Cray SV1 for Alabama's scientific communitySeattle 08 May 00 The Authority recently bought the Cray system to keep pace with a rapidly growing demand for additional computing power and time from more than 150 users statewide. Commercial companies consume about 5 percent of the Cray SV1 system's resources, while Alabama universities, colleges and schools devour the majority of the computing time -- working on projects such as global weather pattern models, space shuttle experiments and computational chemistry programs. Since 1993, the number of users logging time on the Authority's supercomputing facilities has grown from 1,000 to more than 16,000. In addition to supporting advanced academic research, the Authority also has made its Cray supercomputer available to K-12 students though the Alabama Supercomputing Program to Inspire Computational Education (ASPIRE). Students participating in ASPIRE pair up with mentors from higher education institutions to work on a variety of projects that take advantage of supercomputing power. The 16-procesor Cray SV1 supercomputer, housed at Cummings Research Park in Huntsville, Alabama, performs four billion computations per second and replaces the Authority's two-processor Cray C94 system.
[News on Advanced IT] [Calendar] [Analysis] [IT in Medicine] |
|