| Machine type | RISC-based distributed-memory multi-processor |
|---|---|
| Models | AP3000 |
| Operating system | Cell OS (transparent to the user) and Solaris (Sun's Unix variant) |
| Connection structure | 2-D torus |
| Compilers | Parallel Fortran/AP, Fortran 90, HPF, C, C++. |
| Vendors information web page: | ??? |
| Year of introduction | 1996. |
System parameters:
| Model | AP3000 |
|---|---|
| Clock cycle | 300 MHz |
| Theor. peak performance | |
| Per proc. (64-bits) | 600 Mflop/s |
| Maximal | 614 Gflop/s |
| Main memory | |
| Memory/node | <= 2 GB |
| Memory/maximal | <= 2 TB |
| No. of processors | 4--1024 |
| Communication bandwidth | |
| point-to-point | 200 MB/s |
Remarks:
The AP3000 is the successor of the earlier AP1000 system. Although the name could suggest otherwise, few characteristics of the AP1000 have been retained except that Sun SPARC processors are used in the nodes. No front-end processor is required anymore as in the former system.
Also the communication network has been simplified considerably with respect to that in the earlier model: where three different networks were present in the AP1000 (see [17]), in the AP3000 the nodes are connected in a 2-D torus structure with a bi-directional bandwidth of 200 MB/s. The maximum amount of memory is large: a full 1024 node system can accommodate 2 TB.
Another difference with the AP1000 system is that the fastest nodes (the (U300 nodes described here) can have either 1 or 2 CPUs as opposed to only one CPU in the AP1000. The two CPUs share the on-board memory.
The available software for the AP3000 is extensive: Parallel Fortran/AP is a Fortran 77 with extensions that offers a shared memory-like programming model for the system. In addition, HPF is available and the machine can also be used with a message passing model as customised MPI/AP and PVM/AP are offered. As sequential languages to be used with the message passing libraries Fortran 90, C and C++ are available.
The current motto on Fujitsu's English home page reads "The possibilities are infinite". This certainly is true for looking for relevant information on this system: when following the links for these machines one ends up on unreadable Japanese pages from which it is difficult to find your way back.
Measured Performances: The system has been announced in March 1996 and installations have been done in Japan, the University of Singapore and at the Australian National University but as yet no performance figures are published. Although the theoretical bandwidth is 200 MB/s, the best measured bandwidth with MPI as given by Fujitsu is 88 MB/s with a latency of 12 µs.