H P C w i r e The Text-on-Demand E-zine for High Performance Computing *** Nov. 01, 1996: Vol. 5, No. 45 Circulation: 16,404 *** This Week's Table of Contents Represents 146 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 -------------------- * -------------------- 70017 ) DataTape Launches New Commercial Business Unit Impactdata Impactdata To Focus On High Performance Storage and Retrieval For Industrial And Commercial Organizations. ______________________________ IN THIS ISSUE _______________________________ | | | 10379 ) FEATURES: HITS & HISSES DISCUSSES THE CRAY AS HPC MEASUREMENT | | 10383 ) SCIENCE NEWS: CHEMISTS CAN PLUMB VAST DATABASE ON WWW | | 10385 ) COMMERCIAL NEWS: BOTTOM LINE ON UNIX SERVERS VS. MAINFRAMES | | 10388 ) NEWS BRIEFS: CRAY RESEARCH SEEKS TO INTERVENE IN NEC'S LAWSUIT | |____________________________________________________________________________| 70026 ) DB/EXPO '96 NEW YORK RETURNS TO THE JAVITS CONVENTION CENTER DECEMBER 3 - 5, 1996 The world's leading client/server, data warehousing & Intranet exposition and conference. THIS IS A MUST! For more information and discounted registration retrieve 70026 FEATURES ===================================================================== 10378 ) GLU TOOLKIT PROMISES EASIER DEVELOPMENT OF PARALLEL APPS..........6.9K by Alan Beck, editor in chief From its beginnings as a language plus abstract multiprocessor architecture, SRI's GLU (Granular Lucid) has evolved into a toolkit designed to aid in the rapid development of applications that are not only platform independent but adaptive and scalable as well. 10379 ) HITS & HISSES: THE CRAY AND MICE/MOUSES...........................6.8K Compiled by Norris Parker Smith, editor at large Another vote for the "Cray" as a unit of measurement. How about 5 MCr/sec., 14 GCr/sec, etc.? And -- is "mouses" a more suitable plural for computer purposes than "mice?" 10380 ) LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.............................................3.6K Tom Miller, former marketing manager for Fujitsu America responds to remarks by Cray Research's General Counsel John L. Sullivan. TMC applications engineer Roch Bourbonnais comments on Mitch Loebel's observations concerning SCI. SCIENCE & ENGINEERING NEWS 10381 ) NCAR MODELS CLIMATE, VEGETATION PATTERNS AT LAST GLACIAL PEAK.....5.3K Two EPA-funded models have been employed by an NCAR scientist to model the shifting picture that plant life on earth has undergone over the last 21,000 years. The goal is not only to obtain a clearer view of prior ecosystems but also meaningful projections of what will happen to flora in the future. 10382 ) NSF REPORTS ON PURSUIT OF PETAFLOP COMPUTERS......................3.8K Even as teraflop computers are being geared up for operational capability, researchers are looking into the challenges of enabling petaflop machines. The NSF, working in conjunction with NASA and DARPA, is particularly active in pursuing this goal. 10383 ) CHEMISTS SET TO PROBE LARGEST CHEMICAL DATABASE ON WWW..............4K WWW and HPC technology have combined to enable chemists from around the world to query a database of approximately 150 billion compounds. The results are expected to lead to considerable advances in the normally tedious drug- discovery process. 10384 ) MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES' SHARED LAN CACHE WINS AWARD...............2.6K High performance LAN caching has become an important solution in the effort to address problems due to network and server loads when repetitive central file access is required. Measurement Techniques has produced important software addressing this issue. COMMERCIAL NEWS 10385 ) UNIX SERVERS: MORE $$$/USER THAN MAINFRAMES......................13.5K Commentary by Norris Parker Smith, editor at large A new study finds that Unix servers in commercial applications cost much more per user than mainframes. But can higher flexibility, adaptability and scope for creativity be priced? Consider the private car -- costly but cherished. 