Editing PARAM (section)

==History==
{{further|Supercomputing in India}}
C-DAC was created in November 1987, originally as the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing Technology (C-DACT).<ref name="1989-delapierre" /> This was in response to issues purchasing supercomputers from foreign sources.<ref name="2004-sinha" /> The Indian Government decided to try and develop indigenous computing technology.<ref name=1999-bbc />

===PARAM 8000===
The PARAM 8000 was the first machine in the series and was built from scratch.<ref name="1996-kahaner" /> A [[prototype]] was [[Benchmark (computing)|benchmarked]] at the "1990 Zurich Super-computing Show":<ref group="note">This is likely the CONPAR 90 - VAPP IV, Joint International Conference on Vector and Parallel Processing, which took place in Zurich, Switzerland, 10–13 September  1990. The statement is difficult to fully attest to other than the referenced article. The proceedings of the conference can be found at https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-53065-7</ref> of the machines that ran at the show it came second only to one from the United States.<ref name=1998-outlook />

A 64-node machine was delivered in August 1991.<ref name="1996-kahaner" /><ref name="UNIDO" /> Each node used [[Inmos]] T800/T805 [[transputer]]s.<ref name="UNIDO" /> A 256-node machine had a theoretical performance of 1GFLOPS, however in practice had a sustained performance of 100-200MFLOPS.<ref name="UNIDO" /><ref name="1996-kahaner" /> PARAM 8000 was a [[distributed memory]] [[Multiple instruction, multiple data|MIMD]] architecture with a reconfigurable interconnection network.<ref name=1997-marvin />

The PARAM 8000 was noted to be 28 times more powerful than the Cray X-MP that the government originally requested, for the same $10 million cost quoted for it.<ref name="1999-rajaraman-p75" />

====Exports====
The computer was a success and was exported to [[Germany]], [[United Kingdom]] and [[Russia]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2001/02/26/stories/102618ma.htm |title=''Only protected usable knowledge can create wealth.'' |publisher=Thehindubusinessline.com |date=26 February 2001 |access-date=10 September 2016}}</ref> Apart from taking over the home market, PARAM attracted 14 other buyers with its relatively low price tag of $350,000.<ref name="Washington Post Archive">{{cite web |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1993/03/19/cray-deal-a-casualty-of-atomic-weapon-fears/24f11e87-effe-4a2c-8976-d3d844cb4275/ |title=CRAY DEAL A CASUALTY OF ATOMIC WEAPON FEARS|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>

The computer was also exported to the ICAD [[Moscow]] in 1991 under [[Russia]]n collaboration.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cdac.in/html/about/success/moscow.aspx |title=C-DAC furthering ties with ICAD, Moscow: From PARAM 5ooo to PARAM 10000|publisher=Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) |access-date=15 September 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cdac.in/html/press/1q06/spot563.aspx |title=Supercomputer being developed at Pune, Bangalore will be ready in 6 months| quote=...giving India her first indigenous supercomputer in 1991 (PARAM 8000)|publisher=Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) |access-date=15 September 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://cdac.in/index.aspx?id=aboutus_digital_india_week|title=Digital India Week}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thebetterindia.com/82076/india-first-supercomputer-param-cdac-vijay-bhatkar/|title=The Little Known Story of How India's First Indigenous Supercomputer Amazed the World in 1991|date=13 January 2017|work=The Better India|language=en-US}}</ref>

===PARAM 8600===
PARAM 8600 was an improvement over PARAM 8000. In 1992 C-DAC realised its machines were underpowered and wished to integrate the newly released [[Intel i860]] processor.<ref name="1994-bhatkar" /> Each node was created with one i860 and four Inmos T800 transputers.<ref name=1997-marvin /><ref name="1996-kahaner" /><ref name="UNIDO" /> The same PARAS programming environment was used for both the PARAM 8000 and 8600; this meant that programs were portable.<ref name="1996-kahaner" /><ref name="UNIDO" /> Each 8600 cluster was noted to be as powerful as 4 PARAM 8000 clusters.<ref name="UNIDO" />

===PARAM 9000===
The PARAM (param vashisht lega) 9000 was designed to be merge [[Computer cluster|cluster processing]] and [[Massively parallel (computing)|massively parallel processing]] computing workloads.<ref name="mohan-param9000" /> It was first demonstrated in 1994.<ref name="2004-sinha" /> The design was changed to be modular so that newer processors could be easily accommodated.<ref name=1997-marvin /> Typically a system used 32–40 processors, however it could be scaled up to 200 CPUs using the [[clos network]] topology.<ref name=1997-marvin /> The PARAM 9000/SS was the [[SuperSPARC|SuperSPARC II]] processor variant,<ref name="1995-van-der-steen" /> the PARAM 9000/US used the [[UltraSPARC]] processor,<ref name="1999-rajaraman-p75" /> and the PARAM 9000/AA used the [[DEC Alpha]].<ref name="1996-harkar" />

===PARAM 10000===
The PARAM 10000 was unveiled in 1998 as part of C-DAC's second mission.<ref name="2004-sinha" /> PARAM 10000 used several independent nodes, each based on the [[Sun Enterprise|Sun Enterprise 250]] server; each such server contained two 400[[Mhz]] [[UltraSPARC|UltraSPARC II]] processors. The base configuration had three compute nodes and a server node. The peak speed of this base system was 6.4 [[FLOPS|GFLOPS]].<ref>{{cite book | last1=Abraham| last2= Baets|last3=Köppen| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xYgCFX6VnT8C&q=param%2010000&pg=PA54|publisher=Springer| year=2006| title=Applied soft computing technologies: the challenge of complexity| page=54| access-date=15 September 2011| isbn= 9783540316626}}</ref> A typical system would contain 160 [[CPU]]s and be capable of 100 [[FLOPS|GFLOPS]]<ref name=bram>{{cite book | last=Ram| first= B.| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ICjqr6V9S6UC&q=param%20padma&pg=SA1-PA20|publisher=New Age International| title=Computer Fundamentals, Architecture & Organisation| pages=1–20| access-date=15 September 2011| isbn= 9788122420432| date= December 2009}}</ref> But, it was easily scalable to the [[FLOPS|TFLOP]] range. Exported to Russia and Singapore.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rediff.com/computer/1999/sep/28param.htm|title=Rediff on the Net, Infotech: Exporting speed|date=28 September 1999|work=Rediff.com|access-date=10 September 2016}}</ref>

===Further computers===
Further computers were made in the PARAM series as one-off supercomputers, rather than serial production machines. From the late 2010s many machines were created as part of the [[Supercomputing in India#National Supercomputing Mission|National Supercomputing Mission]].