Meiko Scientific Ltd. was a British
supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second ( FLOPS) instead of million instructions ...
company based in
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, founded by members of the design team working on the
Inmos transputer
The transputer is a series of pioneering microprocessors from the 1980s, intended for parallel computing. To support this, each transputer had its own integrated memory and serial communication links to exchange data with other transputers. T ...
microprocessor
A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit, or a small number of integrated circuits. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circu ...
.
History
In 1985, when Inmos management suggested the release of the transputer be delayed, Miles Chesney, David Alden, Eric Barton, Roy Bottomley, James Cownie, and Gerry Talbot resigned and formed Meiko (
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
for "well-engineered") to start work on
massively parallel
Massively parallel is the term for using a large number of computer processors (or separate computers) to simultaneously perform a set of coordinated computations in parallel. GPUs are massively parallel architecture with tens of thousands of t ...
machines based on the processor. Nine weeks later in July 1985, they demonstrated a transputer system based on experimental
16-bit
16-bit microcomputers are microcomputers that use 16-bit microprocessors.
A 16-bit register can store 216 different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 16 bits depends on the integer representation used. With the two mos ...
transputers at the
SIGGRAPH
SIGGRAPH (Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques) is an annual conference on computer graphics (CG) organized by the ACM SIGGRAPH, starting in 1974. The main conference is held in North America; SIGGRAPH Asia ...
in San Francisco.
In 1986, a system based on
32-bit
In computer architecture, 32-bit computing refers to computer systems with a processor, memory, and other major system components that operate on data in 32-bit units. Compared to smaller bit widths, 32-bit computers can perform large calculation ...
T414 transputers was launched as the ''Meiko Computing Surface''. By 1990, Meiko had sold more than 300 systems and grown to 125 employees. In 1993, Meiko launched the second-generation ''Meiko CS-2'' system, but Meiko ran into financial difficulties in the mid-1990s. The Meiko technical team and technology was transferred to a joint venture company named
Quadrics Supercomputers World Ltd. (QSW), formed by
Alenia Spazio
Thales Alenia Space () is a Franco-Italian aerospace manufacturer. A joint venture between the French technology corporation Thales Group (67%) and Italian defense conglomerate Leonardo (33%), the company is the largest satellite manufacture ...
of
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
in mid-1996. At Quadrics, the CS-2 interconnect technology was developed into
QsNet
Quadrics was a supercomputer company formed in 1996 as a joint venture between Alenia Spazio and the technical team from Meiko Scientific. They produced hardware and software for clustering commodity computer systems into massively parallel sy ...
.
, a vestigial Meiko website still exists.
Computing Surface
The Meiko Computing Surface (sometimes retrospectively referred to as the CS-1) was a
massively parallel
Massively parallel is the term for using a large number of computer processors (or separate computers) to simultaneously perform a set of coordinated computations in parallel. GPUs are massively parallel architecture with tens of thousands of t ...
supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second ( FLOPS) instead of million instructions ...
. The system was based on the
Inmos transputer
The transputer is a series of pioneering microprocessors from the 1980s, intended for parallel computing. To support this, each transputer had its own integrated memory and serial communication links to exchange data with other transputers. T ...
microprocessor
A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit, or a small number of integrated circuits. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circu ...
, later also using
SPARC
SPARC (Scalable Processor Architecture) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture originally developed by Sun Microsystems. Its design was strongly influenced by the experimental Berkeley RISC system developed ...
and
Intel i860
The Intel i860 (also known as 80860) is a RISC microprocessor design introduced by Intel in 1989. It is one of Intel's first attempts at an entirely new, high-end instruction set architecture since the failed Intel iAPX 432 from the beginning of ...
processors.
The Computing Surface architecture comprised multiple boards containing transputers connected together by their communications links via Meiko-designed link switch chips. A variety of different boards were produced with different transputer variants,
random-access memory
Random-access memory (RAM; ) is a form of computer memory that can be read and changed in any order, typically used to store working Data (computing), data and machine code. A Random access, random-access memory device allows data items to b ...
(RAM) capacities and peripherals.
