Many/370: A Parallel Computer Prototype For I/0 Intensive Applications

Abstract

This article is an overview of Many/370, an IBM System/370 parallel processor prototype built JOT I/Ointensive app1ication.s. The prototype consists of 8 processor nodes, 128 small disk drives, and a host c omputer. The nodes h ave a high performance disk I/O capability which distinguishes Many/37O from other multiprocessors. The eight nodes and the host are interconnected By a non-blocking switch, and they corn.tion set. Each node has a disk adaptcr attach,ed to it. The disk adapter has 4 separate SCSI buses and it controls 16 disk d rives. The disk adapter performs the functions a Systetn/370 c hannel and a control unit. municate using e xtensions ol the System/37O I ’ r1 st TU c