Primeur Monthly -
April 2002
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Contents
April 2002
Issue
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| Atlantic
- |
| |
| | SDSC and NCSA create spectacular animation for Hayden Planetarium's new show
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| | PACT 2002 issues final Call for Papers
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| | Japan's Tokyo University develops fast simulation software
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| | GeoStar relocates to the Center for Applied Research and Technology at CMU
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| Country
- DE |
| |
| | New supercomputer marks the beginning of a new HPC era in Northern Germany
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| | Contract with IBM of the German High-Performance Computer Center North (HLRN) is partly signed
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| |
| |
| Country
- Other |
| |
| | IBM selected to build Switzerland's largest supercomputer
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| |
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| Europe
- |
| |
| | IST 2002 organised in Copenhagen in November 4-6, 2002
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| | Agent Course on Design of Intelligent Multi-Agent Systems
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| | IAMC'02 issues Call for Papers and software demos
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| |
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| Industry
- Applications |
| |
| | Linux Cluster speeds up protein and DNA analysis
|
| | World's fastest 40 Tflop/s supercomputer system for resolving global environmental problems completed
|
| | Dell high performance computers aid University of Alabama at Birmingham Cardiac Research
|
| | NAVAIR Weapons Division Point Mugu acquires Scali cluster for MM5 modelling
|
| | 3D technology unlocks secrets of 3000-year-old Egyptian mummy
|
| | Cray receives Cray SV1ex supercomputer order from Ford
|
| | SGI summarizes supercomputer sales to amongst others, Saab and Renault
|
| | Cray and National University of Singapore collaborate on advanced bioinformatics software
|
| | AcceleratedServers.com builds Beowulf clustered supercomputer for protein design in a virtual environment
|
| | University of Maryland researchers use Artificial Intelligence to diagnose colon cancer
|
| | Blackstone Computing unveils customised services for its Powercloud software platform
|
| | Blackstone Computing assists Orchid Biosciences in optimisation of high throughput genotyping processes
|
| | Compaq gives BMW Williams F1 team technological edge for 2002 season
|
| | Royal Australian Air Force F-111 mission simulator to use Onyx 3000 visualization systeem
|
| | S2A 3000 Silicon Storage Appliances bring simple affordable storage area networks for departmental workgroup applications
|
| | RLX Technologies announces new bioinformatics BLAST solution
|
| | Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute uses Platform LSF licences to crack chromosome 20
|
| | Environmental Modelling Center launches EDGE for improved air quality modelling
|
| | Earthlink uses new Sun systems to run billing and data warehousing applications
|
| | Princess Margaret Hospital to use Platform LSF ActiveCluster to accelerate cancer research
|
| | IBM announces initiatives to help business partners break into life sciences
|
| | Delmia tools selected as 3d PLM digital manufacturing solutions for the Airbus A380
|
| | GeneProt and Zymark reach automation technology agreement for U.S. and Europe
|
| | ESI Group announces 5% growth in annual turnover for year 2001
|
| | LION bioscience AG and GeneProt team up for better proteomics integration
|
| | IBM builds IT infrastructure for Wisconsin Physicians Service
|
| | PSilicon Metrics deliver distributed characterisation and modelling solutions based on LSF
|
| | CATIA V5 for XP
|
| | MSC.visualNastran 4D 2002 offers engineers advanced motion and stress analysis
|
| | Lockheed Martin selects Dassault Systemes for the Joint Strike Fighter programme
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| Industry
- HPCN industry |
| |
| | SciDAC grant allows Fermilab to develop new supercomputer
|
| | Fujitsu Siemens' BS2000/OSD innovative mainframe computing uses SPARC processors
|
| | New server from Fujitsu Siemens Computers offers a Server Farm in a Box
|
| | Fujitsu Siemens Computers beats new TPC-C world record with PRIMERGY H250
|
| | Cray wins Boeing order for supercomputer solutions
|
| | New high-end servers with 4, 8 and 16 processors from Fujitsu Siemens
|
| | Xilinx-Cray collaboration advances supercomputing technology
|
| | SC2002 in Baltimore requests paper proposals
|
| | Fujitsu Siemens introduces Collaborative Lifecycle Management concept at CeBIT 2002
|
| | Resignation of Michael P. Haydock at Cray, Chairman James Rottsolk returns as President and CEO
|
| | New 8-way Unix server from HP
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| | Compaq achieves rank 1 in high performance revenue for second consecutive year
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| | IBM announces two new high-performance powerPC processors
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| | Terra Soft ships 2U dual 1 GHz G4 with YDL & Mac OS X
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| Industry
- Linux |
| |
| | AMD to support SuSE Linux in next-generation processors
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| | Open Cluster Group releases OSCAR 1.2.1
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| | SuSE launches 64-bit-version of SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 7 for IBM eServer zSeries
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| | NCSA, UIUC join HP in global consortium to enable Linux capabilities for academic and industrial research
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| | Linux NetworX names Stephen Hill President/CEO and Bernard Daines Chairman of the Board
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| | SuSE Linux 8.0 personal and professional versions available from mid-April
