gjj@cmvax.umiacs.UMD.EDU (Garland Jackson) (06/06/91)
[Got this today from U of Maryland Center---Passing on unverified.
---steve
]
THINKING MACHINES' NEW CM-200
A 100-USER SUPERCOMPUTER
SETS SUPERCOMPUTER SPEED RECORD
Cambridge, Mass--June 4, 1991--Thinking Machines Corporation today
announced its new 100-user supercomputer, the CM-200, the fastest
supercomputer in the world as measured by the industry standard LINPACK
benchmark, and the first massively parallel supercomputer to be delivered
with a full general purpose software environment.
The CM-200, a production supercomputer system which is available today, has
been designed specifically for the network and workstation environment,S
notes Danny Hillis, chief scientist at Thinking Machines. ROur new CMOST*
operating environment is UNIX( compatible and is the first in the
supercomputer industry whose interface is built on the standard X Window
System* and Motif* workstation protocols.S
Thinking MachinesU CM-200, which is compatible with the entire line of
Connection Machine( supercomputers, clocked 9.03 GFlops double precision
and over 17 GFlops single precision on the industry standard LINPACK
benchmark. It uses enhanced hardware technology, a faster clock speed, and
a new generation of interprocessor communications technology. Peak speed of
the CM-200 processor is 40 GFlops. Prices for full 64,000 processor CM-200
configurations range from $8 million to $10 million. First deliveries are
scheduled for summer.
"17 GFlops in LINPACK is extremely impressive," states John Sell,
President, Minnesota Supercomputer Center. "But more importantly this is a
production system that has the software to support a large user base."
CMOST (Connection Machine Operating System: Timesharing) is designed to
make programming easier and more efficient. "The CMOST general purpose
software environment integrates debugging, performance analysis, and data
visualization into a single environment with a familiar industry-standard
look and feel. Nobody else does that." adds Ted Tabloski, director of
system software at Thinking Machines. CMOST also integrates the acclaimed
Connection Machine Fortran compiler, the only supercomputer compiler ever
to win the Gordon Bell Prize.
"The real measure of the CM-200 is its performance on applications. For
example, a Mobil Oil Corporation application which ran at 14 gigaflops on
Thinking Machines' CM-2, now runs at 21 gigaflops on the CM-200. We do not
know of anyone else in the market today who can sustain 21 gigaflops on a
'real-world' application." said John Mucci, vice president of research at
Thinking Machines.
The CM-200 consistently delivers 5-10 GFlops of performance to its user
community. Among the sites which already report multiple GFlops of
sustained performance on their current CM-2Us are: Florida State
University, Mobil, Los Alamos, and Minnesota Supercomputer Center.
Thinking Machines also announced a version of CMOST that runs stand-alone
on a Sun workstation. It is a complete Fortran CMOST environment that
allows users to write, run, and test Fortran programs right at their
workstations. The company will license this package to schools and colleges
so that students who do not have access to a Connection Machine
supercomputer can independently study parallel programming techniques.
Upcoming June announcements from Thinking Machines include the introduction
of its aggressively priced entry level CM-200 "Hummer" supercomputer.
Thinking Machines also announced today, that it was "on-schedule" for the
1995 delivery of what is expected to be the world's first Teraflop Machine.
Thinking Machines Corporation was formed to apply parallel processing
techniques to the growing number of data-intensive applications in business
and science. Since announcing its Connection Machine system in 1986, the
company has grown to become the second largest supercomputer supplier in
the United States. Thinking Machines Corporation is headquartered at 245
First Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142. It has subsidiary offices
throughout the United States, as well as in Great Britain, France, Italy,
Germany, the Netherlands, and Japan.
For further information contact:
Tim Browne
Thinking Machines Corporation
245 First Street
Cambridge, MA 02142
617.234.5525
browne@think.com
CMost, CM-200 Hummer, and Connection Machine are trademarks of Thinking
Machines Corporation
Unix is a registered trademark of AT&T
X Window System is a trademark of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Motif is a trademark of the Open Software Foundation
Sun is a trademark Sun Microsystems, Inc.
--
=========================== MODERATOR ==============================
Steve Stevenson {steve,fpst}@hubcap.clemson.edu
Department of Computer Science, comp.parallel
Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634-1906 (803)656-5880.mabell