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Connection Machine

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Encyclopedia of Parallel Computing

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Definition

The term “Connection Machine” refers to massively parallel supercomputers manufactured by Thinking Machines Corporation. The CM-1 (1985) was a purely SIMD architecture intended for artificial intelligence (AI) applications; 65,536 single-bit processors were connected by a hypercube network. The CM-2 (1987) added 32-bit-wide floating-point coprocessors and set performance records for numerical applications. The CM-5 (1991) was MIMD, using Sun Microsystems SPARC processors connected by a fat-tree network to drive proprietary SIMD floating-point coprocessors. The first TOP500 Supercomputer List (June 1993) showed that the four fastest supercomputers were CM-5 systems, and 25 of the top 100 were either CM-2 or CM-5 systems.

Discussion

Origins

Influential predecessors of the initial Connection Machine architecture include the Illiac IV, the ICL Distributed Array Processor (DAP), and the Goodyear Massively Parallel Processor (MPP). Certain other early designs also merit discussion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oracle Labs, 35 Network Drive UBUR02-313, 01803, Burlington, MA, USA

    Guy L. Steele Dr. Jr. (Jr.)

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  1. Guy L. Steele Dr. Jr.
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA

    David Padua

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Steele, G.L. (2011). Connection Machine. In: Padua, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Parallel Computing. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09766-4_387

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