NEC SX

The NEC SX series was a line of vector supercomputers designed and manufactured by NEC Corporation. These machines were primarily used for scientific and engineering computations requiring extremely high processing speeds and large memory capacities.

History and Development:

The SX series began with the SX-1 in 1983, positioning NEC as a key player in the supercomputing market alongside companies like Cray Research. Subsequent models included the SX-2, SX-3, SX-4, SX-5, SX-6, SX-7, SX-8, SX-9, and the SX-Aurora TSUBASA, each generation offering improvements in processing power, memory, and inter-processor communication speeds. Over time, improvements were made in the utilization of gallium arsenide semiconductors, CMOS technologies and advanced cooling systems.

Architecture and Features:

The core of the NEC SX supercomputers was their vector processor architecture. This architecture excelled at performing the same operation on multiple data points simultaneously, a crucial capability for large-scale scientific simulations. Key architectural features included:

• Vector Processors: Multiple vector pipelines enabled parallel execution of arithmetic operations on vector data.
• Large Memory Bandwidth: High-speed memory access was essential to feed the vector processors with data.
• Inter-Processor Communication: Fast and efficient interconnects allowed multiple processors to work together on a single problem.
• Optimizing Compilers: Advanced compilers were crucial for translating high-level code into efficient vector instructions, maximizing performance.

Applications:

NEC SX supercomputers found applications in a wide range of computationally intensive fields, including:

• Weather Forecasting: Simulating atmospheric conditions to predict weather patterns.
• Climate Modeling: Creating complex models to understand climate change and its impacts.
• Fluid Dynamics: Simulating the flow of liquids and gases for aerodynamic design and other applications.
• Materials Science: Simulating the behavior of materials at the atomic level.
• Astrophysics: Modeling celestial objects and phenomena.

Successors:

The SX series has been succeeded by later generations of NEC supercomputers, continuing the company's focus on high-performance computing solutions. The SX-Aurora TSUBASA represents a significant architectural shift.