<s>
ISRA	B-Device
VISION	I-Device
PARSYTEC	I-Device
AG	I-Device
is	O
a	O
company	O
of	O
ISRA	B-Device
VISION	I-Device
AG	I-Device
and	O
was	O
founded	O
in	O
1985	O
as	O
Parsytec	B-Device
(	O
PARallel	O
SYstem	O
TEChnology	O
)	O
in	O
Aachen	O
,	O
Germany	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Parsytec	B-Device
has	O
become	O
known	O
in	O
the	O
late	O
1980s	O
and	O
early	O
1990s	O
as	O
a	O
manufacturer	O
of	O
transputer-based	O
parallel	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Products	O
ranged	O
from	O
a	O
single	O
transputer	B-General_Concept
plug-in	O
board	O
for	O
the	O
IBM	B-Device
PC	I-Device
up	O
to	O
large	O
massively-parallel	O
systems	O
with	O
thousands	O
of	O
transputers	B-General_Concept
(	O
or	O
processors	O
,	O
respectively	O
)	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
Parsytec	B-Device
GC	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
ISRA	B-Device
VISION	I-Device
AG	I-Device
,	O
today	O
the	O
company	O
focusses	O
on	O
solutions	O
in	O
the	O
machine	B-General_Concept
vision	I-General_Concept
and	O
industrial	O
image	O
procession	O
sector	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
ISRA	O
Parsytec	B-Device
products	O
are	O
used	O
for	O
quality	O
and	O
surface	O
inspection	O
especially	O
in	O
the	O
metal	O
and	O
paper	O
industries	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1985	O
,	O
Parsytec	B-Device
was	O
founded	O
by	O
Falk-Dietrich	O
Kübler	O
,	O
Gerhard	O
H	O
.	O
Peise	O
,	O
and	O
Bernd	O
Wolff	O
in	O
Aachen	O
,	O
Germany	O
,	O
with	O
an	O
800000	O
DM	O
grant	O
from	O
Federal	O
Ministry	O
for	O
Research	O
and	O
Technology	O
(	O
BMFT	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
contrast	O
to	O
SUPRENUM	B-Device
,	O
Parsytec	B-Device
directly	O
aimed	O
their	O
systems	O
(	O
pattern	O
recognition	O
)	O
at	O
industrial	O
applications	O
such	O
as	O
surface	O
inspection	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1988	O
,	O
export	O
accounted	O
for	O
roughly	O
a	O
third	O
of	O
Parsytec	B-Device
's	O
turnover	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
order	O
to	O
focus	O
Parsytec	B-Device
on	O
research	O
and	O
development	O
,	O
ParaCom	O
was	O
founded	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Parsytec/ParaCom	O
'	O
s	O
headquarters	O
were	O
maintained	O
in	O
Aachen	O
(	O
Germany	O
)	O
,	O
however	O
they	O
had	O
subsidiary	O
sales	O
offices	O
in	O
Chemnitz	O
(	O
Germany	O
)	O
,	O
Southampton	O
(	O
United	O
Kingdom	O
)	O
,	O
Chicago	O
(	O
USA	O
)	O
,	O
St	O
Petersburg	O
(	O
Russia	O
)	O
and	O
Moscow	O
(	O
Russia	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Between	O
1988	O
and	O
1994	O
,	O
Parsytec	B-Device
built	O
quite	O
an	O
impressive	O
range	O
of	O
transputer	B-General_Concept
based	O
computers	O
having	O
its	O
peak	O
in	O
the	O
"	O
Parsytec	B-Device
GC	O
"	O
(	O
GigaCluster	O
)	O
which	O
was	O
available	O
in	O
versions	O
using	O
64	O
up	O
to	O
16384	O
transputers	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Parsytec	B-Device
had	O
its	O
IPO	O
in	O
mid-1999	O
at	O
the	O
German	O
Stock	O
Exchange	O
in	O
Frankfurt	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
July	O
2007	O
,	O
52.6	O
%	O
of	O
the	O
Parsytec	B-Device
AG	I-Device
were	O
acquired	O
by	O
ISRA	B-Device
VISION	I-Device
AG	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
delisting	O
of	O
Parsytec	B-Device
shares	O
from	O
the	O
