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From: brooks@vette.llnl.gov (Eugene Brooks)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: VLIW Architecture
Keywords: VLIW
Message-ID: <35596@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV>
Date: 12 Oct 89 03:50:55 GMT
References: <251FCB3F.12366@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca> <1050@m3.mfci.UUCP> <13050@pur-ee.UUCP> <1630@l.cc.purdue.edu> <1989Oct5.025841.2046@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us> <3449@alliant.Alliant.COM> <1071@m3.mfci.UUCP> <3460@alliant.Alliant.COM>
Sender: usenet@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV
Reply-To: brooks@maddog.llnl.gov (Eugene Brooks)
Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Lines: 23

In article <3460@alliant.Alliant.COM> lewitt@alliant.Alliant.COM (Martin E. Lewitt) writes:
>I was with Alliant when the Multi-flow Trace 7 first started shipping.
>While we didn't fear the Trace 7 in most application areas, the Trace 7
>did turn out to be a tough competitor in certain areas, e.g.,
>the integer (non-floating point) ECAD codes.  However, after some initial
>competitive success for the Trace 7, I noticed that Alliant was no longer
>losing this market to the Multi-flow, but to the SUN-4 Sparcstation instead.
You vendors of custom processors has better take note of this statement.  It
is really amusing to see the Multi-flow and Alliant fellows bragging at how
well they are doing when single chip microprocessors run circles around their
entire multiprocessor complexes.  The SUN-4 Sparcstation which did all this
"damage" is an absolute DOG compared to the most recent Sparc, MIPS, or i860
chip sets.  No doubt a real terror from Motorola is not far away.  The lifetime
of custom processors, even processors like the Cray line, are real short.
Imagine the surprise of CRI executives when they realize that they are no
longer losing market share to the Japanese super computer companies, and are
now losing market share to microprocessors.  We are watching this happen
internally at LLNL and do not doubt that it is happening elsewhere.

There is no defense against the ATTACK OF THE KILLER MICROS!


brooks@maddog.llnl.gov, brooks@maddog.uucp