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| Industry
- Media |
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| | New South Wales Government boosts transport safety with $17 million Virtual SGI Reality Center
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| | Compaq Computer and Media 100 bring media supercomputer power to the desktop
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| | Media 100 introduces 844/X for content design
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| | SGI demonstrates Visual Area Networking concept at Glasgow Visualization Summit
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| Industry
- The Grid |
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| | NCSA selects 7 Silicon Storage Appliances to support terascale, distributed computational Grid applications
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| | French ACI Globalisation of Computing and Data Resources project refines grid computing concept
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| | First results and future perspectives of the European DataGrid project
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| | Plug in the grid and have all the computational power you like
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| | The Grid is about connecting people
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| | Alberta and British Columbia join forces in $30 million grid project
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| | Isis pharmaceuticals selects Entropia's DCGrid and joins advisory program
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| | French government heavily invests in powerful computing and high-speed networks for competitive research
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| | EuroGrid to focus on HPC-GRID activitation for distributed scientific applications and basic technologies
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| | Carl Kesselman takes on expanded leadership role in NPACI as chief software architect
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| | HNF Europe meeting postponed to April 8
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| | LSF to manage compute farms and accelerate drug discovery and design at Astrazeneca
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| | AVAKI announces availability of reference implementation for Secure Grid Naming Protocol
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| | NERSC to rollout Grid services by the end of the year
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| | NEC wins order for bio-grid computing platform system from Osaka University
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| | SDSC to form Pacific Rim Applications and Grid Middleware Assembly for international collaboration
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| | First optical network linking high-resolution visualisation centres for Earth, ocean sciences and homeland security
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| | Three new Avaki customers to accelerate drug discovery using comprehensive grid software
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| | MSC.Software launches enhanced Web-based simulation services
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| | IBM Global Services executive challenges industry to focus on technology integration
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| | Platform Computing hosts distributed and grid computing web seminars in March 2002
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| | Blackstone releases Blueprint for scalable, high-throughput scientific and technical computing environments
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| | Platform releases Platform Site Assure 2.1 to boost enterprise grid performance
|
| | J.D. Edwards & Company opened a clustered
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| | Grid Computing Planet Conference and Expo debuts in San Jose June 17-18th
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| Networking
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| | KPNQwest delivers pan-European IP VPN for Opodo
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| | KPNQwest chosen to stream Eurovision Song Contest
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| Networking
- HPCN industry |
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| | FibreCAT S80 from Fujitsu Siemens provides high-speed storage with 2 Gbit/s fibre channel technology
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Leads
April 2002
Issue
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| Atlantic
- |
| |
| | SDSC and NCSA create spectacular animation for Hayden Planetarium's new show
"The Search for Life: Are We Alone?", the new space theater show at the American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space, premiered March 2 in New York to rave reviews. The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) played an important role in creating a realistic animation showing the birth of our solar system. The show is developed in collaboration with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
|
| | Full article...
|
| | PACT 2002 issues final Call for Papers
The Eleventh International Conference on Parallel Architectures and Compilation Techniques (PACT 2002) will be held September 22-25, 2002 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Deadline for paper abstract submission is March 26, 2002. |
| | Full article...
|
| | Japan's Tokyo University develops fast simulation software
The University of Tokyo has developed a powerful suite of simulation software for computer-intensive projects such as structural analysis of large buildings and strength analysis of large ships.
|
| | Full article...
|
| | GeoStar relocates to the Center for Applied Research and Technology at CMU
GeoStar Corporation has relocated its corporate headquarters into Center for Applied Research and Technology at Central Michigan University (CMU) in Mount Pleasant, Michigan One of the reasons was the availability of a supercomputer at that location.
