Aachen-based Parsytec GmbH now has what it claims to be the world’s first high performance parallel desktop system, Xplorer, based on the Inmos Ltd T9000 Transputer. It comprises between eight to 16 Transputers, with a choice of between 8Mb and 32Mb memory on each node. Extra input-output interfaces, mass storage subsystems and image processing modules can be added to boost performance, with users offered the choice of Inmos’s High Performance Transputer Modules or Parsytec’s own Transputer Image Processing modules. Up to four Xplorer systems, totalling 64 processors, also can be connected. Xplorer supports both the Inmos software tool set and Parsytec’s Parix system. Parsytec reckons the system offers better performance than traditional high end workstations and is anticipating that it will be used mainly for graphics, design and animation; technical and economic modelling; manufacturing and office automation systems. An eight-processor version will cost around UKP17,000 and a 16-processor machine UKP27,000. Pre-final spec T9000-based versions will ship in June or July followed by final spec versions in the fourth quarter. According to Parsytec, the Xplorer offers users a migration path to its GigaCube massively parallel supercomputers which are also to use T9000s. The company is uncertain as to whether it will phase out its current T805-based GigaCubes just yet – the decision will depend on customer demand. Availability will be as for the Xplorer, with prices starting at UKP34,000 for an eight-node machine and ranging up to UKP4m for a 1,000-processor model. Meantime, to help users assess the T9000, Parsytec is offering interested parties the chance to bench-test applications using a special evaluation kit. This includes a module with T9000, 8Mb Dynamic RAM and T805 processor connected to a Sparc workstation. The T9000 memory is laid out as a dual-ported memory and is therefore accessible for measurements by the T805. Special software running on the workstation parallelises C-based programs using Parix, ACE compilers and the Inmos C Toolset compiler. The kit will be made available to some customers and other interested parties for around the cost of a day’s consultancy. Parsytec reckons the tests it has done on lower clock frequencies point to a six- to ten-fold performance increase over the T805.
