Robert E. Cypher

Rock: A High-Performance Sparc CMT Processor

Rock, Suns third-generation chip-multithreading processor, contains 16 high-performance cores, each of which can support two software threads. Rock uses a novel checkpoint-based architecture to support automatic hardware scouting under a load miss, speculative out-of-order retirement of instructions, and aggressive dynamic hardware parallelization of a sequential instruction stream. It is also the first processor to support transactional memory in hardware.

Trends and trade-offs in designing highly robust throughput computing oriented chips and systems

Silicon technology trends of 65nm technology and architectural trends of the next generation of processors, chip-sets and systems are driving new design paradigms and shifts in the approaches towards robust system design. This paper addresses the convergence of these trends in designing the next generation of highly reliable systems at Sun Microsystems.

Deadlock-free routing in arbitrary networks via the flattest common supersequence method

In this paper we consider the problem of deadlock-free routing in arbitrary parallel and distributed computers. We focus on asynchronous routing algorithms which continuously receive new packets to route and which do not discard packets that encounter congestion. Specifically, we examine what we call the deadlock-free routing (DFR) problem. The input to the DFR problem consists of an arbitrary network and an arbitrary set of paths in the network. The output consists of a routing algorithm, which is a list of the buffers used along each of the paths. The routing algorithm is required to be free from deadlock and the goal is to minimize the number of buffers required in any one node. We study the DFR problem by converting it into an equivalent problem which we call the flattest common supersequence (FCS) problem. The input to the FCS problem consists of a set of sequences and the output consists of a single sequence that contains all of the input sequences as (possibly non-contiguous) subsequences. The goal of the FCS problem is to minimize the maximum frequency of any symbol in the output sequence. We present three main results. First, we prove that the decision version of the FCS problem is NP-complete, and has no polynomial-time approximation scheme unless P = NP. Next, we propose and experimentally evaluate a range of heuristics for FCS. Our experimental results show that one of these heuristics performs very well over a wide range of inputs. Lastly, we prove that this heuristic is in fact optimal for certain restricted classes of inputs.

On the Flattest Common Supersequence Method for Deadlock-Free Routing in Arbitrary Networks

Abstract. In this paper we consider the problem of deadlock-free routing in arbitrary parallel and distributed computers. We focus on asynchronous routing algorithms which continuously receive new packets to route and which do not discard packets that encounter congestion. Specifically, we examine what we call the deadlock-free routing (DFR ) problem. The input to the DFR problem consists of an arbitrary network and an arbitrary set of paths in the network. The output consists of a routing algorithm, which is a list of the buffers used along each of the paths. The routing algorithm is required to be free from deadlock and the goal is to minimize the number of buffers required in any one node. We study the DFR problem by converting it into an equivalent problem which we call the flattest common supersequence (FCS ) problem. The input to the FCS problem consists of a set of sequences and the output consists of a single sequence that contains all of the input sequences as (possibly noncontiguous) subsequences. The goal of the FCS problem is to minimize the maximum frequency of any symbol in the output sequence. We present three main results. First, we prove that the decision version of the FCS problem is NP-complete, and has no polynomial-time approximation scheme unless P= NP . An alternative proof is presented which shows that unlike the shortest common supersequence (SCS) problem, the FCS problem is still NP-complete for two input sequences. This implies that approximation algorithms for FCS based on an exact pairwise merge are not possible. Next, we propose and experimentally evaluate a range of heuristics for FCS. Our experimental results show that one of these heuristics performs very well over a wide range of inputs. Lastly, we prove that this heuristic is in fact optimal for certain restricted classes of inputs.