illiac iv
     
         one of the most infamous supercomputers ever.  it
        used early ideas on simd single instruction stream,
        multiple data streams.  the project started in 1965, it used
        64 processors and a 13mhz clock.  in 1976 it ran its first
        sucessfull application.  it had 1mb memory 64x16kb.
     
        its actual performance was 15 mflops, it was estimated in
        initial predictions to be 1000 mflops.  it totally failed as a
        computer, only a quarter of the fully planned machine was ever
        built, costs escalated from the $8 million estimated in 1966
        to $31 million by 1972, and the computer took three more years
        of enginering before it was operational.
     
        the only good it did was to push research forward a bit,
        leading way for machines such as the thinking machines
        cm-1 and cm-2.
     
        1995-04-28
     
     
see also:
supercomputer simd thinking machines cm-1