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| | Full article...
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| Country
- DE |
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| | New supercomputer marks the beginning of a new HPC era in Northern Germany
Also in Berlin now, the contract for the new Northern-German supercomputer has been signed. The total 4 Tflop/s supercomputer consists of two parts, one half in Hannover, of which the contract
was signed last week, and one half in Berlin at the Zuse Institute Berlin (ZIB). The machine is financed by a collaboration between the six countries in the north of Germany. Primeur/EnterTheGrid talked to Alexander Reinefeld, director of Zib. In his view, this machine marks the end of the old traditional supercomputers, and the transition to an era where there is not that much difference between supercomputer hardware and that of powerful standard computers. With two software projects in collaboration with the manufacturer, that will tightly connect the two parts of the machine in a seamless way, ZIB is helping to speed up this transition process in software as well. But, although the machine will also be used for testing new Grid technologies the main purpose of the supercomputer is to be used as a production facility for researchers in Germany with large compute hungry programmes. According to Reinefeld, the various fields of physics, chemistry and engineering, climate modelling and life sciences are the main application areas. |
| | Full article...
|
| | Contract with IBM of the German High-Performance Computer Center North (HLRN) is partly signed
At CeBIT Fair, Hanover, today the
Minister of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony, Thomas
Oppermann, and the CEO of IBM Germany, Erwin Staudt, signed part
of the contract to install an IBM supercomputer for Northern
Germany. The Berlin part will be signed this week. It is a
procurement of 6 German federal states. Half of the machine will
be installed in Berlin, 12 IBM pSeries 690 nodes, another 12 go
to Hanover. Both will be connected via fibre channel with a
bandwidth of 2 Gbit/s bridging the distance of about 300 km
distance. The installation will start in the first half of 2002.
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| | Full article...
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| Country
- Other |
| |
| | IBM selected to build Switzerland's largest supercomputer
The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) has selected IBM for its Swiss Center for Scientific Computing (Centro Svizzero di Calcolo Scientifico, CSCS) to build a supercomputer devoted primarly to the material sciences, chemistry, and life science arenas. Incorporating IBM eServer POWER4
technology, the system is one of the most largest supercomputers in Europe with a peak performance of 1.3 Tflop/s. |
| | Full article...
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| Europe
- |
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| | IST 2002 organised in Copenhagen in November 4-6, 2002
IST 2002, co-organised by the European Commission and the Danish EU Presidency, will broaden its scope to all European Information Society research, whether it be funded at European, national or regional level, or even entirely within the private sector. The organisation seeks partnerships for the future of Europe's leading networking event for Information and Communications Technologies in order to develop a European Research Area for the Information Society.
|
| | Full article...
|
| | Agent Course on Design of Intelligent Multi-Agent Systems
The Free University of Amsterdam organises a 5-day course on Component-Based Design of Intelligent Multi-Agent Systems from May 29 to June 4, 2002, which consists of both lectures and practical work. Registrations are due before April 27th, 2002. |
| | Full article...
|
| | IAMC'02 issues Call for Papers and software demos
The Internet Accessible Mathematical Computation 2002 workshop (IAMC 2002) will be held in Lille, France, on July 7, 2002, and is being co-organised by Norbert Kajler of Ecole des Mines de Paris, France; Erica Melis of DFKI Saarbrücken, Germany; and Paul Wang of Kent State University in the USA. Deadline for paper submission is May 12, 2002.
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| | Full article...
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| Industry
- Applications |
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| | Linux Cluster speeds up protein and DNA analysis
The Proteomics Centre at the Ruhr University in Bochum has implemented a Linux Cluster from Fujitsu Siemens Computers' hpcLine for DNA and protein analysis. A total of 128 AMD Athlon MP 1800+ processors provide the required computing power to perform complex biotechnical calculations in a short time. From the results, one expects new insight with regard to protein functions and method improvements in this type of research. |
| | Full article...
