IBM ViVA
Encyclopedia
ViVA is a technology from IBM
for coupling together multiple scalar
floating point unit
s to act as a single vector processor
. Certain computing tasks are more efficiently handled through vector computations where an instruction can be applied to multiple elements simultaneously, rather than the scalar approach where one instruction is applied to one piece of data at a time. This kind of technology is highly sought after for scientific computing and is IBM's answer to the vector-based supercomputer
s pioneered by Cray
and that was the basis for NEC
's Earth Simulator
which was the fastest supercomputer in the world 2002-2004.
ViVA was developed and implemented by IBM together with National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center
inside the Blue Planet project where they had 8 dual core POWER5
processors made into one vector processor capable of approximately 60-80 GFLOPS
of computing power. ViVA technology is in use in the ASC Purple
supercomputer.
Where ViVA was a software implementation in high-end POWER5 based systems, the second generation, ViVA-2, is directly supported by hardware in the POWER6
processor.
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
for coupling together multiple scalar
Scalar (computing)
In computing, a scalar variable or field is one that can hold only one value at a time; as opposed to composite variables like array, list, hash, record, etc. In some contexts, a scalar value may be understood to be numeric. A scalar data type is the type of a scalar variable...
floating point unit
Floating point unit
A floating-point unit is a part of a computer system specially designed to carry out operations on floating point numbers. Typical operations are addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and square root...
s to act as a single vector processor
Vector processor
A vector processor, or array processor, is a central processing unit that implements an instruction set containing instructions that operate on one-dimensional arrays of data called vectors. This is in contrast to a scalar processor, whose instructions operate on single data items...
. Certain computing tasks are more efficiently handled through vector computations where an instruction can be applied to multiple elements simultaneously, rather than the scalar approach where one instruction is applied to one piece of data at a time. This kind of technology is highly sought after for scientific computing and is IBM's answer to the vector-based supercomputer
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...
s pioneered by Cray
Cray
Cray Inc. is an American supercomputer manufacturer based in Seattle, Washington. The company's predecessor, Cray Research, Inc. , was founded in 1972 by computer designer Seymour Cray. Seymour Cray went on to form the spin-off Cray Computer Corporation , in 1989, which went bankrupt in 1995,...
and that was the basis for NEC
NEC
, a Japanese multinational IT company, has its headquarters in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. NEC, part of the Sumitomo Group, provides information technology and network solutions to business enterprises, communications services providers and government....
's Earth Simulator
Earth Simulator
The Earth Simulator , developed by the Japanese government's initiative "Earth Simulator Project", was a highly parallel vector supercomputer system for running global climate models to evaluate the effects of global warming and problems in solid earth geophysics...
which was the fastest supercomputer in the world 2002-2004.
ViVA was developed and implemented by IBM together with National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center
National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center
The ', or NERSC for short, is a designated user facility operated by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Department of Energy. It contains several cluster supercomputers, the largest of which is...
inside the Blue Planet project where they had 8 dual core POWER5
POWER5
The POWER5 is a microprocessor developed and fabricated by IBM. It is an improved version of the highly successful POWER4. The principal improvements are support for simultaneous multithreading and an on-die memory controller...
processors made into one vector processor capable of approximately 60-80 GFLOPS
FLOPS
In computing, FLOPS is a measure of a computer's performance, especially in fields of scientific calculations that make heavy use of floating-point calculations, similar to the older, simpler, instructions per second...
of computing power. ViVA technology is in use in the ASC Purple
ASC Purple
ASC Purple was a supercomputer installed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, CA. The computer was a collaboration between IBM Corporation and Lawrence Livermore Lab. Announced November 19th, 2002, it was installed in July 2005 and decommissioned on November 10th, 2010...
supercomputer.
Where ViVA was a software implementation in high-end POWER5 based systems, the second generation, ViVA-2, is directly supported by hardware in the POWER6
POWER6
The POWER6 is a microprocessor developed by IBM that implemented the Power ISA v.2.03. When it became available in systems in 2007, it succeeded the POWER5+ as IBM's flagship Power microprocessor...
processor.