🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <2622@m1.cs.man.ac.uk> mshute@cs.man.ac.uk (Malcolm Shute) writes:
>Am I correct in assuming that this is Intel's answer to Inmos' Transputer?

No, you're not. Professor Kung has been pushing the Warp project at CMU for
a decade or so now, and Intel has been at work on iWarp for several years
funded in part by the Department of Defense. Nobody I know who works for
Intel has ever been of the opinion that Inmos has ever done anything that
merited an answer. (I'm a transputer user too, and I think that there are
some very nice things about the xputer architecture, but I also think
that Inmos has done some things very wrong through the years.)

Now, there are some interesting parallels between the iWarp architecture and
the T9000 (nee H1) xputer, but there are also a couple of important
differences.

a)	Intel has working silicon, now. I have seen it with my own eyes.
	I think nearly everyone will agree that Inmos is nowhere close to
	having a working (prototype, even) T9000. You can buy iWarp
	systems (in those wonderful gray cabinets) NOW. TODAY.

b)	Availability notwithstanding, my contacts at Intel have not 
	convinced me that Galactic Intel is interested in marketing iWarp
	to the world at large. You may never see iWarp silicon available
	in quantity.

>I would like both Intel and Inmos representatives take this bait... it has often been
>pointed out in this group that "Manufacture-X versus Manufacturer-Y" wars
>often through up quite a lot of useful information in all their smoke and fury,
>and I've been disappointed that no-one at Inmos has yet responded to this
>long, but interesting description of the iWARP.


Perhaps the silence speaks for itself. I'm personally of the opinion that
Inmos has already said far more than was really necessary about a chip that
doesn't exist yet.

I am fascinated about the geographically differing perceptions of the
microprocessor market. I get the idea that the two most-talked-about
micro architectures in the UK are the xputer and the ARM, both of which
are practically unknown in the USA. Consequently I suppose that Inmos
is seen in the UK as a major competitor of Intel.

But then, they run funny network protocols over there, and drive on the
wrong side of the road :^).



-- 
Jeff Carroll		carroll@ssc-vax.boeing.com

"...and of their daughters it is written, 'Cursed be he who lies with 
any manner of animal.'" - Talmud