 |
Performance
of 50 Completed ATP Projects
Status
Report - Number 2
NIST SP 950-2
Chapter
5 - Information Technology
|
|
Torrent
Systems, Inc.
(formerly Applied Parallel Technologies, Inc.)
A User-Friendly Programmer’s Tool
for Writing Parallel-Processing Software
|
| Massively
parallel machines with hundreds or thousands of individual processors
— hold great promise for solving many formerly intractable computing
problems in government and industry. Estimates suggest that parallel
processing would save the U.S. airline industry alone more than $1
billion annually through more efficient scheduling of flight crews.
It could enable U.S. oil companies to reduce exploration costs and
increase oil reserves. Analysis of massive transaction databases using
parallel processing could recover much of the tens of billions of
dollars lost annually to health care and credit card fraud. |
COMPOSITE
PERFORMANCE SCORE
(Based on a four star rating.)
|
Easy-to-Do Programming for Parallel Processing
A difficulty with parallel processing, however, is that writing its software
is more art than science, an art practiced well by a relatively small number
of programmers. Torrent Systems, founded as a two-person company in 1993,
had an idea for solving this problem but was unable to find venture capital
to finance the research to develop the technology. The company then sought
and won ATP funding that enabled it to proceed. Torrent ultimately developed
a component software system that allows programmers to build parallel-processing
software systems without needing to explicitly understand how the system
exploits the underlying parallel-processing hardware. To accomplish this
project, researchers studied the actual application needs of typical users
— to assure that the results would be widely applicable and useful.
 |
| A graphic
illustration of a 16 processor system under the control of Orchestrate
— three sources of input data (shown at the top of the screen
in green) are split into many parallel data streams, each to be manipulated
by a sequence of software components (the grids at the bottom in red)
which apply the same logic to each stream. |
Quick to Market
Torrent produced a research prototype of a parallel-software component
framework, created its basic components, and performed limited testing
on them. It also planned to develop a library of reusable code —
containing components for a parallel-processing system. If such a library
were available for other developers, then even more applications could
come on line sooner. The company, however, did not complete this research
task. Torrent closed the project before its anticipated completion date
in order to commercialize early technical results and generate needed
revenue. Torrent incorporated the ATP-funded component-based technology
in a product called Orchestrate™, which the company describes as
a “parallel application environment that insulates you from the complexities
of parallel programming while delivering scalable applications.”
United Airlines and Citicorp were two of the first corporations to license
it.
Strategic Marketing
Alliances
The company has been quick to form strategic marketing alliances. It formed
a partnership with IBM in July 1997, under which IBM will promote Orchestrate™
as a standard computer application. IBM’s focus is rapid development
and deployment of a parallel-processing hardware/software system that
can be enlarged without needing to be replaced by a new version, because
expansion is built into its architecture. Orchestrate™ plays a key
role in that expansion capability. The IBM system is specifically designed
to make full use of customer sales and other data across an entire company,
regardless of the type of business. Torrent extended that partnership
a few months later, with IBM agreeing to resell Orchestrate™.
United Airlines, an
early customer, reported in a November 1997 Chicago Tribune article that
it had installed a new IBM RS6000/SP2 parallel-processing computer. The
software supplied by IBM included Orchestrate™ under a licensing
agreement between Torrent and IBM. United paid $3.5 million for the hardware
and planned to spend another $13.5 million to get the computer running.
The system is expected to generate between $50 million and $100 million
per year in increased revenue by doing a better job of matching potential
fliers with available airplane seats. Orchestrate™ is a critical
component that enables United personnel to program the computer, which
United would not otherwise have bought. This advance is important, since
the RS6000/SP2 has been on the market for several years.
Torrent also formed
a marketing partnership with Sun Microsystems in 1997. An early outgrowth
of this alliance was a joint demonstration showing the advantages of using
Orchestrate™ in a typical data warehousing application. Orchestrate™
was used to integrate the basic Torrent components and specialized components
from three other vendors into a single test application. The test involved
data cleaning of a name-and-address file of about 13 million records,
which was then merged with a demographics file of about 16 million records.
When the test was run without using parallel processing, the application
took 32.5 hours on a machine using four processors. With Orchestrate™,
the application took only 9 hours. When the number of processors was increased
to 12, the Orchestrate™-based application finished in just 3 hours.
Torrent also entered
partnerships in September 1997 with three new software vendors: The MEDSTAT
Group, i.d.Centric, and Knowledge Discovery One. And it negotiated bundling
arrangements (selling two or more separately produced products as a unit)
with independent software vendors and manufacturers, including Emergent,
Knowledge Discovery One, Lockheed Martin IS&T, and MRJ Technology
Solutions.
Potential for Huge
Benefits
Torrent has succeeded in marketing its technology, and substantial broad-based
benefits can be expected to flow from the use of the new technology incorporated
in its software. Users of Orchestrate™ have benefited from the removal
of the need to pay attention to programming details for C/C++ (the most
common language used to write programs for parallel processing), because
Orchestrate™ handles them. As more applications of the new technology
are implemented through the use of Orchestrate™ and other Torrent
products, more analyses of large databases will be done. Another product
that uses the ATP-funded technology is Orchestrator for the SAS System™,
recently released by the SAS Institute.
