November 14 Meeting of HRPCI (P1996)

[ShawnM2298@aol.com]

This mailing brings you the final announcement of the November 1996 Rugged
Expandable PC which will be held at Santa Clara University, Santa Clara,
California,
November 14, 15, & 18, 1996.

This meeting is being held in conjuction with other SCI related meetings.
 The schedule for the meetings is as follows:

November 14	0900	P1996 Rugged Extendable PCI
November 14	1330	P1596.8 Cables, Connectors
November 14	1545	P1596.9 SCI API
November 15	0900	P1394.2 Serial Express
November 18	0900	P1596.2 Kiloprocessor Extensions
December 10	0900	P1996 Rugged Extendable PCI

***Scheduled agenda for November 14-19, 1996, at Santa Clara University:
      Thur 14 Nov   Fri 15 Nov  Mon 18 Nov
0900    P1996        P1394.2     P1596.2
0930    HiRel        Serial      KiloProc
1000   PCI/SerXprs   Express     Extension
1030-----Break--------Break-------Break---
1045    P1996        P1394.2     P1596.2
1115    HiRel        Serial      KiloProc
1145   PCI/SerXprs   Express     Extension
1215-----Lunch--------Lunch-------Lunch---
1330    P1596.8      P1394.2     P1596.2
1400  SCI cables     Serial      KiloProc
1430  conns,fibers,  Express     Extension
1500  parall encodg
1530-----Break--------Break-------Break---
1545    P1596.9      P1394.2     P1596.2
1615   PhysLevel     Serial      KiloProc
1645     API         Express     Extension
1715

***Travel arrangements:

These meetings will be held at Santa Clara University in the Engineering
Building, room 325 or at an alternate location that will be posted.

Please preregister if possible, so we will have a good estimate of
attendance for making suitable arrangements and can have badges prepared
ahead of time. Although preregistration is not mandatory, it will help a
great deal in preparing arrangements for the meeting.

Directions inside the University:

At the entrance to the University, please ask the security guards for
parking permits (free) and directions to parking lots and the meeting site.
If you arrive at a time when there is no guard present, parking permits can
be obtained from the Public Safety Office. (From the main guard house, turn
left and go one block, then left through a parking lot, then right and
watch for a short-term spot on your right and the Public Safety Office on
your left in the Cowell building).

Directions to Santa Clara University:

The University is at 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, which is the south
end of El Camino Real. (In some areas nearby, El Camino Real is called The
Alameda.) The University is conveniently located not far from the San Jose
airport.

The Santa Clara Mission, founded in 1777, is a famous, well-marked landmark
located on the University campus, just a few hundred meters from the
Engineering Building.

Via 101: Exit at De La Cruz Blvd., drive south on De La Cruz about 1 mile;
the road splits into two: take the right-hand side (the sign says Santa
Clara), follow the Santa Clara University sign, make a right turn on
Lafayette, and another right turn on El Camino Real. The University's
entrance is about a half mile ahead on the right-hand side of El Camino
Real.

Via Central Expressway: From Central Expressway, turn on Lafayette south,
drive about 1.4 mile, turn left on El Camino Real. The University is about
a half mile ahead on the right.

Via 280: Exit on 880 North (toward the south it is called 17). Follow
instructions for 880.

Via 880: Exit at Alameda (turn right if you come from the north, turn left
if you come from the south). Drive about 0.75 mile, the University's
entrance is on the left.

By CalTrain: Santa Clara Station is across the street from the University.

By Bus: #10 (every 30 minutes from 05:30 to 22:30) from San Jose airport
(either terminal) to Santa Clara Station, across the street from the
University, 12 minutes, $1.10.


***Hotel information:

There is a new Days Inn Hotel about a half mile from the University. A
special rate has been arranged for the meeting. All rooms have TV with
built-in VCR, refrigerator, and microwave oven. Complimentary continental
breakfast is served. The rate varies from $69 to $89 depending on the size
of the bed and whether or not you want a jacuzzi in the bathroom.
Reservations: 1-408-244-2840 or 1-800-329-7466. Identify yourself as
attending a meeting at Santa Clara University in order to receive the
discounted rate.


***What's Happening in the Working Groups

1596, SCI, is an approved ANSI/IEEE standard.
Most significant computer companies are already using or planning to use
SCI in their next-generation high performance systems. However, SCI's
biggest win for consumers will only happen when these machines offer
standard SCI external connectors, so that they can be interconnected at far
higher bandwidths and lower latencies than any known alternative offers.
For more information, contact chairman David Gustavson,
dbg@SCIzzL.com

P1596.1, Guide for Switches/Bridges, is reviewing the problems of bridges
and switches, initialization and management, to assemble a guide to help
new designers and users avoid some of the pitfalls they might otherwise
encounter. For more information, contact chairman Clay Hudgins,
chudgins@harris.com

For an interesting SCI/PCI bridge, see:
<http://sunshine.cern.ch:8080/PCI/PMCdesign/index.html>

P1596.2, Kiloprocessor Extensions, is developing efficient cache coherence
mechanisms for use in very large SCI systems, with thousands of processors.
It now has two mechanisms under study: a distributed tree protocol called
STEM, and a protocol for caching widely-shared data in bridges, called
GLOW. This group also considers new synchronization primitives, new
optimizations for the coherence protocols, and lots of good computer
science. For more information, contact chairman Stein Gjessing,
gjessing@ifi.uio.no

1596.3, Low Voltage Differential Signals, also defines 4-, 8-, 32-, 64-,
and 128-bit-wide SCI links. This is an approved standard as of March 1996.
For more information, contact chairman Stephen Kempainen,EDN,
ednkempainen@worldnet.att.net

