DBC 1012 explained

The DBC/1012 Data Base Computer was a database machine introduced by Teradata Corporation in 1984, as a back-end data base management system for mainframe computers.[1] The DBC/1012 harnessed multiple Intel microprocessors, each with its own dedicated disk drive, by interconnecting them with the Ynet switching network in a massively parallel processing system.[2] [3] The DBC/1012 was designed to manage databases up to one terabyte (1,000,000,000,000 characters) in size; "1012" in the name refers to "10 to the power of 12".[4]

Major components included:

The DBC/1012 was designed to scale up to 1024 Ynet interconnected processor-disk units. Rows of a relation (table) were distributed by hashing on the primary database index.

The DBC/1012 used a 474 megabyte Winchester disk drive with an average seek time of 18 milliseconds. The disk drive was capable of transferring data at 1.9 MB/s although in practice the sustainable data rate was lower because the IO pattern tended towards random access and transfer lengths of 8 to 12 kilobytes.

The processor cabinet was 60 inches high and 27 inches wide, weighed 450 pounds, and held up to 8 microprocessor units.The storage cabinet was 60 inches high and 27 inches wide, weighed 625 pounds, and held up to 4 disk storage units.

The DBC/1012 preceded the advent of redundant array of independent disks (RAID) technology, so data protection was provided by the "fallback" feature, which kept a logical copy of rows of a relation on different AMPs. The collection of AMPs that provided this protection for each other was called a cluster. A cluster could have from 2 to 16 AMPs.

The product could be integrated with optical disc drives.[5] There were at least four models, marketed through about 1993.[6] [7]

Notes and References

  1. News: Will Teradata revive a market? . Paul Gillin . 43, 48 . Computer World . February 20, 1984 . March 13, 2017 .
  2. The benefits of database computers . April 15, 1991 . Second International Specialist Seminar on the Design and Application of Parallel Digital Processors . J. Page . 112–117 . 0-85296-519-2 .
  3. Book: January 7, 1992 . R. D. Sloan . Proceedings of the Twenty-Fifth Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences . A practical implementation of the data base machine-Teradata DBC/1012 . 320-327 vol.1 . 10.1109/HICSS.1992.183180 . 0-8186-2420-5 . 62020363 .
  4. Book: Past, Present, Parallel: A Survey of Available Parallel Computer Systems . 226–231 . Arthur Trew . Greg Wilson . December 6, 2012 . Springer Science & Business Media . 9781447118428 . March 13, 2017 .
  5. Book: May 7, 1990 . IEEE . N.C. Ramsay . [1990] Digest of papers. Tenth IEEE Symposium on Mass Storage Systems@m_Crisis in Mass Storage . Integration of the optical storage processor and the DBC/1012 database computer . 94–97 . 10.1109/MASS.1990.113576 . 0-8186-2034-X . 33985588 .
  6. Web site: AT&T / NCR Products 1992 & 1993 Catalogue: DBC/1012 Model 4 . Website of the UK Retirement Fellowship . March 13, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170314153348/http://www.ncr.org.uk/page468.html . March 14, 2017 . dead .
  7. Web site: Colior image of TeradataDBC/1012 Data Base Computer with front covers removed . Artifact detail . Computer History Museum . March 13, 2017 .

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