stock	O
market	O
started	O
December	O
the	O
same	O
year	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
And	O
since	O
18	O
April	O
2008	O
,	O
the	O
Parsytec	B-Device
share	O
is	O
no	O
longer	O
listed	O
on	O
the	O
stock	O
exchange	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Whilst	O
workforce	O
at	O
Parsytec	B-Device
was	O
roundabout	O
130	O
staff	O
in	O
the	O
early	O
1990s	O
,	O
the	O
ISRA	B-Device
VISION	I-Device
Group	O
had	O
more	O
than	O
500	O
employees	O
in	O
2012/2013	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Today	O
,	O
the	O
core	O
business	O
of	O
ISRA	O
Parsytec	B-Device
within	O
the	O
ISRA	B-Device
VISION	I-Device
Group	O
is	O
the	O
development	O
and	O
distribution	O
of	O
surface	O
inspection	O
systems	O
for	O
strip	O
products	O
in	O
the	O
metal	O
and	O
paper	O
industries	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Parsytec	B-Device
's	O
product	O
range	O
included	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
beginning	O
,	O
Parsytec	B-Device
had	O
participated	O
in	O
the	O
GPMIMD	O
(	O
General	O
Purpose	O
MIMD	B-Operating_System
)	O
project	O
under	O
the	O
umbrella	O
of	O
the	O
ESPRIT	O
project	O
,	O
both	O
being	O
funded	O
by	O
the	O
European	O
Commission	O
's	O
Directorate	O
for	O
Science	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
after	O
substantial	O
divisions	O
with	O
the	O
other	O
participants	O
,	O
Meiko	B-Device
,	O
Parsys	O
,	O
Inmos	O
and	O
Telmat	O
,	O
as	O
regards	O
the	O
choice	O
of	O
a	O
common	O
physical	O
architecture	O
,	O
Parsytec	B-Device
left	O
the	O
project	O
and	O
announced	O
a	O
T9000-based	O
machine	O
of	O
their	O
own	O
,	O
i.e.	O
</s>
<s>
But	O
due	O
to	O
Inmos	O
 '	O
problems	O
with	O
the	O
T9000	O
,	O
they	O
were	O
forced	O
to	O
change	O
to	O
the	O
ensemble	O
Motorola	O
MPC	O
601	O
CPUs	B-Device
and	O
Inmos	O
T805	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
led	O
to	O
Parsytec	B-Device
's	O
"	O
hybrid	O
"	O
systems	O
(	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
GC/PP	O
)	O
degrading	O
transputers	B-General_Concept
to	O
communication	O
processors	O
whilst	O
the	O
compute	O
work	O
was	O
offloaded	O
to	O
the	O
PowerPCs	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
Parsytec	B-Device
's	O
cluster	O
systems	O
were	O
operated	O
by	O
an	O
external	O
workstation	O
,	O
typically	O
a	O
SUN	O
workstation	O
(	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
Sun-4	B-Device
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
is	O
a	O
substantial	O
confusion	O
as	O
regards	O
the	O
names	O
of	O
the	O
Parsytec	B-Device
products	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
the	O
one	O
hand	O
this	O
has	O
to	O
do	O
with	O
the	O
architecture	O
,	O
but	O
on	O
the	O
other	O
hand	O
it	O
had	O
to	O
do	O
with	O
the	O
aforementioned	O
non-availability	O
of	O
Inmos	O
T9000	O
that	O
forced	O
Parsytec	B-Device
to	O
use	O
the	O
T805	O
and	O
the	O
PowerPC	B-Architecture
instead	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Systems	O
that	O
were	O
equipped	O
with	O
PowerPC	B-Architecture
processors	I-Architecture
had	O
the	O
prefix	O
"	O
Power	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
basic	O
architectural	O
element	O
of	O
a	O
Parsytec	B-Device
system	O
was	O
a	O
cluster	O
which	O
consisted	O
inter	O
alia	O
of	O
four	O
transputers/processors	O
(	O
i.e.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
GigaCube	O