1596.4, RamLink, defines a high speed memory and I/O interface based on
point-to-point links. This is an approved standard as of March 1996. It
went to press in September 1996. For more info, contact chairman
Hans Wiggers, wiggers@hpl.hp.com

1596.5, Shared Data Formats, is an approved standard that shows how to
describe shared data to your compiler so that it can correctly handle
conversions for endianness and other format problems encountered in
heterogeneous distributed systems such as SCI supports. For more
information, contact chairman
David James, dvj@apple.com

P1596.6, SCI/RT, is developing improved support for realtime and multimedia
applications of SCI, reduced latency for priority traffic. This group is
also studying fault tolerance mechanisms for SCI. For more information,
contact chairman Ralph Lachenmaier,
Lachenmaier%am5%paxmb1@mr.nawcad.navy.mil

P1596.7, SyncLink, is developing a new extremely high performance
memory-chip interface. The working group decided at the
September '96 meeting to forward its draft to the MSC, which has approved
sending the draft out for IEEE Balloting. For more information, contact
chairman Bill Vogley, W-Vogley@ti.com

P1596.8 new working group to detail cables and
connectors for SCI applications. There is a lot of interest here, and we
now have the critical mass to make this happen. For more information,
contact chairman Robert Beauchamp (pron. "beecham,")  Bob_Beauchamp@dg.com,
1-508-898-7325

See also the Motorola Optobus posted paper:
<ftp://ftp.SCIzzL.com/u/SCIzzL/PhysicalLayerStudies/Optobus_Presentation.pdf>

P1596.9 new working group to define a portable standard Application Program
Interface for SCI, to make SCI software more portable and less dependent on
hardware details. Starting from a draft based on experience with the
SCI/PCI bridge. For more information, contact chairman Volker Lindenstruth,
UC-Space Sciences Laboratory, lindenstruth@lbl.gov, 1-510-486-6460

P1285, Scalable Storage Interface, is an I/O and DMA architecture suitable
for high performance disks and other devices. This project has passed its
sponsor ballot, and is being edited for final approval. For more
information, contact chairman
Martin Freeman, martin@prpa.philips.com

P1394.2 Serial Express is a Gbit extension of IEEE 1394 Serialbus. The plan
is to combine the best of SCI, SCI/RT, and Serialbus, and yet simplify the
protocols. Parallel versions of the same protocols will be done in P1596.8,
coherence in P1596.2. For more information, contact  chairman  Bill Van
Loo, bvanloo@sun.com, 415-786-6870

P1996 Extendable High Reliability Enhanced PCI bus.
This project extends PCI to support redundancy and other features needed
for high reliability systems, such as traffic control, and adds the ability
to carry SCI-II (Serial Express) packets, with bridges to Serial Express
for making kilometer connections over serial cable or fiber. For more
information, contact chairman Shawn J. Morrissey at shawnm2298@aol.com

SC26 WG15 is an international working group developing standards for rugged
SCI cables and connections, both copper and fiber. One function of our
P1596.8 Working Group meetings is for gathering inputs to forward to the
WG15, and for liaison reports and activities related to WG15. For more
information, contact chairman Hans Mueller, CERN, hans@sunshine.cern.ch

Email or Fax Registration Form: November 14, 15, & 18, 1996,  meetings
(or use our online Web form, to be available soon at www.SCIzzL.com)
              Name:
   Mailing Address:
  City, State, Zip:
             Email:
         Telephone:
               Fax:
SCI-related Working Group meetings November 14, 15, & 18
 _____days @$200.00 (optional, one way to support SCIzzL.
 No fees expected of SCIzzL corporate members)                         ____
Less any applicable discounts (whatever you like!!)                    ____
IEEE International Stds. Participation Fee (usually $20/day)       _______
Working-group meetings Subtotal                                    _______

SCIzzL Documents Available:

Proceedings of SCIzzL-1, August 1994:                         $40  _______
Proceedings of SCIzzL-2, March 1995:                          $40  _______
Combined proc's of SCIzzL-3, 4, August/October 1995:          $50  _______
Proceedings of SCIzzL-5, March 1996:                          $40  _______
Proceedings of SCIzzL-6, Sept. 1996:                          $40  _______
August 1996 special issue of IEEE Communications, "Emerging Data
Communications Standards", with articles about SCI/LAMP,
 FibreChannel, 100 Base T, IsoEthernet, wireless LANs, etc.   $15  _______
8-hour SCI tutorial NTSC VHS tape(Gustavson, Goodman, James) $160  _______
Publications Subtotal                                              _______
Discount on publications for SCIzzL members:        -15% (credit)  _______

SCIzzL Individual Annual Membership:                    $59        _______
Extra charge (your estimate) for faster-than-surface shipping      _______
 Type of shipping you prefer ____________________________________

                                          Total payment due:       _______

Method of Payment: ___ Check (payable to "SCIzzL," drawn on a US bank)
              __Visa   __MasterCard  (sorry, we can't take American Express)
Exact cardholder name:
Card number:                             Expires:
Registration may be faxed or e-mailed if paid by credit card.
SCIzzL is part of Santa Clara University, a nonprofit organization,
 Federal Tax ID: 94-1156617.
SCIzzL also accepts tax-deductible donations of money or equipment.

Return this form to:
Dr. Qiang Li
Dept. of Computer Engineering
Santa Clara University
Santa Clara, CA 95053
Voice: ++1-408-554-2730, Fax: ++1-408-551-1634
Internet: SCIzzL@sunrise.scu.edu
(