H P C w i r e The Text-on-Demand E-zine for High Performance Computing *** Sep. 27, 1996: Vol. 5, No. 40 Circulation: 16,404 *** This Week's Table of Contents Represents 126 Pages of Text ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Article retrieval instructions at end of this file more@hpcwire.tgc.com For subscription information, email sub@hpcwire.tgc.com For a free 4-week trial subscription, e-mail trial@hpcwire.tgc.com -------------------- * -------------------- 7174 ) Open Microsystems to Provide SCSI Device Performance and Function-Enabling Software for MAXIMUM STRATEGY's S-Series Storage Servers Companies Collaborate on Storage System for DreamWorks SKG ______________________________ IN THIS ISSUE _______________________________ | | | 10218 ) FEATURES: HP ANNOUNCES NEW HIGH-END SERVERS | | 10221 ) SCIENCE NEWS: CTC ASSISTS IN REFINING PHYSICAL CONSTANTS | | 10223 ) COMMERCIAL NEWS: OPTIMARK AND IBM TEAM FOR ORDER MATCHING SYSTEM | | 10225 ) NEWS BRIEFS: SGI WILL REPLACE DEFECTIVE R10000 MICROPROCESSORS | |____________________________________________________________________________| FEATURES ===================================================================== 10218 ) HP'S NEW EXEMPLAR: FAST CHIPS, LOW PRICES.........................9.6K Commentary by Norris Parker Smith, editor at large HP has put its own brand on a new Exemplar series of multiprocessors, outgrowth of earlier Convex products, that combines a 720 MFLOPS 64-bit chip with very high bandwidth and aggressive pricing. Is this the last chance for the Exemplar, or the start of a bright new future? 10219 ) AN INTERVIEW WITH JACK DONGARRA..................................10.3K by Alan Beck, editor in chief The art and science of benchmarking are closely intertwined with the very notion of high-performance computing itself. Few know the field better than Jack Dongarra, who, with Hans Meuer and Erich Strohmaier, maintains the prestigious TOP500 list of the world's most powerful computers. 10220 ) ASCI BLUE I: 512 NODES, 48 HOURS..................................7.4K Report by Norris Parker Smith, editor at large The first-phase ASCI Blue equipment at the Livermore Lab -- a 512 node IBM SP 2 -- was installed over a weekend and running by Monday morning. A smooth start for an arduous and ambitious project. SCIENCE & ENGINEERING NEWS 10221 ) CTC DIGS AT THE ROOTS OF PHYSICS..................................6.4K by Margaret Corbit, Science Writer, Cornell Theory Center Consuming more CPU hours than any other user of the IBM RS/6000 Scalable POWERparallel Systems (SP) supercomputer at the Cornell Theory Center (CTC) in 1996, physicist Toichiro Kinoshita has achieved a numerical solution for the fourth order correction term of the electron anomaly. 10222 ) PHILIPS & EINDHOVEN SET FIBRE OPTIC TRANSMISSION RECORD...........2.7K Researchers at Dutch multi-national Philips and the University of Eindhoven have attained a speed of 10 Gbit/s over a fibre optic link of 420 km. Specially designed optical semiconductor amplifiers were at the heart of the success. COMMERCIAL NEWS 10223 ) OPTIMARK AND IBM TEAM FOR ORDER MATCHING SYSTEM...................5.5K A new Colorado-based company, OptiMark Technologies, Inc. (OTI), believes its three-dimensional transaction system will attract currently hidden liquidity to the markets and significantly reduce the market impact costs that are the bane of money managers. 10224 ) UNUM PORTS 1.5 TERABYTE DATABASE TO EMC SYMMETRIX SYSTEM..........3.7K Disability insurer UNUM Corp. has finalized the strategic conversion of its entire 1.5 terabytes of information to EMC Symmetrix information storage and retrieval systems. QUOTE OF THE WEEK ============================================================ 10219 ) "The performance of a computer is a complicated issue, which is a function of many interrelated quantities...So there is no one definitive benchmark." -- Jack Dongarra, professor, Computer Science Dept., University of Tennessee and researcher in Mathematical Sciences, ORNL __________________________INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHTS_____________________________ | 7172 ) High End Storage Industry Growth Fuels DATATAPE Expansion | | 7176 ) IBM Announces New Hierarchical High Performance Storage System | | 7175 ) John Toole, Director, National Coordination Office for HPC and | | Communications, first Plenary speaker at Supercomputing ''96 -- | | Retrieve 7175 for Abstract of Talk. | | 7141 ) FREE Trial Subscription to WEBster, The Cyberspace Surfer -- | | Your Guide to What's News on the Web | | 7142 ) Call for Participation SUPERCOMPUTING 96 Nov.17-22 Pittsburgh, Pa.