<s>
The	O
Parallel	B-Device
Element	I-Device
Processing	I-Device
Ensemble	I-Device
(	O
PEPE	O
)	O
was	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
very	O
early	O
parallel	B-Operating_System
computing	I-Operating_System
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
goal	O
was	O
to	O
build	O
a	O
computer	O
system	O
that	O
could	O
simultaneously	O
track	O
hundreds	O
of	O
incoming	O
ballistic	O
missile	O
warheads	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Missile	O
fleets	O
of	O
both	O
the	O
US	O
and	O
USSR	O
were	O
growing	O
through	O
the	O
1960s	O
,	O
but	O
a	O
bigger	O
issue	O
was	O
the	O
number	O
of	O
warheads	B-Application
as	O
a	O
result	O
of	O
the	O
move	O
to	O
multiple	O
independently	O
targetable	O
reentry	O
vehicles	O
(	O
MIRV	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Computers	O
designed	O
for	O
the	O
Nike-X	O
system	O
were	O
largely	O
similar	O
to	O
systems	O
like	O
the	O
IBM	B-Device
7030	I-Device
,	O
and	O
would	O
have	O
been	O
able	O
to	O
handle	O
attacks	O
with	O
perhaps	O
a	O
dozen	O
warheads	B-Application
arriving	O
simultaneously	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
MIRV	O
,	O
hundreds	O
of	O
targets	O
,	O
both	O
warheads	B-Application
and	O
decoys	O
,	O
would	O
arrive	O
at	O
the	O
same	O
time	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
CPUs	O
being	O
used	O
simply	O
did	O
not	O
have	O
the	O
performance	O
needed	O
to	O
analyze	O
their	O
trajectories	O
quickly	O
enough	O
to	O
leave	O
time	O
to	O
attack	O
them	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
design	O
featured	O
an	O
array	O
of	O
288	O
(	O
8	O
×	O
36	O
)	O
identical	O
processing	O
elements	O
and	O
associative	B-Data_Structure
addressing	I-Data_Structure
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
Burroughs	B-Device
B1700	I-Device
computer	O
system	O
was	O
used	O
as	O
a	O
test	O
and	O
diagnostic	O
computer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
custom	O
software	O
package	O
,	O
called	O
TRANSET	O
,	O
which	O
executed	O
on	O
the	O
B1700	B-Device
was	O
used	O
to	O
debug	O
and	O
maintain	O
PEPE	O
's	O
processing	O
elements	O
.	O
</s>