(	O
sometimes	O
referred	O
to	O
as	O
supernode/meganode	O
)	O
consisted	O
of	O
four	O
clusters	O
(	O
nodes	O
)	O
with	O
16	O
Inmos	O
T805	O
transputers	B-General_Concept
(	O
30MHz	O
)	O
,	O
RAM	B-Architecture
(	O
up	O
to	O
4	O
MB	O
per	O
T805	O
)	O
,	O
plus	O
a	O
further	O
redundant	O
T805	O
(	O
an	O
additional	O
,	O
thus	O
the	O
17th	O
processor	O
)	O
,	O
the	O
local	O
link	O
connections	O
and	O
four	O
Inmos	O
C004	O
routing	O
chips	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Megaframe	O
was	O
the	O
product	O
name	O
of	O
a	O
family	O
of	O
transputer	B-General_Concept
based	O
parallel	O
processing	O
modules	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
of	O
which	O
could	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
upgrade	O
an	O
IBM	B-Device
PC	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Different	O
versions	O
of	O
the	O
modules	O
were	O
available	O
,	O
for	O
example	O
,	O
one	O
with	O
a	O
32-bit	O
transputer	B-General_Concept
T414	O
,	O
floating-point	O
hardware	O
Motorola	B-General_Concept
68881	I-General_Concept
,	O
1	O
MB	O
(	O
80	O
nanosecond	O
access	O
time	O
)	O
of	O
RAM	B-Architecture
and	O
a	O
throughput	O
of	O
10	O
MIPS	O
,	O
or	O
one	O
with	O
four	O
16-bit	O
transputers	B-General_Concept
T22x	O
with	O
64	O
kB	O
of	O
RAM	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
Also	O
cards	O
for	O
special	O
features	O
were	O
on	O
offer	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
a	O
graphics	O
processor	O
with	O
a	O
resolution	O
of	O
1280	O
x	O
1024	O
pixels	O
or	O
I/O	O
-	O
"	O
cluster	O
"	O
with	O
terminal	O
and	O
SCSI	B-Architecture
interface	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
multiuser	O
envirorunent	O
could	O
support	O
up	O
to	O
eight	O
users	O
by	O
using	O
Parsytec	B-Device
's	O
multiple	O
virtual	O
architecture	O
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
NCU	O
design	O
was	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
Inmos	O
crossbar	O
switch	O
,	O
the	O
C004	O
,	O
which	O
gives	O
full	O
crossbar	O
connectivity	O
for	O
up	O
to	O
16	O
transputers	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Each	O
NCU	O
,	O
made	O
of	O
C004s	O
,	O
connected	O
up	O
to	O
96	O
UniLinks	O
that	O
link	O
internal	O
as	O
weil	O
as	O
external	O
transputers	B-General_Concept
and	O
other	O
I/0	O
subsystems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
basic	O
unit	O
was	O
a	O
16-transputer	O
T800	O
,	O
fully	O
connected	O
cluster	O
;	O
larger	O
systems	O
had	O
additional	O
levels	O
of	O
NCUs	O
to	O
form	O
necessary	O
connections	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Being	O
designed	O
for	O
the	O
Inmos	O
T9000-transputers	O
,	O
it	O
could	O
never	O
be	O
launched	O
as	O
such	O
,	O
since	O
the	O
Inmos	O
T9000	O
transputers	B-General_Concept
itself	O
never	O
made	O
it	O
to	O
the	O
market	O
in	O
good	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
GCel	O
was	O
supposed	O
to	O
be	O
upgradeable	O
to	O
the	O
T9000	O
transputers	B-General_Concept
(	O
had	O
they	O
come	O
early	O
enough	O
)	O
,	O
thus	O
becoming	O
a	O
full	O
GC	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
the	O
T9000	O
was	O
Inmos	O
 '	O
evolutionary	O
successor	O
of	O
the	O
T800	O
,	O
upgrading	O
was	O
planned	O
to	O
be	O
simple	O
and	O
straightforward	O
because	O
,	O
firstly	O
,	O
both	O
transputers	B-General_Concept
shared	O
the	O
same	O
instruction	O
set	O
and	O
,	O
secondly	O
,	O
they	O
also	O
had	O
quite	O
a	O
similar	O
performance	O
ratio	O
of	O
compute	O
power	O
versus	O
communication	O
throughput	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
clusters	O
in	O
Parsytec	B-Device
's	O
lingo	O
)	O
of	O
20Mbit/s	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
16	O
transputers	B-General_Concept
(	O
plus	O
a	O
further	O
transputer	B-General_Concept
for	O
redundancy	O
,	O
thus	O
making	O
it	O
17	O
transputers	B-General_Concept
per	O
cluster	O
)	O
,	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
two	O
largest	O
installations	O
of	O
the	O
GC	O
,	O
which	O
were	O
actually	O
shipped	O
,	O
had	O
1024	O
processors	O
(	O
16	O
modules	O
,	O
with	O
64	O
transputers	B-General_Concept
per	O
module	O
)	O
and	O
were	O
operated	O
at	O
the	O
data	O
centers	O
of	O
the	O
Universities	O
of	O
Cologne	O
and	O
Paderborn	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1995	O
,	O
there	O
were	O
nine	O
Parsytec	B-Device
computers	O
in	O
the	O
Top500	O
list	O
of	O
which	O
two	O
GC/PP	O
192	O
installations	O
ranked	O
117	O
and	O
188	O
in	O
the	O
TOP500	O
list	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
x'plorer	O
model	O
came	O
in	O
two	O
versions	O
:	O
The	O
initial	O
version	O
was	O
featuring	O
16	O
transputers	B-General_Concept
,	O
each	O
having	O
access	O
to	O
4MB	O
RAM	B-Architecture
and	O
called	O
just	O
x'plorer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Later	O
when	O
Parsytec	B-Device
generally	O
switched	O
to	O
the	O
PPC	B-Architecture
architecture	O
,	O
it	O
was	O
called	O
POWERx'plorer	O
and	O
featured	O
8	O
MPC	O
601	O
CPUs	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Both	O
models	O
came	O
in	O
the	O
same	O
gorgeous	O
desktop	B-General_Concept
case	I-General_Concept
(	O
designed	O
by	O
Via	O
4	O
Design	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
any	O
model	O
,	O
the	O
x'plorer	O
was	O
more	O
or	O
less	O
a	O
single	O
"	O
slice	O
"	O
—	O
Parsytec	B-Device
called	O
them	O
cluster	O
—	O
of	O
a	O
GigaCube	O
(	O
PPC	B-Architecture
or	O
Transputer	B-General_Concept
)	O
,	O
which	O
used	O
4	O
of	O
those	O
clusters	O
in	O
its	O
smallest	O
version	O
(	O
GC-1	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
a	O
transputer	B-General_Concept
for	O
establishing	O
and	O
maintaining	O
communication	O
links	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Parsytec	B-Device
CC	O
(	O
Cognitive	O
Computer	O
)	O
system	O
was	O
an	O
autonomous	O
unit	O
at	O
the	O
card	O
rack	O
level	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
communication	O
controller	O
was	O
integrated	O
in	O
the	O
processor	O
nodes	O
through	O
the	O
PCI	B-Architecture
bus	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
 [ CPU ] 	O
bus	O
speed	O
is	O
limited	O
to	O
66	O
MHz	O
while	O
the	O
PCI	B-Architecture
bus	I-Architecture
speed	O
was	O
33	O
MHz	O
at	O
maximum	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
CCi	O
:	O
based	O
on	O
Intel	B-Device
Pentium	I-Device
Pro	I-Device
its	O
core	O
elements	O
were	O
dual	O
Pentium	O
Pro-based	O
motherboards	O
(	O
at	O
266	O
MHz	O
)	O
which	O
were	O
interconnected	O
using	O
several	O
high	O
speed	O
networks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
what	O
concerns	O
the	O
CCe	O
,	O
the	O
software	O
was	O
based	O
on	O
IBM	O
's	O
AIX	B-Application
4.1	O
UNIX	B-Application
operating	I-Application
system	I-Application
