IBM Scalable POWERparallel

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IBM Scalable POWERparallel
ORNL History (31550428397).jpg
Also known asIBM RS/6000 SP
Developer IBM
Type Supercomputer platform
Release dateFebruary 1993 (1993-02)
DiscontinuedOctober 2000 (2000-10)
CPU IBM POWER
PowerPC
Successor IBM Blue Gene

Scalable POWERparallel (SP) is a series of supercomputers from IBM. SP systems were part of the IBM RISC System/6000 (RS/6000) family, and were also called the RS/6000 SP. The first model, the SP1, was introduced in February 1993, and new models were introduced throughout the 1990s until the RS/6000 was succeeded by eServer pSeries in October 2000. The SP is a distributed memory system, consisting of multiple RS/6000-based nodes interconnected by an IBM-proprietary switch called the High Performance Switch (HPS). The nodes are clustered using software called PSSP, which is mainly written in Perl.

Contents

Computer scientist Marc Snir was awarded the Seymour Cray Computer Engineering Award by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 2013 for his contributions to supercomputing, which included his work on the SP. [1]

Notable systems

Nodes

POWER1-based

Model# of CPUsCPUCPU MHzCacheMemoryIntroducedDiscontinued
SP11 POWER1++ 62.5None64 to 256 MB1993-02-021994-12-16

POWER2-based

Model# of CPUsCPUCPU MHzL2 CacheMemoryIntroducedDiscontinued
Thin Node1 POWER2 66 ?64 to 512 MB1994-04-06 [4] 1996-07-26 [5]
Thin Node 2 ?64 to 512 MB1995-02-07 [6] 1997-06-27 [7]
Wide Node ?64 MB to 2 GB1994-04-06 [4] 1996-07-26 [5]
77 MHz Wide Node77 ?64 MB to 2 GB1995-08-22 [8] 1997-06-27 [7]

PowerPC 604-based

Model# of CPUsCPUCPU MHzCacheMemoryIntroducedDiscontinued
High 12, 4, 6, 8 PowerPC 604 112 ? ?1996-07-231998-01-08
High 2 PowerPC 604e 200 ? ?1997-08-261998-04-21
332 Thin2, 4332 ? ?1998-04-212000-12-29
332 Wide ? ?

P2SC-based

Model# of CPUsCPUCPU MHzCacheMemoryIntroducedDiscontinued
160 Thin1 P2SC 160 ? ?1997-10-061998-04-21
Thin P2SC120 ? ?1996-10-08
Wide P2SC135 ? ?

POWER3-based

Model# of CPUsCPUCPU MHzL2 CacheMemoryIntroducedDiscontinued
POWER3 High2, 4, 6, 8 POWER3 222 ? ?1999-09-132000-12-29
POWER3 High POWER3-II 375 ? ?2000-07-182002-12-27
POWER3 Thin1, 2POWER3200 ? ?1999-09-012000-06-30
POWER3 ThinPOWER3-II375 ? ?2000-02-072003-04-08
POWER3 Thin450 ? ?2002-01-22
POWER3 Wide1, 2POWER3200 ? ?1999-02-012000-06-30
POWER3 Wide2, 4POWER3-II375 ? ?2000-02-072003-04-08
POWER3 Wide2, 4450 ? ?2002-01-22

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Marc Snir: 2013 Seymour Cray Award Recipient". IEEE Computer Society. Archived from the original on 2014-03-26.
  2. ↑ "SP2/512". TOP500 Supercomputer Sites. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  3. ↑ "Seaborg - SP Power3 375 MHz 16 way". TOP500 Supercomputer Sites. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  4. 1 2 IBM Announcement Letter ZG94-0159: IBM Scalable POWERparallel Systems 9076 SP2 and Enhancements for SP1
  5. 1 2 IBM Announcement 996-181: Hardware Withdrawal: RISC System/6000 SP POWERquery and Selected Models and Features -- Replacements Available
  6. ↑ IBM Announcement Letter ZG95-0145: 9076 POWERparallel SP2 Models 204, 304, 3B4, and 404
  7. 1 2 IBM Announcement Letter 997-078: Hardware Withdrawal: Selected RS/6000 Models and Features -- Replacements Available
  8. ↑ IBM Announcement Letter ZG95-0364: RISC SYSTEM/6000 SP 77MHz Wide Models, 2AX Models, and Enhancements
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