Alliant pins hopes on new i860-based MPP

Electronic News, Nov 18, 1991 by Craig Stedman

LITTLETON, Mass. -- Alliant Computer Systems Corp.'s formal introduction this week at an i860-based massively parallel processor marks the start of an attempt by the struggling company to resuscitate itself and avoid a potential cash shortage that could develop with continued losses.

The new Campus/800 machine, with support for up to 800 processors, is being counted on to both augment and bolster Alliant's existing 28-CPU FX/2800 line, which has sold slowly due to competitive and economic pressures, incursions by workstations and earlier software problems.

The company doesn't expect to get much direct revenue from the MPP system until the second quarter of 1992, though. A Campus/800 unit is scheduled to be run at an IEEE supercomputer show in Albuquerque this week, but software R&D work remains to be done before general shipments can begin.

That leaves Alliant in a worrisome financial position for the time being. The company was down to $10.5 million in cash at the end of September after going through $4.4 million in the third quarter, although $2 million of the overflow involved a one-time foreign debt payment.

Craig Mundie, president and chief executive, said he sees no likelihood of running out of money before the Campus/800 ships and hopes cash flow would become positive after after that happens. Alliant "ideally" would be at break-even this quarter, ending a string of six straight losses, he added.

While continued cost-cutting has lowered the break-even point, Mr. Mundie acknowledged that the fourth-quarter results are riding in large part on the MPP introduction. "I think a lot of people are waiting to see how it comes off" before committing to new FX/2800 purchases, he said.

The Campus/800 line is also critical to Alliant's effort to stem a four-year decline in revenues, which totaled just $32.8 million through the third quarter. "I wouldn't necessarily say that it's a last gasp or the company couldn't survive without it, but I think we need it to grow and to be able to regain some of the market share we've lost," particularly to archrival Convex Computer, Mr. Mundie said.

Alliant is likely to have a significant headstart in the MPP market over Convex, which isn't expected to introduce such as system for another two years or more. Cray Research, the other main competitor of the FX/2800, has said it won't have a volume MPP offering ready until 1995, meanwhile.

The Campus/800 also is compatible with the FX/2800, although existing applications would have to be modified to run in MPP mode. Both Convex and Cray would be moving to new architectures -- a transition that caused major problems for Alliant when it shifted to the i860 for the FX/2800.

The Alliant MPP system, which first came to light two months ago (EN, Sept. 30), uses the FX/2800 as a building block, but only supports 25 processors in each cabinet due to the need to use one backplane slot for a 2.56GB per second memory interconnect that links it with other modules.

Each module is rated at 1Gflops peak throughput and can have 4GB of local shared memory, and up to 32 can be tied together into a single 32Gflops system. Remote connections are possible via optical fiber over distances of up to 10 kilometers, enabling the modules to operate as standalone systems when the full MPP capabilities aren't needed, the company said.

Alliant has shipped pieces of the Campus/800 to the Argonne National Laboratory and a French aerospace research agency, but is still working on the memory interconnect's protocols and the porting of outside software needed to support the module-to-module memory linkages.

Limited deliveries of full beta systems could start in the first quarter. Pricing has not been set on the base unit, while a 100-CPU model would cost about $2.5 million, Alliant marketing director Phil Neray said; most sales are expected to be in that range or under for the next two years.

No firm orders are in place thus far. The University of Illinois, which did much of the basic research leading to the Cmpus/800 development, would buy a system if it gets DARPA funding under a joint proposal with Alliant, but if not "then we'll see," Mr. Neray said.

The Campus/800 uses a MIMD architecture and is being targeted at like systems such as Thinking Machines Corp.'s new CM-5 model, Intel's MPP line and an upcoming model from start-up Kendall Square Research (Data Topics, Nov. 11).

While analysts were generally impressed by the new system, they warranted that Alliant's financial condition remains problematic. "Technically, it's a very nice approach," said Dataquest's Chris Willard, but he noted that its appeal may be limited to the company's installed base.

"If technology were the only success factor, Alliant would have a pretty good advantage in the market," added Gary Smaby, of the Smaby Group. "But the real test is non-technical, and their corporate viability becomes a liability. It's a fragile time in their corporate life."