RP3 [parallel machine]

The IBM Research Parallel Processor (RP3) is a testbed for the hardware and software of highly parallel MIMD supercomputer designs. It is intended to provide sufficient flexibility to examine a variety of computational models, and sufficient computing power to justify the effort of converting a variety of real applications to parallel form. Basic questions addressed include whether there is a multipurpose parallel architecture, whether this can be programmed with normal skills, whether there is enough parallelism in applications to make the machine interesting, and whether it can be implemented cost-effectively. The project is not finished, but some interesting answers are already emerging