NEC SX-8

The NEC SX-8 is a vector supercomputer built by NEC Corporation as part of its SX line. Each node is a compact eight-way symmetric multiprocessing module that uses an enhanced version of the single-chip vector processor first introduced with the SX-6. The processors run at 2 gigahertz for vector work and 1 gigahertz for scalar work, and each reaches 16 gigaflops and can address up to 128 gigabytes of memory. A full installation can have up to 512 nodes, which means 4,096 processors and a peak of 65 teraflops, and the machine runs NEC's Unix-like SUPER-UX operating system. The first production SX-8 was installed at the UK Met Office in early 2005. An upgraded SX-8R followed in October 2006, with faster clocks and double the vector operations per clock.