Giants in small packages [array processors]

Many vendors now offer specialized small computers called array processors (APs) that are 10 to 1000 times faster than minicomputers or miniframes for many number-crunching applications. But APs. used generally as peripherals to enhance a host minicomputer or mainframe, can pose application and programming problems that many users or designers of conventional computers may find unfamiliar. Because they speed up just a few different operations, these computers are only cost-effective when applied to exactly the right problems and when their programs are best tuned to those problems.