The initial software environments provided for the Computing Surface was ''
Occam Programming System'' (OPS), Meiko's version of Inmos's D700 Transputer Development System. This was soon superseded by a
multi-user
Multi-user software is computer software that allows access by multiple users of a computer. Time-sharing systems are multi-user systems. Most batch processing systems for mainframe computers may also be considered "multi-user", to avoid leaving t ...
version, ''MultiOPS''. Later, Meiko introduced ''Meiko Multiple Virtual Computing Surfaces'' (M²VCS), a multi-user resource management system let the processors of a Computing Surface be partitioned into several ''domains'' of different sizes. These domains were allocated by M²VCS to individual users, thus allowing several simultaneous users access to their own virtual Computing Surfaces. M²VCS was used in conjunction with either OPS or ''MeikOS'', a
Unix-like
A Unix-like (sometimes referred to as UN*X or *nix) operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, although not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. A Unix-li ...
single-processor
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
.
In 1988, Meiko launched the In-Sun Computing Surface, which repackaged the Computing Surface into
VMEbus
VMEbus (Versa Module Europa or Versa Module Eurocard bus) is a computer bus standard, originally developed for the Motorola 68000 line of CPUs, but later widely used for many applications and standardized by the IEC as ANSI/IEEE 1014-1987. I ...
boards (designated the MK200 series) suitable for installation in larger
Sun-3
Sun-3 is a series of UNIX computer workstations and servers produced by Sun Microsystems, launched on September 9, 1985. The Sun-3 series are VMEbus-based systems similar to some of the earlier Sun-2 series, but using the Motorola 68020 micropro ...
or
Sun-4 Sun-4 is a series of Unix workstations and servers produced by Sun Microsystems, launched in 1987. The original Sun-4 series were VMEbus-based systems similar to the earlier Sun-3 series, but employing microprocessors based on Sun's own SPARC V7 RIS ...
systems. The Sun acted as ''front-end'' host system for managing the transputers, running development tools and providing mass storage. A version of M²VCS running as a
SunOS
SunOS is a Unix-branded operating system developed by Sun Microsystems for their workstation and server computer systems. The ''SunOS'' name is usually only used to refer to versions 1.0 to 4.1.4, which were based on BSD, while versions 5.0 and l ...
daemon
Daimon or Daemon (Ancient Greek: , "god", "godlike", "power", "fate") originally referred to a lesser deity or guiding spirit such as the daimons of ancient Greek religion and mythology and of later Hellenistic religion and philosophy.
The word ...
named ''Sun Virtual Computing Surfaces'' (SVCS) provided access between the transputer network and the Sun host.
As the performance of the transputer became less competitive toward the end of the 1980s (the follow-on T9000 transputer being beset with delays), Meiko added the ability to supplement the transputers with Intel i860 processors. Each i860 board (MK086 or MK096) contained two i860s with up to 32 MB of RAM each, and two T800s providing inter-processor communication. Sometimes known as the Concerto or simply the i860 Computing Surface, these systems had limited success.
Meiko also produced a SPARC processor board, the MK083, which allowed the integration of the
SunOS
SunOS is a Unix-branded operating system developed by Sun Microsystems for their workstation and server computer systems. The ''SunOS'' name is usually only used to refer to versions 1.0 to 4.1.4, which were based on BSD, while versions 5.0 and l ...
operating system into the Computing Surface architecture, similarly to the In-Sun Computing Surface. These were usually used as front-end host processors for transputer or i860 Computing Surfaces. SVCS, or an improved version, called simply ''VCS'' was used to manage the transputer resources. Computing Surface configurations with multiple MK083 boards were also possible.
A major drawback of the Computing Surface architecture was poor
I/O bandwidth
Bandwidth commonly refers to:
* Bandwidth (signal processing) or ''analog bandwidth'', ''frequency bandwidth'', or ''radio bandwidth'', a measure of the width of a frequency range
* Bandwidth (computing), the rate of data transfer, bit rate or thr ...
for general data shuffling. Although aggregate bandwidth for special case data shuffling could be very high, the general case has very poor performance relative to the compute bandwidth. This made the Meiko Computing Surface uneconomic for many applications.
MeikOS
MeikOS (also written as ''Meikos'' or ''MEiKOS'') is a
Unix-like
A Unix-like (sometimes referred to as UN*X or *nix) operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, although not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. A Unix-li ...
transputer
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
developed for the Computing Surface during the late 1980s.
