The Ynet: an interconnect structure for a highly concurrent data base computer system

The author describes the design considerations for the Ynet, an interconnect structure for a highly concurrent database system which also requires high availability and real-time operation. The Ynet is the basis of a multiple-instruction, multiple-data (MIMD) concurrent processing architecture which can connect up to 1024 high-performance microprocessors to form a very-high performance system. Most of the functionality of the Ynet results from the logic implemented in the processor interface. The processor interface is divided into three sections, each of which is implemented by a finite-state machine. Example message flows are presented to show how various features of the Ynet operate for sending messages through the system. It is demonstrated how the Ynet design responds to the challenges of a highly concurrent environment, but also to the challenges of real-time, high-availability, multiuser applications. In this regard, the Ynet addresses problems usually not considered in the design of existing concurrent processing architectures