STARAN

STARAN might be the first commercially available computer designed around an associative memory. The STARAN computer was designed and built by Goodyear Aerospace Corporation. It is a Content Addressable Parallel Processor (CAPP), a type of parallel processor which uses content addressable memory. STARAN is a single instruction, multiple data array processor with a 4x256 1-bit processing element (PE) computer. The STARAN machines became available in 1972.

Goodyear Aerospace later developed the MPP based on similar principles but with a larger and wider processor array.

References

• Goodyear Aerospace Corporation (1972), STARAN S APPLE-Programming Manual GER-15637, Akron, Ohio: Goodyear Aerospace Corporation 
• Foster, Caxton C. (1976), Content Addressable Parallel Processors, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, pp. 169, 223, ISBN 0-442-22433-8 
• Batcher, Kenneth E (1974), "STARAN parallel processor system hardware", National Computer Conference (PDF), pp. 405–410