shahin.