A 1990s solution to the crisis in mass storage

Abstract

A cost-effective implementation of disk-array technology for a scalable data-storage system which satisfies HPPI (high performance parallel interface) performance at the host interface level and also meets the objectives of large storage capacities, high sustained throughput, reliability, and efficient software interfacing is described. The design parameters for a data-storage system to satisfy a broad range of applications within the supercomputing environment are presented. It is shown that high-performance storage systems based on the HPPI industry standard will break the I/O (input/output) bottleneck and make it possible for the supercomputer users of the 1990s to efficiently support the throughput and capacity requirements of emerging applications which, until now, would have been too I/O-intensive to undertake. >