With regard to networks, a near-future fork in the road between Beowulf clusters versus supercomputers may be the intelligence concerning global memory added to the network interface chip for upcoming models of supercomputers. An example is the SGI Ultraviolet series, but also, other supercomputer vendors will have something not too dissimilar ... without being too specific. Moreover, execution paradigms for petascale and exascale computing need that kind of intelligent network interface. My point is that the key question about the interconnect may not be the bandwidth, but rather, how much support it provides for global addressing and process migration.
These declarative statements should be seen as questions. I welcome comments from better informed members of the mailing list concerning intelligent interconnection interfaces for modestly-priced Beowulf clusters. Regards, Alan -- Alan Scheinine 200 Georgann Dr., Apt. E6 Vicksburg, MS 39180 Email: alschein...@tuffmail.us Mobile phone: 225 288 4176 http://www.flickr.com/photos/ascheinine _______________________________________________ Beowulf mailing list, Beowulf@beowulf.org sponsored by Penguin Computing To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf
