<s>
SUPRENUM	B-Device
(	O
,	O
)	O
was	O
a	O
German	O
research	O
project	O
to	O
develop	O
a	O
parallel	B-Operating_System
computer	I-Operating_System
from	O
1985	O
through	O
1990	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
a	O
major	O
effort	O
which	O
was	O
aimed	O
at	O
developing	O
a	O
national	O
expertise	O
in	O
massively	B-Operating_System
parallel	I-Operating_System
processing	I-Operating_System
both	O
at	O
hardware	B-Architecture
and	O
at	O
software	O
level	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
the	O
Suprenum-1	O
computer	O
was	O
the	O
fastest	O
massively	B-Operating_System
parallel	I-Operating_System
MIMD	B-Operating_System
computer	O
in	O
the	O
world	O
during	O
a	O
period	O
in	O
1992	O
,	O
the	O
project	O
was	O
set	O
and	O
is	O
considered	O
a	O
commercial	O
failure	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Funded	O
by	O
the	O
Federal	O
Ministry	O
for	O
Research	O
and	O
Technology	O
(	O
BMFT	O
)	O
,	O
the	O
SUPRENUM	B-Device
project	O
began	O
in	O
1985	O
and	O
BMFT	O
funding	O
continued	O
until	O
1990	O
when	O
a	O
fully	O
configured	O
256-node	O
prototype	O
Suprenum-1	O
machine	O
was	O
available	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Suprenum	B-Device
2	O
subproject	O
:	O
expanding	O
the	O
core	O
applications	O
and	O
algorithmic	O
service	O
classes	O
to	O
include	O
complex	O
and	O
dynamic	O
grid	O
structures	O
;	O
data-dependent	O
adaptive	O
procedures	O
,	O
irregular	O
and	O
highly	O
dimensional	O
grids	O
,	O
Monte	B-Algorithm
Carlo	I-Algorithm
methods	I-Algorithm
based	O
on	O
grid	O
structures	O
,	O
non-grid	O
applications	O
,	O
etc.	O
,	O
development	O
of	O
innovative	O
language	O
concepts	O
which	O
support	O
automatic	O
load	O
distribution	O
(	O
particularly	O
with	O
dynamic	O
grid	O
structures	O
)	O
to	O
the	O
multiple-processor	O
structure	O
,	O
investigation	O
of	O
alternative	O
interconnecting	O
structures	O
(	O
other	O
topologies	O
,	O
variable	O
interconnection	O
networks	O
)	O
in	O
particular	O
with	O
regard	O
to	O
dynamic	O
grid	O
structures	O
and	O
automatic	O
load	O
distribution	O
strategies	O
,	O
new	O
processor	O
technologies	O
(	O
VLSI	O
,	O
GaAs	O
and	O
so	O
on	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
this	O
end	O
,	O
the	O
SUPRENUM	B-Device
Supercomputer	O
GmbH	O
was	O
founded	O
in	O
Bonn	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
SUPRENUM	B-Device
Supercomputer	O
GmbH	O
's	O
charge	O
was	O
to	O
manage	O
the	O
whole	O
enterprise	O
,	O
to	O
contribute	O
to	O
the	B-Application
software	I-Application
effort	O
,	O
to	O
coordinate	O
software	O
developments	O
,	O
and	O
to	O
exploit	O
and	O
market	O
the	O
results	O
of	O
the	O
project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
final	O
team	O
consisted	O
of	O
about	O
15	O
groups	O
from	O
different	O
institutions	O
all	O
over	O
Germany	O
,	O
including	O
several	O
large	O
companies	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
the	O
small	O
SUPRENUM	B-Device
Supercomputer	O
GmbH	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
applications	O
software	O
area	O
:	O
DLR	O
,	O
Dornier	O
GmbH	O
,	O
the	O
GMD	O
,	O
the	O
Kernforschungsanlage	O
Jülich	O
GmbH	O
(	O
KFA	O
)	O
,	O
the	O
Kernforschungsanlage	O
Karlsruhe	B-Algorithm
GmbH	O
(	O
KfK	O
)	O
,	O
Kraftwerk	O
Union	O
AG	O
and	O
the	O
University	O
of	O
Düsseldorf	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
the	O
research	O
group	O
on	O
parallel	O
numerical	O
methods	O
in	O
Sankt	O
Augustin	O
provided	O
the	O
know-how	O
for	O
the	O
applications	O
(	O
solving	O
partial	O
differential	O
equations	O
)	O
,	O
the	O
German	O
Society	O
for	O
Mathematics	O
and	O
Data	O
Processing	O
GMD	O
FIRST	O
(	O
,	O
)	O
in	O
Berlin	O
,	O
provided	O
the	O
necessary	O
know-how	O
in	O
hardware	B-Architecture
and	O
operating	O
system	O
design	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
involvement	O
of	O
the	O
industry	O
was	O
limited	O
to	O
the	O
production	O
of	O
hardware	B-Architecture
at	O
Krupp	O
Atlas	O
Elektronik	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
Jul	O
12	O
,	O
2010	O
SUPRENUM	B-Device
Supercomputer	O
GmbH	O
ist	O
defunct	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
After	O
the	O
end	O
of	O
the	O
SUPRENUM	B-Device
project	O
,	O
Pallas	O
GmbH	O
evolved	O
out	O
of	O
the	O
remains	O
of	O
SUPRENUM	B-Device
GmbH	O
in	O
1991	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
contrast	O
