Higher Performance Networking For Interactive Visualization
Donald C. Craig, Donald Zurstadt · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 1989
Requirements for fast access to larger data sets and the desire to provide better interactions between high performance computers and visualization subsystems are calling for a new generation of workstation networking facilities. This new generation of networking will be 10 to 50 times faster than the existing one based on the presently established Ethernet and TCP/IP industry standard components. It will take advantage of both increased raw hardware bandwidth (100-200 Mbit/s) and also improved efficiencies (50-80%). In the near term and for selected applications, these facilities will replace or supplement Ethernet and TCP/IP. The FDDI physical layer protocol based on fiber optic technology and logical layer protocols based on simpler and more efficient ("light-weight") software models offer prospects for these near term, mid-range-performance applications. However, there are needs as well for even higher networking performance at 1 Gbit/s. These needs will also drive special solutions for workstations in the near term - and perhaps even standards where workstations are used in combination with supercomputer processing. In all cases the implications for system architectures are significant, and numerous changes are required in today's workstation products to support these new levels of network performance.