Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!microsoft!edwardj From: edwardj@microsoft.UUCP (Edward JUNG) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Re: NeXT in June issue of BYTE Message-ID: <72687@microsoft.UUCP> Date: 31 May 91 07:35:56 GMT References: <1991May27.033207.28372@math.ucla.edu> Reply-To: edwardj@microsoft.UUCP (Edward JUNG) Organization: Strategy Division, Microsoft Corp. Lines: 37 Gary L. Crum writes: > >Does >anyone know of other companies is as good positions as NeXT and >Silicon Graphics to offer multiprocessor systems (with a single system >call interface for all processors) for particularly low prices? Are >some already available? Competitive with Silicon Graphics in multiprocessor systems today (in the mid-priced range) are a bunch of companies, including NCR and Data General. There are also a number of "super-microcomputers" that first came out three years ago, such as the Stardent and Apollo (now HP/Apollo) DN-100x0 in the $70k+ range. There are are also a number of non-symmetric multiprocessor machines available, the best-selling one probably being the Compaq SystemPro. There are two standardization efforts for multiprocessing Unix: Unix Systems Labs/Unix International and Open Software Foundation. The former is based upon Unix v4, the latter upon Mach 3. I am not aware of any machines with symmetric multiprocessing that are available in the $10,000 price range. There are a number of challenges in making symmetric multiprocessing hardware perform well (alternatively the issue might be regarded as a compiler and scheduler optimization problem) without resorting to sophisticated (and often expensive) memory, interrupt, etc. architectures. For this reason the low-end machines are generally fast uniprocessors, or have multiprocessors that are assymmetric (sound, graphics, etc.). -- Edward Jung Microsoft Corp. My opinions do not reflect any policy of my employer.