IBM revamps superswitch

IBM is set to adapt the superswitch used in its RS/6000 SPII parallel machine for products in other divisions of the firm.

Dan Frye, head of the parallel systems group at IBM US, refused to give any indication of future directions for the SP platform, but admitted that the vendor was working on clustering technology across its product range.

The parallel business at IBM is working with the networking division to produce faster hubs and switches and the storage division is also using its fast switch technology.

?We are not going back to the idea of a microkernel, but you can cluster AS/400s and RS machines together,? said Frye. He added that it was cheaper to use the same operating system than connect two together.

Frye vowed that IBM would not get rid of the AS/400 range in a hurry, despite increasing convergence between a different range of machines with different operating systems.

?There is no such thing in the universe as a scalable operating system,? he claimed.

Frye added that IBM was not particularly interested in implementing 64bit operating systems until it sees a higher demand from customers.