US Naval Oceanographic Office install 2 Tflop/s IBM supercomputerStennis 03 August 2000 The US Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) has purchased an IBM supercomputer to perform the basic research that may help meteorologists prevent future "Perfect Storm"-type maritime disasters. The new supercomputer -- installed by Logicon, a Northrop Grumman company -- can process two Tflop/s, making it one of the largest supercomputers in the world. The most powerful machine in the Department of Defense (DoD) computing arsenal, the RS/6000 SP will be used to model the world's oceans, as well as tackle the complex calculations required in key DoD research and development initiatives.
Located at Stennis Space Center, Mississippi, the machine is part of the Department of Defense's High Performance Computing Modernization Program. The program's goal is to provide high performance computing capability that is equal to or greater than that available in the private sector and the foremost academic research centers.
The NAVOCEANO RS/6000 SP will be used to assemble the most detailed models of ocean waves, currents, and temperature ever constructed. The computer models will enable scientists to predict the behavior of the world's oceans with incredible precision, helping to improve the safety of naval operations and commercial shipping, and augmenting search and rescue capabilities at sea. In addition, NAVOCEANO's RS/6000 SP will help develop techniques to better forecast weather patterns that are heavily influenced by ocean phenomena, such as "El Nino" and "La Nina."
Scientists will also use the IBM supercomputer in a wide range of DoD research projects -- from designing stronger aircraft to simulating battlefield environments.
The two-teraflop NAVOCEANO system harnesses the computing power of 1,336 IBM POWER3-II microprocessors, 1.336 terabytes of memory and 17 terabytes of IBM disk.
"The RS/6000 SP extends NAVOCEANO's ability to solve the DoD's most difficult computing problems," said Peter Ungaro, vice president, IBM scientific and technical computing. "The SP's unique system architecture and unmatched technology make it the most powerful -- and popular -- supercomputer in the world today."
"Logicon has been the lead systems integrator for high performance computing programs at the NAVOCEANO Major Shared Resource Center since 1990, and we have worked with the customer to continuously enhance its HPC capabilities," said Jim Perriello, president of Logicon's Information Systems and Services unit. "This latest upgrade keeps NAVOCEANO among the elite supercomputing centers in the world, and opens the door to more advanced modeling and research breakthroughs."
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