This book illustrates interesting ways in which new parallel hardware is being used to improve performance and increase functionality for a variety of information systems. The book, containing 13 original papers, surveys the latest trends in performance enhancing architectures for smart information systems. It will appeal to all those engaged in the design or use of high-performance architectures for non-numeric applications. The machines featured throughout this text are designed to support information systems ranging from relational databases to semantic networks and other artificial intelligence paradigms. In addition, many of the projects illustrated in the book contain generic architectural ideas that support higher-level requirements and are based on semantics-free hardware designs.
