We present a detailed system design and available technology choices for building a large scale (> 100 qubits) ion trap quantum information processor (QIP). The system design is based on technologies that are within reach today, and utilizes single-instruction-on-multiple-data (SIMD) principles to re-use resources that cannot be duplicated easily. The system engineering principles adopted highlight various design tradeoffs in the QIP design and serve as a guideline to find design spaces for a much larger QIP. © Rinton Press.