together	O
with	O
Parsytec	B-Device
's	O
parallel	O
programming	O
environment	O
Embedded	O
PARIX	O
(	O
EPX	O
)	O
.Embedded	O
Parix	O
Ver	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Thus	O
,	O
it	O
combined	O
a	O
standard	O
UNIX	B-Application
environment	O
(	O
compilers	O
,	O
tools	O
,	O
libraries	O
)	O
with	O
an	O
advanced	O
software	O
programming	O
development	O
environment	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Each	O
module	O
(	O
dimensions	O
:	O
9	O
cm	O
x	O
21	O
cm	O
x	O
45	O
cm	O
)	O
contained	O
four	O
MPC	O
604	O
processors	O
(	O
200/300	O
MHz	O
)	O
and	O
64	O
MB	O
RAM	B-Architecture
attaining	O
a	O
peak	O
performance	O
of	O
2.4	O
Gflop/s	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
separate	O
communication	O
processor	O
T425	O
)	O
equipped	O
with	O
4	O
MB	O
RAM	B-Architecture
,	O
System	O
Parsytec	B-Device
Power	O
Mouse	O
in	O
CSA	O
Dec	O
15	O
,	O
1998	O
at	O
csa.ru	O
controlled	O
the	O
data	O
flow	O
in	O
four	O
directions	O
to	O
other	O
modules	O
in	O
the	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
about	O
35000	O
DM	O
a	O
basic	O
system	O
consisting	O
of	O
16	O
CPUs	B-Device
(	O
i.e.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
was	O
with	O
all	O
Parsytec	B-Device
products	O
,	O
Powermouse	O
required	O
a	O
Sun	B-Device
Sparcstation	I-Device
as	O
the	O
front-end	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
operating	O
system	O
used	O
was	O
PARIX	O
(	O
PARallel	O
UnIX	B-Application
extensions	O
)	O
PARIX	O
Release	O
1.2	O
Software	O
Documentation	O
March	O
1993	O
(	O
PARIXT8	O
for	O
the	O
T80x	O
transputers	B-General_Concept
and	O
PARIXT9	O
for	O
the	O
T9000	O
transputers	B-General_Concept
,	O
respectively	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Based	O
on	O
UNIX	B-Application
,	O
PARIXParix	O
at	O
http://www.informatik.uni-osnabrueck.de	O
supported	O
remote	B-Operating_System
procedure	I-Operating_System
calls	I-Operating_System
,	O
it	O
was	O
compliant	O
with	O
the	O
POSIX	O
standard	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PARIX	O
provided	O
UNIX	B-Application
functionality	O
at	O
the	O
front-end	O
(	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
a	O
Sun	B-Device
SPARCstation	I-Device
which	O
had	O
to	O
be	O
purchased	O
separately	O
)	O
with	O
library	O
extensions	O
for	O
the	O
needs	O
of	O
the	O
parallel	O
system	O
at	O
the	O
backend	O
which	O
was	O
precisely	O
the	O
Parsytec	B-Device
product	O
itself	O
(	O
it	O
was	O
connected	O
to	O
the	O
front-end	O
by	O
which	O
it	O
was	O
operated	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
addition	O
,	O
Parsytec	B-Device
provided	O
a	O
parallel	O
programming	O
environment	O
called	O
Embedded	O
PARIX	O
(	O
EPX	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
full	O
set	O
of	O
EPX	O
calls	O
established	O
the	O
EPX	O
application	O
programming	O
interface	O
(	O
API	B-General_Concept
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Moreover	O
,	O
one	O
could	O
also	O
run	O
COSY	O
(	O
Concurrent	O
Operating	O
SYstem	O
)	O
COSY	O
–	O
ein	O
Betriebssystem	O
für	O
hochparallele	O
Computer	O
R	O
.	O
Butenuth	O
at	O
uni-paderborn.de	O
(	O
German	O
)	O
and	O
Helios	B-Operating_System
on	O
the	O
machines	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Helios	B-Operating_System
supported	O
the	O
special	O
reset-mechanism	O
of	O
Parsytec	B-Device
out	O
of	O
the	O
box	O
.	O
</s>
