Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!uupsi!pbs.org!TALOS!jerry From: jerry@TALOS.UUCP (Jerry Gitomer) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: Faster controllers easier and cheaper than fast CPUs.... Message-ID: <1504@TALOS.UUCP> Date: 14 Mar 91 14:50:03 GMT References: <28975@cs.yale.edu> <10773@dog.ee.lbl.gov> <3236@crdos1.crd.ge.COM> <1991Mar12.194704.17859@zoo.toronto.edu> <3253@crdos1.crd.ge.COM> <1991Mar12.233713.5034@bellcore.bellcore.com> Organization: NPRI, Alexandria VA Lines: 35 mo@messy.bellcore.com (Michael O'Dell) writes: |This is patent nonsense!!!! When was the last time you saw a new |disk controller released with a new, dramatically faster processor????? |For better or worse, the controller world is incredibly PRICE |sensitive, NOT performance sensitive in general. Only if your view of the world is limited to micros, workstations, and minis. In the mainframe world disk controllers tend to be the keystone on which high-performance multi-user systems can be built. As a result performance has more value than price. (It is not unusual for a high end disk controller to be able to issue simultaneous commands to multiple disks and to be handle simultaneous I/O transfers while doing so.) |In the time it has taken CPUs to increase a factor of, say 20 in |speed with essentially constant or lower price, the bloody disk |controllers are not much less narcoleptic than they ever were. |Yes, the change from Multibus to VME did rev the controllers once, |but boy, they are still rather sleepy. The notion that |I'd be willing to bet my system performance even more than I am |currently forced to do on what the controller companies do |(or don't do) is simply insane. Perhaps this is why the mainframers all do their own disk controllers. Jerry -- Jerry Gitomer at National Political Resources Inc, Alexandria, VA USA I am apolitical, have no resources, and speak only for myself. Ma Bell (703)683-9090 (UUCP: ...{uupsi,vrdxhq}!pbs!npri6!jerry