super computer local area network (SCLAN)

With the SCLAN concept, transmission rates of about 1 Gbit/s were targeted to enable communication with supercomputers. A supercomputer with several hundred MFLOPS of computing power requires transmission rates of several hundred Mbit/s.

One SCLAN product is Hyperchannel- DX from Network Systems, which is mainly intended to help relieve the mainframe. It is a universally configurable high-speed data communications pre- computer to which almost all known networks and end systems under consideration can be directly connected. DX itself has a specially optimized technology for network traffic and brings it to a data throughput of approx. 400 Mbit/s.

A faster system is, for example, Ultranet 1000, which uses specialized network servers in a multistar topology to achieve a throughput of approx. 1 Gbit/s. The servers separate data and control information and process both as parallel as possible.

SCLAN quality is also provided by the new super routers required in connection with collapsed backbone technology, such as Retix's RouteXchange. In the medium term, ATM, Gigabit Ethernet, 10 Gigabit Ethernet and 100 Gig abit Ethernet will be used in SCLANs.