| | 7122 ) WHAT DO USERS WANT FROM HPC PRODUCTS AND SERVICES? | | A Special State-of-the-Industry Report | | 7169 ) The Real Numbers Behind Net Profits | | * The Largest Study of Web Marketers Ever Conducted * | |__________________________________________________________________________| NEWS BRIEFS ================================================================== 10225 ) Silicon Graphics Replaces Defective MIPS R10000s..................3K 10226 ) HP Releases New PA-8000 Multiprocessors for Technical Market......5K 10227 ) Pyramid Completes Oracle Terabyte MPP Test-to-Scale.............2.1K 10228 ) Discount Tires Upgrades SCO OpenServer System.....................1K 10229 ) Oracle Rdb7 on AlphaServer 4100 Benchmarks at 7985 tpmC.........1.6K 10230 ) ACS Releases Version 3.0 of Its ValueWar Strategy Simulator.....2.8K 10231 ) Fujitsu Will Sell & Support Maximum Strategy Storage Servers....2.4K 10232 ) Sync and Nortel to Provide Frame Relay Access in Europe.........2.2K 10233 ) Silicon Graphics Targets India Supercomputing Market............1.2K 10234 ) Intel CEO Andy Grove Authors Book on Business Strategy..........3.7K 10235 ) Spectra & CDI Win $1M Contract with South Korean Justice Dept...2.4K 10236 ) Case Claims its Switch Beats Rivals' by Order of Magnitude......1.5K 10237 ) TDK Develops Technology to Mass Produce Rewritable DVD Discs....2.4K 10238 ) CADIS Raises Over $10 Million for Expansion.....................2.6K 10239 ) ASM Lithography Purchases Mono-Lith Software....................1.8K 10240 ) New York University Stocks Digital Ap Center with SGIs..........2.3K SHORT TAKES 10241 ) Product Watch: Bull & Amdahl Introduce ISM/AccessMaster. MathSoft Announces S+GARCH Toolkit for S-PLUS. NEC Upgrades ProServa SH..........................14K 10242 ) Financial Update: SDRC Will Invest $1M in India. Streamlogic Revenues Dip......................3.9K 10243 ) Corporate Liaisons: IKOS, SGS-Thomson Partner. Data General, IMET Ink Deal.................9.4K 10244 ) People & Promotions: New VP Marketing at Mercury................2.9K JOB BANK ===================================================================== 667 ) Employment Opportunities From: MIT Lincoln Laboratory (2), Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum (Berlin, Germany), Minnesota Supercomputer Center, Inc., San Diego Supercomputing Center, IBM Corp.................................2.2K 604 ) Job Bank Rates and Regulations..................................1.22K CONFERENCES ================================================================== 2888 ) Calendar of Upcoming HPC Events (Updated 09.26.96)...............7.8K HPCwire INFORMATION ========================================================== 670 ) Masthead..........................................................2.2K 601 ) Subscriptions & Removals..........................................2.6K 602 ) Submitting Letters & Articles.....................................1.6K 950 ) Index of Back Issues...............................................11K Comments regarding editorial content may be sent to: editor@hpcwire.tgc.com ______________________H P C w i r e S P O N S O R S_______________________ | Full background information on all Sponsoring Companies | | | | 936) Sony *905) Maximum Strategy 937) Digital Equipment | | 934) HP/Convex Tech. Center930) HNSX Supercomputers 932) Portland Group | | 921) Cray Research Inc. 902) IBM Corp. 915) Genias Software | | 909) Fujitsu 935) Silicon Graphics | |____________________________________________________________________________| Firms with a star (*) have updated their material within the last 30 days. -------------------- * -------------------- To date HPCwire has delivered 1,509,598 articles to HPC professionals worldwide *** LAST ISSUE'S MOST REQUESTED ITEMS *** 10183 ) BLOOR ANALYST SAYS INTEL, MICROSOFT WILL FACE OBSTACLES..........3.7K 10181 ) EXPERT PREDICTS MULTIHEADED FUTURE FOR NETWORKING................5.4K 10182 ) IBM PROMOTES PHOENIX AS STANDARD FOR CLUSTERING..................9.3K 10179 ) NERSC II: SO FAR ON TIME, ON BUDGET AT BERKELEY...................13K 10245 ) TOP 20 MOST REQUESTED ARTICLES FROM LAST WEEK'S HPCwire..........1.8K ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~