Evolution in the application of ASICs in the second-generation Titan

The need for increased performance at the high end of the Titan family of computers meant that the Ardent Computer Corp. had to bring to market a second-generation processor rapidly. Changes in four major areas were made to complete the second-generation Titan in less than one year. First, more aggressive ASIC technology was applied. Second, microarchitectural simplifications that greatly reduced the complexity of the design were identified. Third, more automatic schemes for generating functional (as opposed to manufacturing) tests were developed. last, logical synthesis was used extensively; over 80% of the gates in the final ASIC designs were synthesized. A review is presented of how changes in these four areas enabled the authors to deliver a processor with two times the performance of the first-generation processor at about the same cost