H P C S E L E C T N E W S The Electronic News Magazine for High-Performance Computing *** September 10, 1993: Vol. 2, No. 36. Circulation: 11,270 *** This Week's Table of Contents Represents 83 Pages of Text -------------------- * -------------------- To Subscribe: sub@hpcwire.ans.net. Subscription Information: Select 601 For the Select News Masthead and Contact Information, select 603. ============================================================================= ALPHA AXP (TM) SCIENTIFIC BENCHMARKS New 200-MHz Alpha AXP Benchmarks of CPU-Intensive Scientific Codes. (Linpack, FFT, Livermore Loops, SPEC, CERN, SLALOM, and more.) For complete benchmark details, and VAX/AlphaCard information, select 745. =============================== IN THIS ISSUE =============================== 399) ANALYSIS: IBM's SP1 Strategy Emphasizes Broad Software Effort 1301) BOOK REVIEW: Unix as Obstacle Course -- Redemption Through Suffering? 1302) LETTERS: Responses to IBM's Vision of Scalable Supercomputing 2803) FACTS & FIGURES: Specs and Performance for Sun's SPARCclassic X 2804) RFP: Bell Northern Researchers Looking to Buy Parallel System ============================================================================= ***************************************************************************** NEWS BRIEFS 2054) BOOST FROM TOSHIBA GIVES CRAY-3 LARGEST MEMORY IN ITS CLASS 49 Lines Colorado Springs, Colo. -- Cray Computer Corp. Thursday announced that it will quadruple the available memory for its Cray-3 supercomputer line using a 4-megabit SRAM circuit developed and fabricated by Toshiba Corp. of Japan. -------------------- 2055) AVS BROADENS VISUALIZATION LINE WITH UNIRAS ACQUISITION 59 Lines Waltham, Mass. -- Advanced Visual Systems Inc. Tuesday announced the acquisition of Uniras, a Denmark-based supplier of visual data analysis and presentation graphics software and software development tools for scientists, engineers and programmers. -------------------- 2056) API PACT CREATES TWO-HORSE RACE: MICROSOFT VERSUS UNIX 38 Lines Tokyo, Japan -- Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT operating system will not dethrone Unix from dominating the multi-user server market, according to George Shaffner, chief operating officer of X/Open Co. Ltd. -------------------- 2057) EX-TERADATA CEO JOINS MASPAR AS BOARD MEMBER, VICE CHAIRMAN 48 Lines Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Continuing an industry-wide trend toward stronger commercial-market focus, MasPar Computer Corp. Thursday announced that Kenneth W. Simonds, former Teradata president and CEO, has been elected to MasPar's board of directors and appointed vice chairman of the company. -------------------- 2058) AEA GIVES SUPPORT TO NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT 44 Lines Washington, D.C. -- The American Electronics Association said Wednesday that the North American Free Trade Agreement will slash Mexican duties and tariffs on U.S. exports, supporting tens of thousands of American jobs. -------------------- ALSO THIS WEEK: (Full stories available from more@hpcwire.ans.net) 2059) Single-Processor Hitachi S3800 Hits 5.7 GFLOPS on Linpack 14 Lines 2060) France's National Weather Service Installs Cray C98 System 25 Lines 2061) Parsytec Digital Image Recorder Used in Zero-Gravity Study 41 Lines 2062) San Diego Center Acquires Spectrum Engineering Software 19 Lines 2063) Surgicad Design Combines 3-D Visualization With CAD Tools 68 Lines 2064) Ampex to Provide Mass Storage for Kodak Digital Film System 45 Lines 2065) Novell Launches Anti-Competitive Charge Against Microsoft 34 Lines 2066) Exabyte Lays Off 55 in Continuing Effort to Streamline 30 Lines 2067) Digital to Buy StorageTek 18-Track Drives for VAX Systems 27 Lines 2068) Wavefront Names Noling President/CEO After Acquiring TDI 25 Lines 2069) Perceptronics Installs CACE/PM Software at NIST, DOD Site 32 Lines ***************************************************************************** INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT 720) ANS CO+RE Announces Lowest-Cost Nationwide Internet Access 57 Lines 739) 800 FLY CORP Announces Corporate Travel Savings Via E-Mail 96 Lines 744) Conference: Commercial Applications of Parallel Systems 392 Lines 746) Call for Papers: Grand Challenges in Computer Simulation 65 Lines ***************************************************************************** QUOTE OF THE WEEK: 2056) "[Windows] NT may be the best friend Unix has had." -- George Shaffner, chief operating officer of X/Open Co. Ltd. ***************************************************************************** ANALYSIS & FEATURES 399) IBM'S SP1 STRATEGY