Convex Computer: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:00, 11 April 2006

Revision as of 00:19, 12 April 2006

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Another speed boost was planned in the '''C4''', which moved the hardware implementation to [[GaAs]]-based chips, following an evolution identical to that of the Cray machines, but the effort was too little, too late. Some considered the whole C4 program to be nothing more than chasing a business in decline. By this time, Convex was losing money.

In 1994, Convex introduced an entirely new design, known as the '''Exemplar'''. Unlike the C-series '''vector computer''', the Exemplar was a parallel-computing machine based on off-the-shelf HP-PA [[RISC]] chips, connected together using [[Scalable Coherent Interconnect|SCI]]. First dubbed '''MPP''', these machines were later called '''SPP''' and '''Exemplar'''. The expectation was that a software programing model for parallel computing could draw in customers. But the type of Customerscustomers Convex attracted believed in fortran[[Fortran]] and brute force rather than sophisicatedsophisticated technology. The Operating System also had terrible performance problems which could not easily be fixed. Eventually, Convex established a working partnership with HP's hardware and software divisions. Initially it was intended that the Exemplar would be binary-compatible with HP's HPUX. But eventually it was decided to port HPUX to the platform and sell the platform as standalone servers.

In 1995, Hewlett-Packard bought Convex. HP sold Convex Exemplar machines under the '''S-Class''' and '''X-Class''' titles, and later incorporated some of Exemplar's technology into the '''V-Class''' machine.