4 ms·

I'd guess Digital Alpha (DEC) but I can't find anything mentioning it. Other guess would be Cray.

• eesmith 5y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/128-bit_computing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/128-bit_computing list contenders as IBM System/370, upgraded DEC VAX, and ICL 2900 Series.
  • karmakaze 5y ago
    The page lists these uses for 128-computing, any of which seem like sufficient motivators for it to come to pass: - The free software used to implement RISC-V architecture is defined for 32, 64 and 128 bits [...] - Universally unique identifiers (UUID) consist of a 128-bit value. - IPv6 routes computer network traffic amongst a 128-bit range of addresses. - ZFS is a 128-bit file system. - 128 bits is a common key size for symmetric ciphers [...] - The IBM i virtual instruction set defines all pointers as 128-bit. - Increasing the word size can speed up multiple precision mathematical libraries [...] - MD5 is a hash function producing a 128-bit hash value. - Apache Avro uses a 128-bit random number as synchronization marker [...]
    • eesmith 5y ago
      Those seem like poor reasons to justify 128-bit CPU hardware, over 128-bit emulation in software. In particular, MD5 use in new software is strongly discouraged. You'll note that some of them are essentially identical with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/256-bit_computing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/256-bit_computing so they seem more guided by abstract arguments than concrete engineering reasoning.