Scalable Coherent Interface

hardware, protocol (SCI) The ANSI/IEEE 1596-1992

standard that defines a point-to-point interface and a set

of packet protocols. The SCI protocols use packets with a

16-byte header and 16, 64, or 256 data bytes. Each packet

is protected by a 16-bit CRC code.

The standard defines 1 Gbit/second serial fiber-optic

links and 1 Gbyte/second parallel copper links. SCI has two

unidirectional links that operate concurrently.

The SCI protocols support shared memory by encapsulating

bus requests and responses into SCI request and response

packets. Packet-based handshake protocols guarantee

reliable data delivery. A set of cache coherence protocols

are defined to maintain cache coherence in a shared memorysystem.

Message passing is supported by a compatible subset of the

SCI protocols. This protocol subset does not invoke SCI cache

coherency protocols.

SCI uses 64-bit addressing and the most significant 16 bits

are used for addressing up to 64K nodes.

http://www.uni-paderborn.de/pc2/systems/sci/.

[Applications?]

(1999-03-22)