Synergy Releases Clustered-Computing Solution Supporting up to 32 High-Speed Compute Nodes.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 26, 2004 Solution Uses New Vme P0 Backplane Overlay and StarFabric to Provide Complete Standards-Based Multi-Computing Platform Synergy Microsystems, Inc. (Synergy) announced today a clustered-computing solution built on its latest high-performance VME single-board computers (SBCs), StarFabric(TM) -- a high-speed, switched fabric interconnect, and Synergy's performance-enhancing software tools. Together they provide a scalable and cost-effective solution for designers with data-intensive processing requirements. "Synergy's continuing success in military and DoD programs brings to light the increasing demand for COTS-based clustered computing," noted Thomas Powell, CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Synergy. "Synergy's solution meets this demand, giving systems designers an open-standards platform that provides scalable performance at an affordable price point." StarFabric for High-Speed Multiprocessing To achieve maximum system scalability and reliability, Synergy chose StarFabric, a high-speed, serial switched-fabric interconnect from StarGen. StarFabric implements point-to-point connectivity for multi-computing solutions using a scalable bridge-and-switch configuration. The StarFabric switch (SG1010) has six channels that can deliver 30 Gbps of aggregate, non-blocking, full-duplex switching capacity for the host board and five additional devices. The StarFabric bridge (SG2010) translates PCI (1) (Payment Card Industry) See PCI DSS. (2) (Peripheral Component Interconnect) The most widely used I/O bus (peripheral bus). address-routed traffic from 32/64-bit PCI buses into a serial frame format for transmission across the universal switch fabric. Cutting-edge Embedded Computing Synergy's industry leading StarFabric-enabled products provide the building blocks that make the design and implementation of a multi-computing solution simple. Single-board computers featuring an onboard StarFabric bridge include the Manta QX, the newly released quad processor SMP (Symmetric MultiProcessing) A multiprocessing architecture in which multiple CPUs, residing in one cabinet, share the same memory. SMP systems provide scalability. As business increases, additional CPUs can be added to absorb the increased transaction volume. board; the dual-processor Raptor DX; and the Rhino DX, a conduction-cooled, ruggedized dual-processor board. Each SBC (1) (SBC Communications Inc., San Antonio, TX, www.sbc.com) A large, national telecommunications company that grew from a multitude of local and regional companies, including Southwestern Bell, Pacific Bell and Nevada Bell, into a single, unified brand by 2002. includes the PowerPC 7457 CPU CPU in full central processing unit Principal component of a digital computer, composed of a control unit, an instruction-decoding unit, and an arithmetic-logic unit. running up to 1.3 GHz, a host of I/O (Input/Output) The transfer of data between the CPU and a peripheral device. Every transfer is an output from one device and an input to another. See PC input/output. I/O - Input/Output options and extensive memory resources. Additionally, Synergy has developed a variety of PMC (1) See Portable Media Center. (2) (PCI Mezzanine Card) A PCI-based mezzanine card that is widely adapted to VMEbus, CompactPCI and PCI cards. modules to support previously deployed SBCs without StarFabric onboard. These include switch-and-bridge, and bridge-only, daughter cards available both air- and conduction-cooled. Synergy is developing additional StarFabric-enabled components that will allow systems designers virtually unlimited options in building custom fabric topologies to support their application requirements. P0 Backplane Overlay Synergy's P0 backplane overlay greatly simplifies configuring multi-board topologies by eliminating the need for cumbersome cables and transition modules. The overlay creates the physical path between boards that provides the requisite bandwidth, interconnection and reliability needed as multiple CPU boards are interconnected within a VME chassis. Synergy is the first company to provide StarFabric communication via the VME backplane, and currently offers both 5- and 8-slot overlays, supporting clusters of up to 32 nodes with quad boards. Performance Enhancing Software In addition to hardware components, Synergy is committed to continued development on a number of valuable software packages to facilitate effective communication between nodes that support both memory mapped and direct memory access I/O interconnects. The Message Passing Interface (communications, protocol) Message Passing Interface - A de facto standard for communication among the nodes running a parallel program on a distributed memory system. MPI is a library of routines that can be called from Fortran and programs. (MPI MPI - Message Passing Interface ) is an open, de facto standard Hardware or software that is widely used, but not endorsed by a standards organization. Contrast with de jure standard. de facto standard - A widespread consensus on a particular product or protocol which has not been ratified by any official standards body, such as ISO, that enables message passing on virtual topologies, effectively simplifying the distribution of a processing task over a cluster of computers. The Global Buffer Manager (GBM GBM 1 Glioblastoma multiforme, see there 2. Glomerular basement membrane ) complements MPI by simplifying the sharing of data in the same cluster using named buffers that can accessed by both processors and devices. Synergy's GBM includes a set of drivers and an easy-to-use Application Program Interface (API) that works under VxWorks, Linux and Integrity and allows buffers to be shared among multiple operating systems. One network driver, SG_NET, allows devices on the backplane to access the same global memory otherwise available only to processors. With a library of C-language memory management routines provided by the API, programmers can perform operations that were previously very time consuming and painstakingly custom-programmed. Finally, Synergy's DSP Library provides a comprehensive set of the most common math, image and signal processing algorithms required by demanding radar, sonar, medical imaging, signal intelligence and other DSP environments. A common API supports portability across system architectures and processor generations enabling faster development and software investment protection. The library contains hundreds of the most popular DSP functions plus VSIPL VSIPL Vector, Signal, and Image Processing Library VSIPL Vector Signal and Image Processing Library functions, with new routines added frequently. Performance Testing Synergy's clustered-computing solution has undergone extensive in-house benchmark testing. Tests were conducted using eight interconnected Raptor DX SBCs, each with dual PowerPC 7457 CPUs and onboard StarFabric, for a total of 16 processor nodes, communicating across the P0 backplane overlay. Benchmark results are available from Synergy (1-888-479-6374). Available today, Synergy's clustered-computing solution, was recently showcased at the Bus&Board Conference on January 19-20, 2004, and included the following Synergy products: -- (5) Raptor DX - dual PowerPC 7457 processor SBCs -- PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) The worldwide voice telephone network. Once only an analog system, the heart of most telephone networks today is all digital. In the U.S. - StarFabric switch/bridge PMC -- PVGA (Paradise VGA) Earlier VGA adapters and VGA chips from the Paradise Division of Western Digital. - video/graphics PMC for VGA flat panel display A thin display screen for computer and TV usage. The first flat panels appeared on laptop computers in the mid-1980s, and the LCD technology became the standard. Stand-alone LCD screens became available for desktop computers in the mid-1990s and exceeded sales of CRTs for the first time About Synergy Synergy Microsystems, Inc. (www.synergymicro.com) specializes in the design, manufacture and integration of single- and multi-processor, single-board computers for VME and CompactPCI systems to meet the needs of demanding real-time applications in military, aerospace, DSP, and industrial/commercial markets. Synergy has a long track record of extracting the highest possible performance from current and emerging SBC technologies, then supporting these technologies through extended product lifecycles. In business since 1985 under the original ownership, the corporation is privately held, with facilities in San Diego, CA. and Tucson, AZ. |
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