MeikOS was derived from an early version of
Minix, extensively modified for the Computing Surface architecture. Unlike
HeliOS
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Helios (; grc, , , Sun; Homeric Greek: ) is the deity, god and personification of the Sun (Solar deity). His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyper ...
, another Unix-like transputer operating system, MeikOS is essentially a single-processor operating system with a distributed
file system
In computing, file system or filesystem (often abbreviated to fs) is a method and data structure that the operating system uses to control how data is stored and retrieved. Without a file system, data placed in a storage medium would be one larg ...
. MeikOS was intended for use with the ''Meiko Multiple Virtual Computing Surfaces'' (M²VCS) resource management software, which partitions the processors of a Computing Surface into ''domains'', manages user access to these domains, and provides inter-domain communication.
MeikOS has ''
diskless'' and ''fileserver'' variants, the former running on the seat processor of an M²VCS domain, providing a
command line
A command-line interpreter or command-line processor uses a command-line interface (CLI) to receive commands from a user in the form of lines of text. This provides a means of setting parameters for the environment, invoking executables and pro ...
user interface for a given user; the latter running on processors with attached
SCSI
Small Computer System Interface (SCSI, ) is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, electrical, optical and logical interface ...
hard disks, providing a remote file service (named ''Surface File System'' (SFS)) to instances of diskless MeikOS. The two can communicate via M²VCS.
MeikOS was made obsolete by the introduction of the In-Sun Computing Surface and the Meiko MK083
SPARC
SPARC (Scalable Processor Architecture) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture originally developed by Sun Microsystems. Its design was strongly influenced by the experimental Berkeley RISC system developed ...
processor board, which allow
SunOS
SunOS is a Unix-branded operating system developed by Sun Microsystems for their workstation and server computer systems. The ''SunOS'' name is usually only used to refer to versions 1.0 to 4.1.4, which were based on BSD, while versions 5.0 and l ...
and ''Sun Virtual Computing Surfaces'' (SVCS), later developed as ''VCS'' to take over the roles of MeikOS and M²VCS respectively. The last MeikOS release was MeikOS 3.06, in early 1991.
CS-1 Interconnect
This was based on the
transputer
The transputer is a series of pioneering microprocessors from the 1980s, intended for parallel computing. To support this, each transputer had its own integrated memory and serial communication links to exchange data with other transputers. T ...
link protocol. Meiko developed its own switch silicon on and European Silicon Systems, ES2
gate array
A gate array is an approach to the design and manufacture of application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) using a prefabricated chip with components that are later interconnected into logic devices (e.g. NAND gates, flip-flops, etc.) according ...
. This
application-specific integrated circuit
An application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC ) is an integrated circuit (IC) chip customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use, such as a chip designed to run in a digital voice recorder or a high-efficie ...
(ASIC) provided static connectivity and limited dynamic connectivity and was designed by Moray McLaren.
CS-2
The CS-2 was launched in 1993 and was Meiko's second-generation system architecture, superseding the earlier Computing Surface.
The CS-2 was an all-new modular architecture based around
SuperSPARC
The SuperSPARC is a microprocessor that implements the SPARC V8 instruction set architecture (ISA) developed by Sun Microsystems. 33 and 40 MHz versions were introduced in 1992. The SuperSPARC contains 3.1 million transistors. It was fabricat ...
or
hyperSPARC
The hyperSPARC, code-named "Pinnacle", is a microprocessor that implements the SPARC Version 8 instruction set architecture (ISA) developed by Ross Technology for Cypress Semiconductor.
The hyperSPARC was introduced in 1993, and competed with th ...
processors and, optionally,
Fujitsu
is a Japanese multinational information and communications technology equipment and services corporation, established in 1935 and headquartered in Tokyo. Fujitsu is the world's sixth-largest IT services provider by annual revenue, and the la ...
