With the overriding need to introduce their systems to a wider market, massively parallel systems builders are having to come out with ever smaller configurations of their machines to get the entry price down, and Beaverton, Oregon-based Adaptive Solutions Inc has cut its CNAPS pattern recognition system down to 64 proessors to create the CNAPS/64. The new model of the system, originally launched just two years ago (CI No 1,626), brings the entry price down to $35,000 from $55,000. CNAPS stands for Connected Network of Adaptive ProcessorS, pointing to the fact that the system applies neural network technology, although as neural networks are less fashionable than parallel systems at the moment, the company is describing it as the lowest priced massively parallel system on the market. The CNAPS/64 is designed for computational-intensive pattern recognition applications such as image and speech recognition, forecasting, signal processing, and neural network training. The building block processor is a chip the company calls the N64000, which includes multiplier, adder-accumulator, shift logic and on-chip memory, and the machine implements single-instruction, multiple data architecture. It comes with 8Mb of external memory, and can be upgraded to the full 512-node configuration. It is designed to be used as a server to a Unix workstation, and is claimed to execute 1G multiply-accumulates per second. On the software front, the company added the BuildNet and CNAPS-C software tools. BuildNet includes pre-written versions of the two most popular neural network algorithms, Back-Propagation and Learning Vector Quantization 2, and an X Window-Motif-based graphical user interface designed to enable users to run the algorithms on the CNAPS computer and display test results graphically, even if they have no programming experience. CNAPS-C, an extension of the C language, is conceived for creating new algorithms and applications, and both run on the Unix workstation. CNAPS-C programs can be launched with either the BuildNet or CodeNet command-line interface. The CNAPS-C compiler provides two compilation paths, one producing ANSI C code that is compiled into host executable code for debugging on the host workstation with standard ANSI C development tools, the other producing CNAPS Programming Language assembly code that is assembled into CNAPS executable code. For optimum performance in key sections of code, in-line CPL assembly code statements can be incorporated into the C program; BuildNet costs $3,000, a development kit with CNAPS-C and CodeNet costs $4,500.
