These include database applications, finance applications, image processing, and WWW servers. The only clear trend seen in Fig. 3 is the strong rise of database applications since November 1995. These applications include on-line transaction processing as well as data mining. It is also important to notice that industrial customers are buying not only systems with traditional architectures, such as the SGI PowerChallenge or Cray Triton, but also MPP systems with distributed memory, such as the IBM SP2.
Distributed memory is no longer a hindrance to success in the commercial marketplace.
The success of massively parallel systems in commercial environments is not bound to any special architecture. Maturity of systems and availability of key application software in a standard Unix system environment are much more important than details of the system architecture. The use of standard workstation technology for single nodes is one key factor. This eases the task of building reliable systems with portable application software. The average system size at industrial sites is increasing strongly.