QLogic will market a version of its high-performance 64-bit compiler for the MIPS architecture. The PathScale Compiler Suite for MIPS will enable MIPS chips from Broadcom and SiCortex to benefit from faster, easier-to-build software, in the ultra low-power HPC (high-performance computing) and embedded multicore product… markets, the company says.

(Click for larger view of SiCortex SC5832 supercomputer)

QLogic says that low power architectures such as MIPS are gaining traction in the HPC and multi-core markets, due to a need to constrain the power footprint of systems with thousands of processors. It cites Broadcom's quad-core, MIPS64-based BCM1480 as an example, noting the chip's excellent floating point capability, advanced memory subsystem, and very low power dissipation in technical and scientific computing applications “from workstations to Petaflop supercomputers.”

The Pathscale Compiler Suite will support C/C++ and Fortran, and will “have a feature set that is converging with the X86-64 Linux version,” the company says. QLogic's Pathscale compiler suite for X86-64 Linux has been shipping for three years, and was recently upgraded to GCC 4.x compatibility.

SiCortex's MIPS SoC (Click to enlarge)

SiCortex, an HPC products vendor whose motto is “teraflops from milliWatts,” will use the Pathscale compiler to build code that runs across thousands of MIPS-based processors simultaneously. The company claims that sophisticated scientific Linux applications can be built for its SC5832, pictured above, by “just typing make.” The SC5832 appears to use six MIPS64 cores per SoC — each running Linux — 27 SoCs per board, and 36 boards per system, resulting in 5832 1GHz cores. The system has 8TB of RAM, draws less than 20 kiloWatts, and is described as “the first and only computer system of the 21st century to pack Top500 performance onto a single backplane.”

Speaking of backplanes, in addition to making compilers, QLogic is best known as a supplier of host-backplane connection technologies.

SiCortex also offers an SC648 model, pictured at right, with 648 processors running Linux. It fits into a 19-inch rack, and is powered by a wall outlet.

Bob Supnik, VP of engineering at SiCortex, stated, “For our multi-teraflop cluster with breakthrough performance per dollar, per Watt, and per square foot, SiCortex needed a very low power, 64-bit CPU core with outstanding delivered performance on HPC applications.”

Availability

The PathScale Compiler Suite for MIPS is currently under development. No timeframe for availability was announced.

 
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