EMPHASIZES BROAD SOFTWARE EFFORT 156 Lines News Analysis by Norris Parker Smith, Editor at Large Ancillary software for functions like system management, job scheduling and access to non-Unix files may be key weapons in the battle for supremacy in scalable computing. In the last of three exclusive reports on the forthcoming IBM SP1, this column describes IBM's broadly based software strategy. -------------------- 1300) FEATURE STORY: MOLECULAR HEADSTANDS 96 Lines Georgia Tech researchers have used the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center's Cray Y-MP and C90 supercomputers and one of the most elaborate molecular dynamics simulations ever attempted to gain new insight into the complicated and highly animated behavior of molecules in complex liquid mixtures. -------------------- 1301) UNIX AS OBSTACLE COURSE: REDEMPTION THROUGH SUFFERING? 139 Lines Book Review by Norris Parker Smith, Editor at Large Fear and loathing of Unix is a widespread affliction, increasingly debilitating as RISC chips invade the PC world and more people use the Internet. Two recent books reviewed here could help tenderfeet find their way confidently through the Unix wilderness. -------------------- 1302) MESSAGE-PASSING: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR/CORRECTIONS 146 Lines -- Other Ideas on the Definition of "Scalable" Computing -- Application Development for Scalable Systems Is a Real Challenge -- A Word of Appreciation for Articles by Norris Parker Smith -- Changes to Specifications for SGI's Power Challenge Systems ***************************************************************************** SCIENCE NEWS 484) Livermore CRADA Focuses on Diamond-Film Flat-Panel Displays 36 Lines 485) Fifth Volunteer Dies From "Miracle Cure" for Hepatitis B 53 Lines 486) New Phosphor Technology Center to Further HDTV Research 77 Lines ***************************************************************************** SELECT NEWS INFORMATION 601) Special Anniversary Subscription Rates for HPC Select News 57 Lines 602) Contribute Your News, Tips and Information for Select News 24 Lines 603) HPC Select News Masthead and Contact Information 41 Lines ***************************************************************************** JOB BANK 654) Intel OS Development; HPC Program Director; Cornell; OSF 24 Lines 604) Post Your Help Wanted Listings in Select News' Job Bank 95 Lines ***************************************************************************** OTHER DEPARTMENTS: BENCHMARKS 2802) GPC Picture-Level Results for Evans & Sutherland Systems 37 Lines FACTS & FIGURES 2803) Specifications and Performance for Sun's SPARCclassic X 24 Lines REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS 2804) Bell Northern Researchers Looking to Buy Parallel System 36 Lines RESEARCH REGISTER 2805) Simulating Automobile Performance at Argonne National Lab 44 Lines ALLOCATIONS 2806) Joint Pittsburgh/NCSA Peer Review Board: 28 Projects 205 Lines BOOKSHELF 2807) Just Released: Artificial Intelligence in Engineering VIII 39 Lines CONFERENCES 2808) Scalable Parallel Libraries, Oct. 6-8, Mississippi State 262 Lines BACK ISSUES 950) A Complete Index of HPC Select News Back Issues 32 Lines ***************************************************************************** LAST WEEK'S MOST REQUESTED ITEMS FROM HPC SELECT NEWS 2036) Prototype 32-Node Cray T3D Installed at Pittsburgh Center 117 Lines 395) "Scalable" for IBM Not Quite the Same as for Competitors 260 Lines 397) ATM's Rapid Rise: Faster, Earlier, Cheaper High Bandwidth 157 Lines 2038) Unix Operating System Enters New Era of Simple Portability 157 Lines ***************************************************************************** S E L E C T N E W S S P O N S O R S Product specifications and company information in this section are available to both subscribers and non-subscribers. 901) ANS 902) IBM Corp. 903) Network Systems 904) Intel 905) Maximum Strategy 906) nCUBE 907) Digital Equipment 908) Hewlett-Packard 909) Fujitsu America 910) Convex Computer 911) FDC Technologies 912) Avalon Computer 913) The Smaby Group 914) Applied Parallel Res. 915) Genias Software 916) MasPar Computer 917) MMB Development 918) FastComm 919) Transtech Parallel 920) R.J. Harvey & Assoc. 921) Cray Research Inc. ***************************************************************************** Copyright 1993 HPCwire. Feel free to distribute this Table of Contents. ***************************************************************************** NEXT WEEK IN SELECT NEWS: * GPC Picture-Level Results for Kubota Pacific Computer Systems * Specs and Performance for Sun Microsystems' SPARCserver 10 Family