A highly scalable system utilizing up to 128 PA-RISC processors

Abstract

A highly scalable system implementing Convex's Exemplar Architecture has been designed. The system allows up to 128 Hewlett-Packard processors to efficiently cooperate together. All processors may be used together to substantially decrease the time-to-solution for large applications, or the processors may be used in smaller subsets in a time-sharing parallel environment. The system has many features which enhance the parallel usability of the system. These features include globally shared memory, interconnect caches, memory massed semaphores, and hardware messaging support.