Supercomputers for the nineties: making the powerful accessible

It is pointed out that providing access to the power of a supercomputer is the best way to foster supercomputer use. Accessibility has several dimensions. First, the system must provide a cost-effective solution to the problem. If the user determines that the computational cost is too high, the system is really not accessible. Secondly, many users want to submit larger problems without increased solution wait time. The system must provide connectivity. Thirdly, the cost of a classic supercomputer requires that in most cases users must share the resource. This normally places the system in a central location and adds the requirement of network access to the CPUs and to the file systems. Fourthly, the system must be reliable. Finally the user demands ease of use through familiar, friendly operating system software and intelligent compilers which automatically detect inherent problem parallelism and map it to the hardware.<>