\noindent {\bf NEC SX-JA, SX-1EA, SX-1A and SX-2A } \noindent {\bf Vector Register Architecture } \vspace {.1in} \noindent {\bf Architecture:} The SX-A Series has two types of processor: up to two Central Processors (CP) and one Arithmetic Processor (AP) sharing the main memory. The CP is a front-end mainframe processor where system control programs and user programs run. The AP is a kind of Fortran engine dedicated to execution of user programs. Although the SX runs in stand-alone mode, NEC supports its ACOS series mainframes and also IBM mainframe connections. \vspace {.1in} \noindent AP Architecture \begin{itemize} \item RISC-based scalar architecture \item 16 vector arithmetic pipelines: four identical sets each with an add, multiply, logical, and shift pipe. \item 1000 gate LSIs with 250 picosecond gate delay. \item Circuits are packaged 36 to a module, and 12 modules to a board. \item1 Kbit bipolar memory with 3.5 nsec cache memory access time. \item 1024 Mbyte memory (512-way interleaving) with 8 Gbyte extended memory. \item 256 Kbit static MOS memory chip with 40 nsec access time, giving a memory-to-register rate of 11 Gbyte/sec. \item Register-to-register machine with 80 (on the SX-2) Kbytes of vector registers and four sets of four decimal units yielding a maximum result rate of 8 flops per cycle. \end{itemize} \vspace {.1in} \noindent Scalar arithmetic is pipelined (128 scalar registers) and operates in parallel with vector units. The NEC scalar cycle time is the same as the vector, and is segmented and pipelined to allow more than one pair of operands to progress through the same functional unit concurrently. \vspace {.1in} \noindent CP Architecture \begin{itemize} \item An extension of the NEC mainframe computer, rated at maximum 37 mips (4 types of CP prepared). \item Virtual storage support. \end{itemize} \newpage \noindent {\bf Configuration:} A summary of the four machines is given in the following table: \vspace{.15in} \begin{center} \begin {tabular} {r r r r r} & SX-1EA & SX-1A & SX-2A & SX-JA \\ Number Pipes & 4 v-pipe & 8 v-pipe & 16 v-pipe & 4 v-pipe \\ Length regs & 20K v-reg & 40K v-reg & 80K v-reg & 20K v-reg \\ \end{tabular} \end{center} \vspace{.15in} \vspace {.1in} \noindent Can be used as stand-alone machine or can link to other equipment through a hyperchannel. Separate I/O processors with an overall rate of up to 192 Mbytes/sec are included in the standard configuration. \vspace {.1in} \noindent {\bf Software:} \begin{itemize} \item Uses the NEC standard operating system and UNIX called SX-UX is also supported. \item Does not run the IBM instruction set (unlike other Japanese computers) \end{itemize} {\bf Languages:} \begin{itemize} \item Fortran 77 with automatic vectorization. Performance tuning tools available are VECTORIZER/SX and ANALYZER/SX. The compiler vectorizes IF statements, intrinsic functions, and indirect addressing using vector gather and scatter instructions (into temporaries). \item Other languages supported (but not vectorized) include ALGOL, PL/I, BASIC, PASCAL, C, LISP, PROLOG, and COBOL. \end{itemize} \vspace {.1in} \noindent {\bf Performance:} Maximum rating of the SC-JA is 250 Mflops, of the SX-1EA is 330 Mflops, of the SX-1A is 665 Mflops, and of the SX-2A is 1.3 Gflops. It appears to be the most powerful of the Japanese supercomputers, and the only one to aggressively address the scalar bottleneck. \vspace {.1in} \noindent {\bf Status:} First delivery date in the US was July 1986. The NEC machine is available for benchmarking. NEC has sold 18 of its supercomputers in Japan, in the USA, and in Europe. The USA machine is situated at HARC in Houston, Texas. A machine was delivered to the Netherlands in 4Q 1987. \vspace {.1in} \noindent {\bf Contact:} \begin{flushleft} Mr. S. Adams\\ NEC Information Systems\\ 1414 Massachusetts Ave.\\ Boxborough, MA 01719\\ 617-264-8800\\ \vspace {.1in} Garry Foley\\ Manager - Marketing\\ Communications Systems Division\\ NEC Business Systems (Europe) Ltd.\\ NEC House\\ 1 Victoria Road\\ London W5 6UL\\ England\\ 01-993-8111 Telex 261914 NEC LDN\\ \end{flushleft} .