to	O
the	O
then	O
ubiquitous	O
,	O
conventional	O
vector	B-Operating_System
computers	I-Operating_System
(	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
NEC	B-Device
SX	I-Device
architecture	I-Device
,	O
Cray	B-Device
Y-MP	I-Device
)	O
,	O
SUPRENUM-1	O
pursued	O
as	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
first	O
a	O
massively	B-Operating_System
parallel	I-Operating_System
design	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Suprenum-1	O
was	O
designed	O
as	O
a	O
massively	B-Operating_System
parallel	I-Operating_System
MIMD	B-Operating_System
multi-computer	O
system	O
and	O
it	O
was	O
based	O
on	O
a	O
distributed	O
hardware	B-Architecture
architecture	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
And	O
finally	O
,	O
the	O
inter-connection	O
of	O
different	O
clusters	O
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
the	O
inter-connection	O
to	O
host	O
machines	O
,	O
is	O
made	O
feasible	O
by	O
the	O
communication	O
node	O
,	O
which	O
actually	O
serves	O
as	O
a	O
gateway	O
between	O
cluster	O
bus	O
and	O
SUPRENUM	B-Device
bus	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
main	O
components	O
of	O
each	O
application	O
node	O
were	O
a	O
32-bit	O
microprocessor	O
Motorola	B-Device
68020	I-Device
operating	O
at	O
a	O
clock	O
rate	O
of	O
20MHz	O
,	O
8	O
MByte	O
of	O
main	O
memory	O
,	O
protected	O
by	O
2-bit	O
error-detection	O
and	O
1-bit	O
error-correction	O
logic	O
,	O
and	O
four	O
coprocessors	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
paged	O
memory	O
management	O
unit	O
(	O
PMMU	O
)	O
Motorola	B-General_Concept
68851	I-General_Concept
checked	O
access	O
rights	O
and	O
page	O
violation	O
when	O
the	O
node	O
memory	O
was	O
being	O
accessed	O
by	O
the	O
CPU	B-Device
or	O
at	O
the	O
beginning	O
of	O
DMA	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
floating-point	O
unit	O
(	O
FPU	O
)	O
Motorola	B-General_Concept
68882	I-General_Concept
executed	O
scalar	O
floating-point	O
arithmetic	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Peak	O
performance	O
was	O
achieved	O
even	O
if	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
two	O
operands	O
was	O
being	O
read	O
from	O
main	O
memory	O
by	O
DMA	B-General_Concept
,	O
provided	O
a	O
constant	O
increment	O
was	O
used	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
CPU	B-Device
initiated	O
the	O
communication	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
a	O
consequence	O
,	O
a	O
net	O
performance	O
of	O
1	O
Gflops	O
was	O
calculated	O
for	O
the	O
SUPRENUM	B-Device
release	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
high	O
bandwidth	O
of	O
the	O
bus	O
network	O
made	O
the	O
Suprenum-1	O
an	O
interesting	O
machine	O
for	O
a	O
wide	O
range	O
of	O
applications	O
,	O
including	O
those	O
requiring	O
long-range	O
communication	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SUPRENUM	B-Device
supported	O
a	O
send/receive	O
model	O
of	O
communication	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
primary	O
difference	O
is	O
that	O
SUPRENUM	B-Device
Fortran	B-Application
was	O
an	O
extension	O
of	O
standard	O
Fortran	B-Application
,	O
in	O
which	O
task	O
control	O
and	O
communication	O
are	O
incorporated	O
into	O
the	O
language	O
,	O
rather	O
than	O
being	O
implemented	O
through	O
library	O
calls	O
as	O
on	O
the	O
iPSC	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SUPRENUM	B-Device
also	O
supports	O
Fortran	B-Application
90	O
array	O
extensions	O
which	O
avail	O
of	O
the	O
vector	O
hardware	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
SUPRENUM	B-Device
software	O
was	O
characterized	O
by	O
the	O
best	O
support	O
for	O
scientific	O
applications	O
to	O
be	O
found	O
among	O
the	O
various	O
distributed	O
memory	O
MIMD	B-Operating_System
vendors	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Besides	O
the	O
hardware	B-Architecture
development	O
,	O
Suprenum-1	O
software	O
was	O
developed	O
on	O
many	O
levels	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
operating	O
system	O
for	O
Suprenum-1	O
was	O
PEACE	O
(	O
Process	O
Execution	O
And	O
Communication	O
Environment	O
)	O
,	O
a	O
new	O
operating	O
system	O
developed	O
specifically	O
for	O
the	O
project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PEACE	O
was	O
designed	O
from	O
the	O
start	O
to	O
support	O
efficient	O
low-latency	O
message	B-Architecture
passing	I-Architecture
as	O
weIl	O
as	O
