COMPUTER SCIENCE COLLOQUIUM

                          (and Graduate Seminar)



                    The HP/Convex Exemplar Architecture
        (plus some predictions about future architecture directions)


                    Greg Astfalk
                    Chief Scientist
                    Hewlett-Packard Company, Convex Division


                    September 15 (Monday), 1997 at 4:00 p.m.
                    1310 Digital Computer Laboratory


  We describe the architecture of the current generation  of  the  HP/Exemplar
  (aka  SPP2000).   The  Exemplar is a ccNUMA architecture that is scalable to
  more than 100 processors.  Sufficient details  are  offered  such  that  the
  operation of the machines hardware, especially processors, memory and inter-
  connect, can be understood.  We also consider the hardware approach taken to
  achieve cache coherency.

  Time permitting we will present information about the expected future trends
  in  semiconductor  technology for processors and memory.  This is especially
  important since physical limits are beginning to appear as fundamental  bar-
  riers to future progress.