What's happening with supercomputer networks
Don E. Tolmie · University of North Texas Digital Library (University of North Texas) · 1991
Computer networks must become faster as the equipment that is being interconnected increases in power and performance. Ethernet, with a 10 Mbit/s speed, seemed awesome a few years ago, but is beginning to show its age as more machines are tied together, and workstations attain the power of yesterdays mainframes. Networks using gigabit speeds are just starting to become available and offer a whole new set of problems and potential. The networks proposed for supercomputers today will be the run-of-the-mill networks interconnecting workstations and other ADP equipment in the near future. This paper addresses what the higher speeds are being used for, the standards'' efforts specifying the higher speed channels, the network architectures being proposed, and some of the open problems requiring extensive further work. 3 figs.