Bolt Beranek & Newman Inc, already using the part in an SNA communications product, has constructed a parallel processor around the Motorola 88000 RISC microprocessor that will come in above its 680X0-based Butterfly machines. Cambridge, Massachusetts-based BBN Advanced Computers claims that the new TC2000 system is the industry’s fastest computer based on a commercially available microprocessor, and rates the thing at 9.576 VAX MIPS in maximum configuration – individual 88100s are rated at 19 VAX MIPS. The TC2000 comes with from eight to 504 processors to give a performance range of 152 MIPS to 9,576 MIPS, and 160 MFLOPS and 104 MegaWhetstones to 10,080 MFLOPS and 6,552 MWhetstones fully configured. No software, pricing or delivery details were available at press time.
