Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!lethe!yunexus!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!uwm.edu!linac!att!ucbvax!perisl.UUCP!al From: al@perisl.UUCP (Al Schuilenburg) Newsgroups: comp.sys.transputer Subject: We want massively parallel processors ! Message-ID: <9103011038.AA15028@perisl.uucp> Date: 1 Mar 91 10:38:05 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 45 In comp.sys.transputer writes > This brings up a simple question: Who wants massively parallel > machines anyhow? Computer Scientists and Engineers experiment > with and develop systems - what are they used for? I'm all > for research for its own sake, but there are actually people > out there who want to apply it. I suppose the questions are more > along these lines: What are the foreseen uses of large parallel > machines? Is this in line with current research? What should > they be used for (besides weather prediction, Mandelbrot sets, etc.)? > > Just wondering There are a large number of applications for large parallel machines which are ideally suited to parallelism. For example, Edinburough Parallel Computing centre has a directory about an inch thick of its current projects, with Southampton University also doing a fair amount (not to mention Cambridge University and a number of other institutions in the UK alone too numerous to mention) doing quite a bit of parallel applications, let alone in the parallel processing research field. This is because there are a number of applications which really chew up vast amounts of computing resources (e.g. Cellular Automata, Fluid Flow) where places like Shell Oil in Amsterdam have a 400 transputer machine to handle applications such as these where even your CRAYs would step back and think twice about doing. I suggest you try and contact some of these people if you genuinely are interested. Granted the transputer is popular among engineers and scientists who need more power than their PC can give, but ever thought that this is the one fairly cheap method whereby such researchers can get their hands on computing power at a cheaper price (we cant all afford CRAYs etc). Research always has been notoriously short of funding, and parallel processing provides the power at a cheaper price. Anyway, I feel that parallel processing is where the future of processing lies. Ever thought what would happen when the limits of nature were reached and single processors could be made to run no faster? Man's desire for faster, better and better would soon turn to "put more on the job". However, enough idle chatter..... Alex al@perisl.uucp Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are my own and should not be taken as that of my workplace.