Intel Scientific Computers, a unit of Beaverton, Oregon-based chipmaker Intel Corp, has now souped up its Hypercube family of parallel supercomputers by re-implementing the thing using the 80386. The iPSC-2 can be configured with up to 1Gb of memory and between 16 and 128 nodes; each node consists of one 80386 chip, one 80387 maths co-processor, from 1Mb to 16Mb of memory, and a new Direct-Connect router which facilitates communications between the nodes, and eases some of the bottlenecks on the earlier Hypercubes. It uses packet switching techniques and Intel claims it can increase communications performance between nodes up to tenfold. The iPSC-2, priced from $165,000 to $1,725,000 will ship to beta-site users in October; volume ships start in December. Also out is the iPSC-2 VX, a version of the computer with between 16 and 64 nodes that adds a vector processor – from Sky Computers, Lowell, Massachusetts – at each node. Top performance of the vector model is said to reach 400 MFlops. The first commercial software application for the Hypercube has also been unveiled – a fluid dynamics and heat transfer package from Nektronics Inc, Bedford, Massachusetts. The Nekton pack is aimed at applications in aerospace, energy, automotive, and electronics industries.
