The Network Architecture of the Connection Machine CM-5

The Connection Machine Model CM-5 Supercomputer is a massively parallel computer system designed to offer performance in the range of 1 teraflops (1012floating-point operations per second). The CM-5 obtains its high performance while offering ease of programming, flexibility, and reliability. The machine contains three communication networks: a data network, a control network, and a diagnostic network. This paper describes the organization of these three networks and how they contribute to the design goals of the CM-5.