μVP
vector processor
In computing, a vector processor or array processor is a central processing unit (CPU) that implements an instruction set where its instructions are designed to operate efficiently and effectively on large one-dimensional arrays of data called ...
s. These implemented an instruction set similar to the
Fujitsu VP2000 The VP2000 was the second series of vector supercomputers from Fujitsu. Announced in December 1988, they replaced Fujitsu's earlier FACOM VP Model E Series. The VP2000 was succeeded in 1995 by the VPP300, a massively parallel supercomputer with u ...
vector supercomputer and had a nominal performance of 200
megaflops
In computing, floating point operations per second (FLOPS, flops or flop/s) is a measure of computer performance, useful in fields of scientific computations that require floating-point calculations. For such cases, it is a more accurate meas ...
on
double precision
Double-precision floating-point format (sometimes called FP64 or float64) is a floating-point number format, usually occupying 64 bits in computer memory; it represents a wide dynamic range of numeric values by using a floating radix point.
Flo ...
arithmetic and double that on
single precision
Single-precision floating-point format (sometimes called FP32 or float32) is a computer number format, usually occupying 32 bits in computer memory; it represents a wide dynamic range of numeric values by using a floating radix point.
A floating- ...
. The SuperSPARC processors ran at 40 MHz initially, later increased to 50 MHz. Subsequently, hyperSPARC processors were introduced at 66, 90 or 100 MHz. The CS-2 was intended to scale up to 1024 processors. The largest CS-2 system built was a 224-processor system installed at
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a federal research facility in Livermore, California, United States. The lab was originally established as the University of California Radiation Laboratory, Livermore Branch in 1952 in response ...
.
The CS-2 ran a customized version of Sun's operating system
Solaris
Solaris may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Literature, television and film
* ''Solaris'' (novel), a 1961 science fiction novel by Stanisław Lem
** ''Solaris'' (1968 film), directed by Boris Nirenburg
** ''Solaris'' (1972 film), directed by ...
, initially Solaris 2.1, later 2.3 and 2.5.1.
Elan-Elite Interconnect
The processors in a CS-2 were connected by a Meiko-designed multi-stage packet-switched ''
fat tree
The fat tree network is a universal network for provably efficient communication. It was invented by Charles E. Leiserson of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1985. k-ary n-trees, the type of fat-trees commonly used in most high-perf ...
'' network implemented in custom silicon.
This project, codenamed Elan-Elite, was started in 1990, as a speculative project to compete with the T9000
Transputer
The transputer is a series of pioneering microprocessors from the 1980s, intended for parallel computing. To support this, each transputer had its own integrated memory and serial communication links to exchange data with other transputers. T ...
from
Inmos, which Meiko intended to use as an interconnect technology. The
T9000 began to suffer massive delays, such that the internal project became the only viable interconnect choice for the CS-2.
This interconnect comprised two devices, code-named ''Elan'' (
adapter
An adapter or adaptor is a device that converts attributes of one electrical device or system to those of an otherwise incompatible device or system. Some modify power or signal attributes, while others merely adapt the physical form of one con ...
) and ''Elite'' (
switch
In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of ...
). Each processing element included an Elan chip, a communications co-processor based on the
SPARC
SPARC (Scalable Processor Architecture) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture originally developed by Sun Microsystems. Its design was strongly influenced by the experimental Berkeley RISC system developed ...
architecture, accessed via a
Sun MBus cache coherent interface and providing two 50MB/s bi-directional links. The Elite chip was an 8-way link
crossbar switch
In electronics and telecommunications, a crossbar switch (cross-point switch, matrix switch) is a collection of switches arranged in a matrix configuration. A crossbar switch has multiple input and output lines that form a crossed pattern of int ...
, used to form the
packet-switched network
In telecommunications, packet switching is a method of grouping data into '' packets'' that are transmitted over a digital network. Packets are made of a header and a payload. Data in the header is used by networking hardware to direct the pack ...
. The switch had limited adaption based on load and priority.
Both ASICs were fabbed in complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (
CMOS
Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS, pronounced "sea-moss", ) is a type of metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) fabrication process that uses complementary and symmetrical pairs of p-type and n-type MOSFE ...
) gate arrays by
GEC Plessey in their
Roborough,
Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
semi-conductor fab in 1993.
After the Meiko technology was acquired by
Quadrics
In mathematics, a quadric or quadric surface (quadric hypersurface in higher dimensions), is a generalization of conic sections (ellipses, parabolas, and hyperbolas). It is a hypersurface (of dimension ''D'') in a -dimensional space, and it is de ...
