An open, parallel I/O computer as the platform for high-performance, high-capacity mass storage systems

APTEC Computer Systems is a Portland, Oregon based manufacturer of I/O computers. APTEC's work in the context of high density storage media is on programs requiring real-time data capture with low latency processing and storage requirements. An example of APTEC's work in this area is the Loral/Space Telescope-Data Archival and Distribution System. This is an existing Loral AeroSys designed system, which utilizes an APTEC I/O computer. The key attributes of a system architecture that is suitable for this environment are as follows: (1) data acquisition alternatives; (2) a wide range of supported mass storage devices; (3) data processing options; (4) data availability through standard network connections; and (5) an overall system architecture (hardware and software designed for high bandwidth and low latency). APTEC's approach is outlined in this document

A real-time MPEG software decoder using a portable message-passing library

We present a real-time MPEG software decoder that uses message-passing libraries such as MPL, p4 and MPI. The parallel MPEG decoder currently runs on the IBM SP system but can be easil ported to other parallel machines. This paper discusses our parallel MPEG decoding algorithm as well as the parallel programming environment under which it uses. Several technical issues are discussed, including balancing of decoding speed, memory limitation, 1/0 capacities, and optimization of MPEG decoding components. This project shows that a real-time portable software MPEG decoder is feasible in a general-purpose parallel machine

Estudo da tecnologia Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)

Este trabalho tem como objetivo apontar as vantagens e desvantagens da tecnologia FCoE (Fibre Channel over Ethernet). Há alguns anos ocorreu a necessidade de segregar o tráfego de dados críticos em uma nova rede com finalidade de evitar impactos em aplicações mais importantes. Hoje em dia temos diversas tecnologias que nos ajudam a priorizar o tráfego e atingir velocidades elevadas. Dessa forma surge à possibilidade de unir essas redes novamente. Neste documento faremos um comparativo com as redes SAN utilizadas hoje e o modelo que poderá substituí-la no futuro.Esse estudo de deu por causa do meu grande interesse e entusiasmo sobre as novas tecnologias e novas tendências ligadas a redes e aos Storages. É impossível esquecer as tantas pessoas que me ajudaram a crescer e construir o meu caminho profissional até hoje. Agradeço do fundo do meu coração a toda minha família em especial a minha querida esposa que me ajudou a finalizar este trabalho. Também gostaria de agradecer ao corpo acadêmico do curso MOT/CN do setor NCE da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, cujo embasamento teórico ensinado foi fundamental. E sem desmerecer, meu agradecimento também para Silvano Gai que além de produzir um livro ótimo referente à tecnologia FCoE também respondeu em curto prazo todas as minhas dúvidas

Design Related Investigations for Media Access Control Protocol Service Schemes in Wavelength Division Multiplexed All Optical Networks

All-optical networks (AON) are emerging through the technological advancement of various optical components, and promise to provide almost unlimited bandwidth. To realise true network utilisation, software solutions are required. An active area of research is media access control (MAC) protocol. This protocol should address the multiple channels by wavelength division mutiplexing (WDM) and bandwidth management. Token-passing (TP) is one such protocol, and is adopted due to its simplicity and collisionless nature. Previously, this protocol has been analysed for a single traffic type. However, such a study may not substantiate the protocol's acceptance in the AON design. As multiple traffic types hog the network through the introduction multimedia services and Internet, the MAC protocol should support this traffic. Four different priority schemes are proposed for TP protocol extension, and classified as static and dynamic schemes. Priority assignments are a priori in static scheme, whereas in the other scheme, priority reassignments are carried out dynamically. Three different versions of dynamic schemes are proposed. The schemes are investigated for performance through analytical modelling and simulations. The semi-Markov process (SMP) modelling approach is extended for the analyses of these cases. In this technique, the behaviour of a typical access node needs to be considered. The analytical results are compared with the simulation results. The deviations of the results are within the acceptable limits, indicating the applicability ofthe model in all-optical environment. It is seen that the static scheme offers higher priority traffic better delay and packet loss performance. Thus, this scheme can be used beneficially in hard real-time systems, where knowledge of priority is a priori. The dynamic priority scheme-l is more suitable for the environments where the lower priority traffic is near real-time traffic and loss sensitive too. For such a scheme, a larger buffer with smaller threshold limits resulted in improved performance. The dynamic scheme-2 and 3 can be employed to offer equal treatment for the different traffic types, and more beneficial in future AONs. These schemes are also compared in their performance to offer constant QoS level. New parameters to facilitate the comparison are proposed. It is observed that the dynamic scheme-l outperforms the other schemes, and these QoS parameters can be used for such QoS analysis. It is concluded that the research can benefit the design of the protocol and its service schemes needed in AON system and its applications

