cellular multiprocessing


cellular multiprocessing

(architecture, parallel)(CMP) The partitioning ofprocessors into separate computing environments runningdifferent operating systems.

The term cellular multiprocessing appears to have been coinedby Unisys, who are developing a system where computerscommunicate as clustered machines through a high speed bus,rather than through communication protocols such asTCP/IP.

The Unisys system is based on Intel processors, initiallythe Pentium II Xeon and moving on to the 64-bit Mercedprocessors later in 1999. It will be scalable from four up to32 processors, which can be clustered or partitioned invarious ways. For example a sixteen processor system could beconfigured as four Windows NT systems (each functioning as afour-processor symmetric multiprocessing system), or an8-way NT and 8-way Unix system.

Supported operating systems will be Windows NT, SCO'sUnixware 7.0, Unisys' SVR4 Unix and possibly the OS2200and MCP-AS mainframe operating systems (with the assistanceof Unisys' own dedicated chipset).

http://marketplace.unisys.com/ent/cmp.html.