Enterprise AlphaServer system

Abstract

A new enterprise system architecture is the basis for a family of next generation Alpha SMP server systems. By combining the industry leading performance of Digital's Alpha RISC microprocessor technology, high bandwidth IO subsystems and an efficient, high bandwidth, low latency SMP interconnect, SMP server systems based on this new architecture are able to achieve supercomputer class performance at a significantly reduced cost. This paper describes the fundamentals of this new architecture and, in particular, the novel aspects of the architecture that allow its constituent systems to achieve high performance while allowing for remarkable flexibility and expandability.