Neuer massiv-paralleler Rechner

Mit dem neuen Supercomputer Hitachi SR2201 stellt das Rechenzentrum seinen Nutzern einen weiteren interessanten Parallelrechner mit Zukunftsperspektive zur Verfügung

The role of HiPPI switches in mass storage systems: A five year prospective

New standards are evolving which provide the foundation for novel multi-gigabit per second data communication structures. The lowest layer protocols are so generalized that they encourage a wide range of application. Specifically, the ANSI High Performance Parallel Interface (HiPPI) is being applied to computer peripheral attachment as well as general data communication networks. This paper introduces the HiPPI standards suite and technology products which incorporate the standards. The use of simple HiPPI crosspoint switches to build potentially complex extended 'fabrics' is discussed in detail. Several near term applications of the HiPPI technology are briefly described with additional attention to storage systems. Finally, some related standards are mentioned which may further expand the concepts above

Gigabit Produktionsnetze in der HWW

Unter der Bezeichnung HLRS (Höchstleistungsrechenzentrum Stuttgart) ist am RUS das erste Supercomputerzentrum für den universitären Wissenschaftsbereich in der Bundesrepublik angesiedelt. Derzeit plant die DFG zwei bis drei solcher Zentren. Das inzwischen realisierte Breitband-Wissenschaftsnetz (BWiN) garantiert dabei eine effektive Erreichbarkeit solcher Zentren. Unter der Bezeichnung HWW (Höchstleistungsrechner für Wissenschaft und Wirtschaft) haben Land und Universität zusammen mit den Firmen debis Systemhaus und Porsche AG eine gemeinsame Betriebsgesellschaft gegründet. Diese betreibt auch die im Rahmen des HLRS beschafften Rechner. Die HWW wird ein zwischen dem RUS-Standort Campus Vaihingen und dem debis-Sitz Untertürkheim verteiltes Rechenzentrum etablieren und betreiben. Vom RUS wurde in diesem Kontext am 15. August die Abnahme der NEC SX-4/32 (s. BI 7/8 1996) erfolgreich abgeschlossen; die Maschine wurde anschließend der HWW zum Betrieb übergeben. Die nächste Maschine wird entsprechend eine Cray T-3E/512 sein - aufgestellt am debis-Standort. Dort stehen bereits eine Cray T93 und eine Cray J90, die ebenfalls von der HWW betrieben werden. Der vorliegende Artikel beschreibt in diesem Zusammenhang das HWW-Netz mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der schnellen Verbindung Vaihingen-Untertürkheim. In einem weiteren Artikel, HWW-Link - Optik und SDH, wird zudem die Problematik des physikalischen Bit-Transporteszwischen den HWW-Standorten behandelt

Corporate Style Guides: Understanding and Construction

Style guides have existed for many years and yet there is almost no information concerning how to write one. Since corporations are so different from one another, each could have its very own style guide. Most, however, use an existing style guide and fill in any gaps with customer specific information. One such corporation is the Utah State University Research Foundation (USURF). To answer the question “how to write a style guide,” this paper compares five style guides with similar content to what would appear in a USURF guide. The paper then discusses interviews from USURF’s technical writers to determine the needs of the individual organization. The latter half of this paper is the actual style guide presented to USURF management as a standard

Supercomputer networking for space science applications

The initial design of a supercomputer network topology including the design of the communications nodes along with the communications interface hardware and software is covered. Several space science applications that are proposed experiments by GSFC and JPL for a supercomputer network using the NASA ACTS satellite are also reported