Tera bought Cray from SGI at the prodding of the NSA. First, it saved Cray from being killed by SGI. Second, it meant that the NSA only had to launder one check.:)
Computer triva for for $200. What was the most successful supercomputer ever built?
Answer: The Sun E10K. The E10K was designed by Cray around a sparc chip. When the sale of Cray to Sun fell through and SGI stepped in; SGI couldn't stomach having a machine based on its arch-rival's technology.
SGI sold the E10k to Sun for $16M. The E10K brought in more than $1B in revenue for Sun over the next 3 years.
I don't think I could call this a cluster. The interactive nodes of a XT3/XT4 are based on linux but (for now) the other 19k will run an OS called Catamount. It can only run one thread, the user app. There is no user space OS at all. Almost all actions that you would think an OS/kernel should do have to get compiled into the users porgram.
Linux cluster, this is not.
Who else is going to build a SuperComputer that can run crypto for 6 months at a time on a sub in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean? Tapping intercontinental communications takes a bit of horse power.
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Tera bought Cray from SGI at the prodding of the NSA. First, it saved Cray from being killed by SGI. Second, it meant that the NSA only had to launder one check. :)
Computer triva for for $200. What was the most successful supercomputer ever built?
Answer: The Sun E10K. The E10K was designed by Cray around a sparc chip. When the sale of Cray to Sun fell through and SGI stepped in; SGI couldn't stomach having a machine based on its arch-rival's technology.
SGI sold the E10k to Sun for $16M. The E10K brought in more than $1B in revenue for Sun over the next 3 years.
I don't think I could call this a cluster. The interactive nodes of a XT3/XT4 are based on linux but (for now) the other 19k will run an OS called Catamount. It can only run one thread, the user app. There is no user space OS at all. Almost all actions that you would think an OS/kernel should do have to get compiled into the users porgram. Linux cluster, this is not.
Who else is going to build a SuperComputer that can run crypto for 6 months at a time on a sub in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean? Tapping intercontinental communications takes a bit of horse power.