, the Elan/Elite interconnect technology was developed into
QsNet
Quadrics was a supercomputer company formed in 1996 as a joint venture between Alenia Spazio and the technical team from Meiko Scientific. They produced hardware and software for clustering commodity computer systems into massively parallel sy ...
.
Meiko SPARC FPU
Meiko had hired Fred (Mark) Homewood and Moray McLaren both of whom had been instrumental in the design of the
T800. Together, they designed and developed an improved, higher performance
FPU FPU may stand for:
Universities
* Florida Polytechnic University, in Lakeland, Florida, United States
* Franklin Pierce University, in New Hampshire, United States
* Fresno Pacific University, in California, United States
* Fukui Prefectural Univ ...
core, owned by Meiko. This was initially targeted at the
Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...
80387 instruction set. An ongoing legal battle between Intel,
AMD
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Santa Clara, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for business and consumer markets. While it initially manufactur ...
and others over the 80387 made it clear this project was a commercial non-starter. A chance discussion between McLaren and
Andy Bechtolsheim
Andreas Maria Maximilian Freiherr von Mauchenheim genannt Bechtolsheim (born 30 September 1955) is a German electrical engineer, entrepreneur and investor. He co-founded Sun Microsystems in 1982 and was its chief hardware designer. His net worth ...
while visiting
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun for short) was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, the ...
to discuss licensing
Solaris
Solaris may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Literature, television and film
* ''Solaris'' (novel), a 1961 science fiction novel by Stanisław Lem
** ''Solaris'' (1968 film), directed by Boris Nirenburg
** ''Solaris'' (1972 film), directed by ...
caused Meiko to re-target the design for
SPARC
SPARC (Scalable Processor Architecture) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture originally developed by Sun Microsystems. Its design was strongly influenced by the experimental Berkeley RISC system developed ...
. Meiko was able to turn around the core
FPU FPU may stand for:
Universities
* Florida Polytechnic University, in Lakeland, Florida, United States
* Franklin Pierce University, in New Hampshire, United States
* Fresno Pacific University, in California, United States
* Fukui Prefectural Univ ...
design in a short time and
LSI Logic
LSI Logic Corporation, an American company founded in Milpitas, California, was a pioneer in the ASIC and EDA industries. It evolved over time to design and sell semiconductors and software that accelerated storage and networking in data cente ...
fabbed a device for the
SPARCstation 1
The SPARCstation 1 (Sun 4/60, code-named ''Campus'') is the first of the SPARCstation series of SPARC-based computer workstations sold by Sun Microsystems. The design originated in 1987 by a Sun spin-off company, Unisun, which was soon re-acquired ...
.
A major difference over the T800 FPU was that it fully implemented the
IEEE 754 standard for computer arithmetic. This including all rounding modes, denormalised numbers and square root in hardware without taking any
hardware exceptions to complete computation.
A
SPARCstation 2
The SPARCstation 2, or SS2 (code named ''Calvin'', Sun 4/75) is a SPARC workstation computer sold by Sun Microsystems. It is based on the sun4c architecture, and is implemented in a pizza box form factor.
Specifications
CPU
40 MHz Cypress ...
design was also developed together with a combined part targeting the SPARCstation 2 ASIC pinout. LSI fabbed and manufactured the separate FPU L64814, as part of their SparKIT chipset.
The Meiko design was eventually fully licensed to Sun which went on to use it in the
MicroSPARC
The microSPARC (code-named ''Tsunami'') is a discontinued microprocessor implementing the SPARC V8 instruction set architecture (ISA), developed by Sun Microsystems. It is a low-end microprocessor intended for low-end workstations and embedded ...
family of ASICs for several generations
[Sun Taps LSI For Low Cost SPARC design and fab; ''Computer Business Review''; 12 March 1997;] in return for a one-off payment and full Solaris source license.
References
External links
*
Meiko (Survey of High Performance Computing Systems)*
ttp://bitsavers.org/pdf/meiko Meiko documentationat bitsavers.org
{{Operating systems
Supercomputers
Massively parallel computers
Defunct technological companies of the United Kingdom
British companies established in 1985
Companies disestablished in 1996
Microkernel-based operating systems
Microkernels