The paper presents PowerMANNA, a distributed-memory parallel computer system based on the 64-Bit PowerPC processor MPC620. The PowerMANNA node architecture supports all the sophisticated features of the MPC620 and incorporates important architectural concepts that allow us to exploit the performance of modern superscale microprocessor in the context of massively parallel supercomputing. The two-way processor nodes of PowerMANNA are embedded in a powerful communication system supporting low-latency communication and maximum connectivity. Processing and communication performance of an eight-node prototype are shown and compared with shared-memory machines and clusters. In the course of the presentation, experience gained with the PowerPC MP620 processor is discussed.

An abstract view of a computer system is provided by a hierarchy of functions, ranging from the high-level operating system functions down to the primitive functions of the hardware. Vertical migration of high-level functions into the microcode of a CPU or horizontal migration of hardware functions out of the CPU into dedicated processors alone is not an adequate realization method for innovative computer architectures with complex functionality. In the paper, a new design principle called hierarchical function distribution is introduced to cope with the task of designing innovative multicomputer systems with complex functionality. The design rules of hierarchical function distribution are presented, and the advantages of the approach are discussed and illustrated by examples.