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The networking technologies offered by vendors at SuperComputing-94
included, but were not limited to:
- Scalable Coherent Interface (SCI)
- High Performance Parallel Interface (HiPPI)
- Fibre Channel
- Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
- Fiber Distributed Digital Interface (FDDI)
- Ethernet (10 megabit-per-second and 100 megabit-per-second)
HiPPI, ATM, FDDI, and 10 megabit-per-second Ethernet were offered as
networking technologies in the SCinet `94, the SuperComputing '94 show
net. SCinet `94 was advertised as the most advanced show net anywhere
--- a viable claim, because this show network did offer true
gigabit-per-second (1.6 gigabit-per-second per link) local area
networks built upon Dual-HiPPI. A diagram of SCinet'94 is provided in
figure 1. This network could be compared to the show net
of Interop+Networld in Atlanta in September 1994, where HiPPI saw
little use as a networking technology and claims of gigabit networking
technologies generally were ATM-based or Frame-relay-based, often
operating only at OC-3 data rates (155 megabit-per-second).
Gigabit-per-second data rate claims for these networks generally arise
from the opinion that Broadband Integrated Services Data Network
(BISDN) technology and fiber-optic-based Sonet technology will
eventually scale to gigabit speeds.
Figure 1: SCinet'94 (Scanned from a handout)
David P. Koester
Sun Oct 22 13:05:27 EDT 1995