Future Technologies Colloquium Series

ABSTRACT:

This talk describes the radix-64 folded-Clos network of the Cray BlackWidow scalable vector multiprocessor. We describe the BlackWidow network which scales to 32K processors with a worst-case diameter of seven hops, and the underlying high-radix router microarchitecture and its implementation. By using a high-radix router with many narrow channels we are able to take advantage of the higher pin density and faster signaling rates available in modern ASIC technology. The BlackWidow router is an 800 MHz ASIC with 64 18.75Gb/s bidirectional ports for an aggregate off-chip bandwidth of 2.4Tb/s. Each port consists of three 6.25Gb/s differential signals in each direction. The router supports deterministic and adaptive packet routing with separate buffering for request and reply virtual channels. The router is organized hierarchically as an 8x8 array of tiles which simplifies arbitration by avoiding long wires in the arbiters. Each tile of the array contains a router port, its associated buffering, and an 8x8 router subswitch. We describe the benefit of adaptive routing in high-radix networks and explore alternate topologies that can built from high-radix routers.