something exciting. ------------- Begin Forwarded Message ------------- HAL Lives? By Jeffrey R. Harrow, TechWeb contributor http://www.techweb.com/voices/harrow/harrow.html I loved the movie 2001 - A Space Odyssey, and HAL, the self-aware supercomputer-turned-bad-guy (bad chip?) was a fascinating look at where our silicon brethren have yet to follow. But while a new HAL from Star Bridge Systems (SBS) is still a far cry from the HAL of 2001, the computer-technology company says its non-movie HAL is quite a step up from today's more traditional supercomputers. Brought to our attention by RCFoC reader Mark Lewis, this HAL, or more properly, HAL-4rW1 Hypercomputer, is said to perform 12.84 trillion operations per second. Now that's a nice number, but what does it really mean? That's 60,000 times faster than a 350-MHz PC. Looked at another way, HAL is to a PC as your PC is to a pocket calculator. But we expect supercomputers to blow away our PCs. So, perhaps more interesting, Star Bridge says, is its HAL, composed of 280 FPGA chips from Xilinx, is 10 times faster than IBM's Blue Pacific supercomputer, which was called "the world's fastest computer" in October 1998. And the comparisons get even more interesting: Power consumption: HAL -- 1,600 watts (it plugs into a standard 110-volt outlet like a toaster). Blue Pacific (BP) -- 3.9 megawatts. Space: HAL -- 3 square feet (it sits on a desktop).BP -- 8,000 square feet. Length: HAL -- 27 inches. BP -- 228 yards. Power cable: HAL -- 1 standard extension cord. BP -- 5 miles of 6-inch circumference cable. Oh, and the cost: HAL's little desktop box drops to a mere $26 million, compared with BP's $94 million. A major difference between traditional computers and HAL is HAL's 100 billion circuits are eminently reprogrammable -- not by humans, but by itself and its software. A circuit configured to do one specific task one moment may be rewired on the fly, thousands of times per second, to optimize itself for the next task. SBS's founders have high hopes for the future of its "reconfigurable computing:" "Eventually, everything with a chip in it, from toasters to 3-D video to automobiles to personal computers, will operate with programmable chips using SBS's new order of programmability," SBS says. "Our reconfigurable computing technology will span the entire domain of information technology and electronics." I'm not an expert in the esoteric realm of supercomputers, so I don't have an opinion if SBS is blowing hot air here. And it's hard to learn more about SBS right now -- I tried to call the company only to reach a recording saying SBS is overwhelmed with calls. But I expect we'll soon be hearing from people who can evaluate both its technology and business. One early discussion by Wired News suggests the benchmarks comparing HAL to Blue Pacific aren't quite measuring apples against apples, but SBS founder Kent Gilson promises HAL will be running easier-to-compare actual applications before the year is out. On the other hand, as RCFoC reader Mike Burke says, NASA believed strongly enough in what SBS is doing to have invited the company to conduct a seminar last year. Wouldn't it be fascinating if a little start-up actually pulls this off? ------------- End Forwarded Message ------------- Cindy Sergent [EMAIL PROTECTED] 614-860-2700 http://www-nds.cb.lucent.com/~ccs/ 614-860-7897 (FAX) ____________________________________________________________________ -------------------------------------------------------------------- Join The NEW Web Consultants Association FORUMS and CHAT: Register Today at: http://just4u.com/forums/ Web Consultants Web Site : http://just4u.com/webconsultants Give the Gift of Life This Year... Just4U Stop Smoking Support forum - helping smokers for over three years-tell a friend: http://just4u.com/forums/ To get 500 Banner Ads for FREE go to http://www.linkbuddies.com/start.go?id=111261 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