Economic benefits
are likely to be large and widespread for this technology. It is embodied
in industrial strength computer programs used in diverse industries and
by government agencies. Users in these areas say they anticipate dramatic
savings. Consumers will also benefit from these savings, as lower operating
costs are passed on to them. Torrent, a small company, will be able to
collect only a small percentage of the total additional value created
by its technology, while the rest will spill over to others in the economy.
The benefits from
the ATP project would likely be even greater if Torrent had been able
to fully develop and make available the library of reusable components
as originally planned. However, as is often the case with small, near-startup
companies, cash-flow concerns related
to ensuring company survival dictated a fast move to generate revenue.
In this case, given its limited resources, Torrent felt it had to stop
the research project early and commercialize the technology. As customers
suggest needs for other components, they will be developed and integrated
into the company’s products.
ATP Project Speeds
Exploitation of Parallel Processing
ATP funding for this project allowed Torrent to research and develop a
prototype of a component software system that allows programmers to create
parallel-processing software in a user-friendly way. Without the ATP funds,
Torrent officials say, it is doubtful that the technology could have been
successfully developed at all. Venture capital funding had been sought
but was unavailable. ATP funded the project to enable U.S. industry to
broadly and rapidly exploit parallel processing, expecting that it would
generate significant benefits throughout the economy. The speedy adoption
of Torrent’s first commercial products confirms that expectation.
|
Project
Highlights
|
|
PROJECT:
To develop component-based tools for writers of parallel-processing
software, as well as a library of reusable parallel-processing software
components.
Duration: 12/1/1994 to 7/31/1996
ATP Number: 94-06-0024
FUNDING (in
thousands):
| ATP |
$1,117
|
77%
|
| Company |
325
|
23%
|
| Total |
$1,442
|
|
ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Torrent accomplished most of the project goals, including development
of a software environment for building parallel data-processing
applications. The company did not develop as extensive a library
of reusable components as originally anticipated. It halted the
project sooner than originally planned to exploit the excellent
commercial opportunities for technology developed early in the project.
Torrent’s outstanding progress toward commercialization is
indicated by the following:
- The company
applied for a patent on parallel training of neural networks,
as well as patents on several other innovations.
- Torrent
incorporated the ATP-funded technology in a product called Orchestrate™,
introduced to the market in 1996. The company describes it as
“a parallel development environment that insulates you from
the complexities of parallel programming while delivering scalable
applications.”
- Orchestrate™
was described in a December 1996 Datamation article, “Build
Your Warehouse on MPP,” as one of a number of approaches
to use in data warehousing.
- Orchestrate™
was selected in 1997 for use by KO1, IBM, Citicorp, Autozone,
Sears Roebuck, and United Airlines.
- Torrent entered
into a strategic partnership in July 1997 with IBM, which will
promote Orchestrate™ as a standard computer application.
IBM is focusing on rapid development and deployment of a parallel-processing
software system that can be enlarged without needing to be replaced
by a new version, because expansion of the system is built into
its architecture. Orchestrate™ plays a key role in the expansion
capability of the IBM system. Torrent extended the partnership
in September 1997, with IBM agreeing to resell Orchestrate™.
- Torrent entered
into partnerships in September 1997 with three new vendors: The
MEDSTAT Group, i.d.Centric, and Knowledge Discovery One.
- The company
also negotiated bundling arrangements (selling two or more separately
produced products as a unit) with independent software vendors
and manufacturers including Emergent, Knowledge Discovery One,
Lockheed Martin IS&T, and MRJ Technology Solutions.
- During 1997,
several commercial software vendors chose Orchestrate™ for
building their software products. The first such product, produced
by the SAS Institute, reached the market in late 1997.
- At the end
of 1997, Computerworld magazine recognized Torrent as one of the
“100 Hot Emerging Companies.”
- Torrent had
attracted investments of $3.8 million by the end of the ATP project
in July 1996, and it increased the total to $10 million over the
next 18 months.
- United Airlines,
an early customer, is using Orchestrate™ and an IBM parallel-processing
computer to design a system for managing airplane seat assignments.
United expects the new system to generate between $50 million
and $100 million per year in increased revenue. The company is
spending only about $17 million on the system, which would not
work without Orchestrate™.
|
COMMERCIALIZATION
STATUS:
The ATP-funded programmer’s tool for writing parallel processing
software has been commercialized. It is embodied in Orchestrate™,
as well as in derivative products.
OUTLOOK:
The outlook for further commercialization and economic benefits
is excellent. The strong market interest in Orchestrate™ indicates
its usefulness in processing immense amounts of data. Since government
and many industries — retail, health care, energy, and transportation
— use massive databases, new tools that can dramatically increase
processing efficiency stand to yield billions of dollars in savings
across the economy. The benefits from this project will accrue mostly
to users of the technology, rather than to Torrent.
Composite
Performance Score:
COMPANY:
Torrent Systems, Inc.
(formerly Applied Parallel Technologies, Inc.)
5 Cambridge Center, Seventh Floor
Cambridge, MA 02142
Contact:
Robert Utzschneider
Phone: (617) 354-8684 ext. 1162
Number of employees: 2 at project start, 32 at the end of
1997
|
Return to Table
of Contents or go to next section.
Date created: April
2002
Last updated:
April 12, 2005
|
