MPC 7400 PowerPC

Based on the advanced MPC7400 PowerPC with AltiVec technology, the Merlin compute daughtercard delivers up to 10.6 GFLOPS of processing performance in a single 6" x 6" board for the most demanding applications. With SKY Computers' Boards-to-Systems architecture Merlin is configured on 6U and 9U boards and easily integrated into high performance computing systems. Used with SKY's HPC-1, high performance computing system, as many as 64 Merlin boards deliver up to 672 GFLOPS in a single chassis with performance scaling to 10 TFLOPS in a fully populated 16 chassis system.

Merlin capitalizes on the new AltiVec technology-based 333 MHz MPC7400 PowerPC by supporting high-speed processing with both high-speed memory and high-speed communication. SKY has implemented the 333 MHz level 2 cache in the MPC7400 to provide developers with both high performance compute and the I/O power to maximize total computational throughput.

The communication interconnect between Merlin boards, chassis, and systems is provided by the ANSI standard SKYchannel 320 MB/sec packet bus architecture. Multiple simultaneous SKYchannel connections facilitate fast communication throughout the system hierarchy to continually provide maximum throughput. The SKYchannel communications back bone provides high speed communication and fast data transfer performance while maintaining the programming ease of a 16 terabyte shared memory architecture.

The SKYvec development tools simplify code development for large multiprocessor systems by automating many of the processes which otherwise would have to be designed or managed by the programmer. SKYvec eliminates the need for time consuming and costly software ports, training classes, and on-site vendor support by making development easier than ever before.

SKY Computers, Inc., 27 Industrial Ave, Chelmsford, MA 01824. Tel: 978-250-1920; Fax: 978-250-0036.