H P C w i r e The Text-on-Demand E-zine for High Performance Computing *** Oct. 20, 1995: Vol. 4, No. 42 Circulation: 17,814 *** This Week's Table of Contents Represents 189 Pages of Text ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Article Retrieval instructions at end of this file more@hpcwire.tgc.com For a free 6-week trial subscription, email trial@hpcwire.tgc.com -------------------- * -------------------- 7092) HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY'S ACQUISITION OF CONVEX COMPUTER CORPORATION _______________________________ IN THIS ISSUE _____________________________ | | | 5999) FEATURES: GERMANY REVIEWS WAYS TO SHARPEN COMPETITIVE HPC EDGE | | 8002) SCIENCE NEWS: CRAY T3D POWERS VISUAL CORTEX MODEL AT PSC | | 8010) NEWS BRIEFS: MAUI CENTER COMPLETES IBM STORAGE SYSTEM TESTING | |___________________________________________________________________________| FEATURES ==================================================================== Lines 5997) IBM'S NAS RESULTS CLAIM SUPERIORITY BUT RAISE QUESTIONS.............208 Commentary by Norris Parker Smith, editor-at-large IBM has released selective results on the NASA/Ames NAS benchmarks, asserting that its SP multiprocessor machines with a new 77 MHz microprocessor outperform competitors at configurations up through 32 processors. But what about incremental scaling for bigger systems? 5998) FUTURE OF MILITARY SYSTEMS BELONGS TO SCALABLE ARCHITECTURE.........153 Commentary by Michael Erbschloe, contributing editor Shrinking defense budgets and changing demands are forcing the military to move from legacy systems to parallel processing, ATM networks and increased use of modeling and simulation. 5999) GERMAN MINISTRY ASSIGNS FUNDING, REVIEWS HPSC PROJECTS..............130 Special to HPCwire by Uwe Harms More high performance computing centers, a national ATM broadband network, national competitiveness and distribution of funding were hot-button topics at a recent meeting of the German Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Technology (BMBF). COMMERCIAL NEWS 8000) TANDEM HIMALAYA IS KEY TO CHASE MANHATTAN HEALTHCARE SYSTEM..........57 Chase Manhattan Bank is using Tandem's Himalaya K10000 to provide simultaneous high-volume online transaction processing, online analytical processing and central messaging services. 8001) TYSON FOODS TURNS TO ORACLE FOR WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM..........51 An Oracle Rdb 6.1 database engine, dual clustered Alpha 2100 processors, and a Digital VAX 10,630 system track up to 13 million pounds of chicken and other meat every week. SCIENCE & ENGINEERING NEWS 8002) NEW LOOK AT SEEING: A SELF-ORGANIZING MODEL OF THE VISUAL CORTEX....105 by Michael Schneider, Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center Using the Cray T3D at Pittsburgh, researchers at the University of Texas created the first model of the visual cortex that simulates how connections among neurons organize themselves in the early days and weeks of life. 8003) CONVEX SPP POWERS PARALLELSEISMIC PROCESSING SYSTEM..................24 The Convex Exemplar SPP forms the centerpiece of a $3.5 million effort to increase hydrocarbon reserves through the use of advanced 3-D seismic techniques in China's Liaohe oil field. 8004) GENE DETECTIVE IDENTIFIES DNA SEQUENCES VIA E-MAIL..................111 A unique program called GeneMark running on a Sun5 or SPARCstation with Solaris O/S has allowed biologists to identify and annotate about 5,500 genes in more than 30 creatures. QUOTE OF THE WEEK ========================================================== 8006) "DMR is renown in systems delivery and consulting...The drive to acquire us is not surprising given the need by major companies to evolve toward providing larger areas of service." -- Michel Auclair, executive vp corporate services, DMR Group ____________________________INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT______________________________ | 7095) Sony Integrator--Tri-Plex Systems Corp.--Delivers Highest- | | Performance Tape Storage Solution for Intel Paragon(tm) | | 7089) Convex, HP Feature a New Vision and New Power for Geoscience | | Computing Solutions with Desktop-to-Supercomputing at SEG. | | 7091) Western Geophysical Purchases Fujitsu America VPP300 Supercomputer | | 7085) ATM's Influence on HPC Data Serving: A Maximum Strategy Perspective | | 7081) REGISTER FOR SC'95 ON THE WEB! Visit | | 7084) SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: Interoperability, The GII & The NII | | 7096) INFRASTRUCTURE Announces "Open Kimono Days" Free Back Issues | | and Commentary for Last Two Weeks of October | |___________________________________________________________________________| NEWS BRIEFS ================================================================= 8005) DoE Opts to Replace Cray and Convex Systems with Two Cray J916s....24 8006) Amdahl, IBM and BDM Enter Bidding War for Canadian-based DMR Group.41 8007) State of California Authorizes $2.25 Million SDSC Funding Package..44 8008) Swiss Computing Center Will House First NEC SX-4 in Europe.........28 8009) MascoTech Engineers Will Use Cray J916 for Automotive Design.......38 8010) Maui Center Says IBM Storage System Tests at 95 Percent Up Time....41 8011) NUMA-Q Architecture Expected to Up Sequent Performance to 32 GBps..48 8012) Tandem Will Port IBM's System Object Model to Himalaya.............31 8013) Latest Version of ValueWar Adds Tailored Cost/Benefit Analysis.....42 8014) Dakota Software's DSSLIB is Tuned to Run with Apogee's FORTAN 77...34 8015) China Chooses Newbridge to Expand Its Digital Data Networks........51 8016) Microsoft Says Microsoft Sequel Server Delivers 2454.97 tpmC.......36 SHORT TAKES 8017) Product Watch: A Digest of Recent Releases........................234 8018) Financial Update: Intel and IBM Each Report 3rd Quarter Losses....135 8019) Corporate Liaisons: Oracle Will Support Sequent Architecture......140 8020) People, Promotions, Appointments: Bell Labs Names Research Leader.130 JOB BANK ==================================================================== 667) Employment Opportunities.........................................139 Listings from: Cornell Supercomputing Center, Madentech Consulting, Nichols Research, IBM, Hewlett-Packard 604) Job Bank Rates and Regulations....................................92 CONFERENCES ================================================================= 2888) Calendar of Upcoming HPC Events (Updated Oct. 19).................185 HPCwire INFORMATION ========================================================= 7000) Subscription Information/Get On-Off Mailing List/Letters to the Editor Back Issue Index/Masthead, Email Contacts, Submission Tips..........9 ______________________H P C w i r e S P O N S O R S______________________ | | | Full background information on all Sponsoring Companies | | | | 912) Avalon Computer 915) Genias Software 905) MAXIMUM STRATEGY| | 934) Convex Computer Corp. 930) HNSX Supercomputers 916) MasPar Computer | | 921) Cray Research Inc. 902) IBM Corp. 932) Portland Group | |*909) Fujitsu 904) Intel Corp. 935) Silicon Graphics| | *936) Sony | |__________________*Updated information within last 30 days_________________| *** LAST ISSUE'S MOST REQUESTED ITEMS FROM HPCwire *** 5978) INSIDE INTEL TERAFLOP ARCHITECTURE: CCOTS TECHNOLOGY IS KEY.........166 5980) PRATT & WHITNEY TURN TO UNIX CLUSTER FOR JET ENGINE DESIGN..........182 5979) IBM WILL REPLACE MVS FOR S/390 SMP MAINFRAMES.......................168 667) EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES............................................139 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~