[MLUG - DISCUSSION] Supercomputing's New Idea Is Old One

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

Full text:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/04/technology/04SUPE.html

N.Y. Times
August 4, 2003

Supercomputing's New Idea Is Old One

By JOHN MARKOFF

After a period of neglect, the intellectual legacy of Seymour Cray, the
father of the modern supercomputer, is being revived.

The scientists in government, industry and academia who are engaged in the
race to build the world's fastest computing machines are now turning their
attention once again to Mr. Cray's elegant approach to building ultra-fast
computers.

When Mr. Cray died after a car accident in 1996, the one-of-a-kind
machines that embodied his computing philosophy had gone out of fashion,
largely replaced by designs based on thousands of connected
microprocessors that are inexpensive and mass produced.

Mr. Cray's custom machines are known as vector supercomputers and have
special hardware that is intended to handle the long strings of numbers in
complex scientific computing problems. The machines are highly regarded
for a design that balanced computing speed and the ability to transfer
data extremely rapidly within the computer while the calculation is taking
place.

This design philosophy is being revitalized by Burton J. Smith, a founder
and the chief scientist of the Seattle-based Tera, which bought the
original Cray Research in 2000. In the three years since the acquisition,
Mr. Smith has been seen in the industry as the most prominent champion of
Mr. Cray's approach.

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