10386 ) MESSAGE FROM DEC'S OUTSIDE DIRECTORS TO EMPLOYEES.................2.7K Digital Equipment's recent quarterly report noting a $66 million loss has elicited concern in some quarters. The directors have addressed employees concerning their view of the situation and their projections for the future of the firm. QUOTE OF THE WEEK ============================================================ 10378 ) "There is no explicit parallelism involved; you don't have to think in those terms. The parallelism is caused by the implicit parallelism of the Lucid layer." -- Ed Ashcroft, professor in the Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Arizona, on advantages of GLU __________________________INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHTS______________________________ | 70018 ) Dr. Gary A. Glatzmaier To Receive 1996 Sid Fernbach Award at SC'96| | 70019 ) Maximum Strategy, SGI, Other Leaders In High Bandwidth Seminar. | | 70020 ) Maximum Strategy's Relationship With Fujitsu Off To Roaring Start | | 70021 ) CC-NUMA Architecture and PA 8000 Power: Hewlett Packard's New | | EXEMPLAR S- and X- Class Systems Lead In Scalable Performance | | 70022 ) High End Storage Industry Growth Fuels DATATAPE Expansion | | 70023 ) FREE Trial Subscription to WEBster, The Cyberspace Surfer -- | | Your Guide to What's News on the Web | | 70024 ) WHAT DO USERS WANT FROM HPC PRODUCTS AND SERVICES? | | A Special State-of-the-Industry Report | | 70025 ) The Real Numbers Behind Net Profits | | * The Largest Study of Web Marketers Ever Conducted * | |___________________________________________________________________________| NEWS BRIEFS ================================================================== 10388 ) Cray Research Seeks to Intervene in NEC's Lawsuit...............2.7K 10389 ) Intel Unveils P55C Architecture.................................2.3K 10390 ) LSI Creates Single-Chip GSM Baseband Processor Architecture.....1.3K 10391 ) IDC Says IT Training Companies Are Succeeding.....................2K 10392 ) Oracle Announces RDB7 for Alpha and VAX.........................1.5K 10393 ) Internet may Precipitate US Telephone System Gridlock...........2.2K 10394 ) Ohio Supercomputer Center Receives $12M Training Contract.......1.5K 10395 ) Presence Releases Bug-Fixes for Java Virtual Machine............1.7K 10396 ) DATATAPE Launches New Commercial Business Unit: Impactdata......1.9K 10397 ) IBM Will Construct Workstations with Intel, Microsoft Products..1.1K 10398 ) Intel Acknowledges 200MHz Pentium Pro Shortage for Q4...........0.9K 10399 ) ISSI Launches Company's First 0.35 Micron Static RAM............1.9K 10400 ) Navy Places First Order for RACE Multicomputers.................1.9K 10401 ) JCPenney Installs $11 Million NCR Data Warehouse Solution.......1.7K 10402 ) TSI TelSys Joins Unisys' NASA SEWP II Workstation Contract......1.7K 10403 ) Versatility Provides Adaptive Marketing for Call Centers........1.4K 10404 ) SGI WebFORCE Servers Selected by AT&T's WWW Dvpt................1.8K 10405 ) Object Design Powers GTE's Interactive WWW Yellow Pages.........1.9K 10406 ) VeriBest PCB to Interface with Viewlogic Workview Office........1.5K SHORT TAKES 10407 ) Products: KAI KAP/Pro V2.0 Is Now Available....................12.4K PsiTech's Dual Head for SGI 02 Desktop Workstation. 10408 ) Financial Update: SCO Announces Record Q4 Revenues..............6.6K Sapient Makes Public Offering. 10409 ) Corporate Liaisons: Microsoft Buys Panorama OLAP Technology....10.6K Pyramid, Siemens Nixdorf Partner with CrossZ. Cadence & CCT Merge for System-on-a-Chip. 10410 ) People & Promotions: PSC's Gary Jensen to Head Cray User Group..3.1K JOB BANK ===================================================================== 667 ) Employment Opportunities From: TROY Systems, Inc., Arctic Region Supercomputing Center, Raytheon E-Systems(3), IBM Corp., Cornell University, San Diego Supercomputing Center, Univ. of Illinois.....................2.1K 604 ) Job Bank Rates and Regulations..................................1.22K CONFERENCES ================================================================== 2888 ) Calendar of Upcoming HPC Events (Updated Oct. 31, 1996)..........8.1K 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 1,548,152 articles to HPC professionals worldwide *** LAST ISSUE'S MOST REQUESTED ITEMS *** 10347 SGI OFFERS DETAILED TECHNICAL PICTURE OF ORIGIN2000...............12K 10349 COMMENTS ON SEYMOUR CRAY: SELECTED EMAIL..........................14K 10354 NCSA TAKES DELIVERY OF HP EXEMPLAR S-CLASS.........................7K 10351 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR............................................3.3K 10411 TOP 20 MOST REQUESTED ARTICLES FROM LAST WEEK'S HPCwire..........1.8K ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~