multitasking	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
asynchronous	O
communication	O
was	O
a	O
design	O
goal	O
for	O
SUPRENUM	B-Device
,	O
we	O
were	O
never	O
able	O
to	O
overlap	O
communication	O
with	O
computation	O
on	O
Suprenum-1	O
due	O
to	O
a	O
mailbox	O
conflict	O
within	O
PEACE	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
a	O
major	O
result	O
,	O
a	O
rudimentary	O
and	O
"	O
first-of-its-kind	O
"	O
Fortran	B-Application
compiler	B-Language
was	O
developed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Based	O
on	O
Fortran	B-Application
77	O
,	O
it	O
already	O
provided	O
some	O
features	O
of	O
the	O
then	O
upcoming	O
Fortran	B-Application
90	O
standard	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
contrast	O
to	O
the	O
above-mentioned	O
FORTRAN	B-Application
compiler	B-Language
,	O
PARMACS	O
programming	O
model	O
is	O
explicitly	O
based	O
on	O
Message	B-Architecture
Passing	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
But	O
again	O
,	O
funding	O
for	O
the	O
project	O
was	O
stopped	O
before	O
the	O
compiler	B-Language
had	O
reached	O
maturity	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
transformed	O
into	O
the	O
SUPERB	O
(	O
SUprenum	B-Device
Bonn	O
)	O
project	O
(	O
"	O
Vienna	O
Fortran	B-Application
"	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
table	O
below	O
provides	O
a	O
comparison	O
of	O
the	O
Suprenum-1	O
with	O
other	O
MPP	B-Operating_System
systems	O
of	O
its	O
time	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
as	O
a	O
research	O
project	O
itself	O
,	O
SUPRENUM	B-Device
was	O
successful	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
participating	O
institutions	O
had	O
acquired	O
a	O
well-respected	O
expertise	O
in	O
parallel	B-Operating_System
computing	I-Operating_System
,	O
which	O
resulted	O
in	O
a	O
European	O
project	O
GENESIS	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
SUPRENUM	B-Device
also	O
influenced	O
the	O
development	O
of	O
other	O
parallel	B-Operating_System
computers	I-Operating_System
such	O
as	O
the	O
Meiko	B-Device
CS-2	I-Device
which	O
was	O
an	O
outcome	O
of	O
the	O
European	O
GENESIS	B-Application
project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
SUPRENUM	B-Device
project	O
has	O
spun	O
off	O
many	O
successful	O
enterprises	O
,	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
GENESIS	B-Application
,	O
SUPERB	O
,	O
Pallas	O
GmbH	O
,	O
Manna	O
,	O
PPPE	O
and	O
RAPS	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Pallas	O
,	O
in	O
fact	O
,	O
can	O
be	O
seen	O
as	O
a	O
continuation	O
of	O
all	O
of	O
the	B-Application
software	I-Application
aspects	O
of	O
SUPRENUM	B-Device
,	O
and	O
as	O
such	O
shows	O
that	O
this	O
part	O
of	O
SUPRENUM	B-Device
was	O
commercially	O
successful	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
GMD	O
FIRST	O
project	O
Manna	O
is	O
similarly	O
a	O
continuation	O
of	O
the	O
operating	O
system	O
and	O
some	O
of	O
the	O
architecture	O
aspects	O
of	O
SUPRENUM	B-Device
,	O
again	O
very	O
successful	O
,	O
although	O
this	O
time	O
in	O
a	O
research	O
environment	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Also	O
the	O
Meiko	B-Device
CS-2	I-Device
machine	O
,	O
originally	O
developed	O
within	O
GENESIS	B-Application
,	O
involved	O
many	O
elements	O
of	O
the	O
Suprenum-2	O
design	O
from	O
SUPRENUM	B-Device
,	O
and	O
indeed	O
there	O
were	O
serious	O
plans	O
at	O
one	O
point	O
to	O
merge	O
Meiko	B-Device
and	O
SUPRENUM	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unfortunately	O
,	O
this	O
concept	O
was	O
ultimately	O
rejected	O
by	O
the	O
shareholders	O
of	O
SUPRENUM	B-Device
GmbH	O
,	O
who	O
at	O
that	O
time	O
also	O
decided	O
to	O
withdraw	O
from	O
SUPRENUM	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Finally	O
the	O
applications	O
 '	O
side	O
of	O
SUPRENUM	B-Device
evolved	O
into	O
GENESIS	B-Application
,	O
later	O
PPPE	O
and	O
RAPS	O
,	O
so	O
that	O
again	O
this	O
aspect	O
of	O
SUPRENUM	B-Device
has	O
shown	O
itself	O
to	O
be	O
of	O
long-term	O
viability	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Taking	O
into	O
account	O
all	O
of	O
these	O
achievements	O
across	O
a	O
broad	O
spectrum	O
of	O
computing	O
technology	O
,	O
one	O
can	O
only	O
conclude	O
that	O
SUPRENUM	B-Device
was	O
highly	O
successful	O
,	O
even	O
while	O
not	O
achieving	O
all	O
of	O
the	O
goals	O
originally	O
established	O
by	O
the	O
government	O
.	O
</s>