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| | World's fastest 40 Tflop/s supercomputer system for resolving global environmental problems completed
NEC Corporation has completed its delivery of the ultra high-speed vector parallel computing system known as "the Earth Simulator", to the Earth Simulation Center (ESC, Tetsuya Sato, Director). The system is slated to begin operation on March 11, 2002. |
| | Full article...
|
| | Dell high performance computers aid University of Alabama at Birmingham Cardiac Research
The Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in the US is using a Dell PowerEdge server cluster to improve the understanding and treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, a condition that causes approximately 400,000 deaths annually in North America.
|
| | Full article...
|
| | NAVAIR Weapons Division Point Mugu acquires Scali cluster for MM5 modelling
A 9 node TeraRack from Scali has been installed at the Geophysics Branch of the Naval Air Systems Command Weapons Division at Point Mugu in California.
|
| | Full article...
|
| | 3D technology unlocks secrets of 3000-year-old Egyptian mummy
Groundbreaking research by the British Museum in London usinf SGI visualisation technologies has resulted in the first-ever virtual image of an Egyptian mummy locked away in its outer casing, raising new questions about the history of ancient mummies. Using an SGI Reality Center facility to convert computed axial tomography (CAT) scan data into a remarkably lifelike 3D image, researchers have been able for the first time to determine what lies hidden beneath the casing, or cartonnage, of a 3000-year-old mummy, Nesperennub, housed at the museum since 1899.
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| | Full article...
|
| | Cray receives Cray SV1ex supercomputer order from Ford
Ford Motor Company has ordered a Cray SV1ex supercomputer. Ford will use the system to improve the structural safety and cabin comfort of its latest vehicle models.
Cray expects to complete installation this month at Ford's design centre near Cologne, Germany. The Cray SV1ex supercomputer joins eight other Cray SV1 supercomputers Ford currently operates at several locations worldwide.
|
| | Full article...
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| | SGI summarizes supercomputer sales to amongst others, Saab and Renault
In its second fiscal year 2002 quarter ended December 30, 2001, SGI has reached several sales milestones. SGI's government and defense industry was a focal point as revenues in this area grew to 25% of its overall business in the December quarter. It also marked the first annual SGI Defense Summit, which showcased graphics and visualisation applications ranging from 1-m high-resolution satellite imagery to flight simulation and mission rehearsal programmes that are currently being used in today's changing battlefield.
|
| | Full article...
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| | Cray and National University of Singapore collaborate on advanced bioinformatics software
Cray Inc. and the National University of Singapore (NUS) are collaborating to develop advanced bioinformatics software applications for the life sciences. The NUS initiative is part of Cray's global collaboration programme with leading bioinformatics research institutions.
|
| | Full article...
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| | AcceleratedServers.com builds Beowulf clustered supercomputer for protein design in a virtual environment
AcceleratedServers.com completed installation and testing of a custom Beowulf supercomputer cluster to be used by George Washington University's Physics Department for the design of novel proteins in a virtual environment.
|
| | Full article...
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| | University of Maryland researchers use Artificial Intelligence to diagnose colon cancer
Using highly sophisticated computer programmes that mimic human intelligence, researchers at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center have devised a new method to differentiate and diagnose several types of colon tumours.
|
| | Full article...
|
| | Blackstone Computing unveils customised services for its Powercloud software platform
Blackstone Computing has launched PowerCloud Customization Services to complement its PowerCloud strategic infrastructure software platform, a suite of integrated applications that enables a company's scientific and business objectives to drive its computing operations. The new services provide the fastest method for companies to customise PowerCloud for their environment to achieve optimal throughput and the benefits of dynamic resource allocation. The company also has added three new scientific consultants to its Professional Services team.
|
| | Full article...
|
| | Blackstone Computing assists Orchid Biosciences in optimisation of high throughput genotyping processes
Orchid BioSciences, specialised in the field of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) scoring and genetic diversity analyses, is using Blackstone technology to realise strong computing performance gains by leveraging Blackstone's scientific expertise and software technology. Faced with the challenge of processing immense amounts of scientific data, Orchid engaged Blackstone to design and optimise a scientific computing environment to accelerate genome sequence analysis, maximise computing power, and prevent system bottlenecks. |
| | Full article...
|
| | Compaq gives BMW Williams F1 team technological edge for 2002 season
Compaq, the principal sponsor and computing power behind the BMW Williams F1 team, discussed the technological evolution the sport of Formula One has seen over the last two decades with guest speakers BMW Williams F1 team driver Juan Pablo Montoya, 1980 World Formula One Champion Alan Jones, and Williams F1 Chief Operations Engineer Sam Michael at press conference in Melbourne, Australia.
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| | Full article...
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| | Royal Australian Air Force F-111 mission simulator to use Onyx 3000 visualization systeem
Thales Training & Simulation has selected an SGI Onyx 3000 series high-performance graphics system with three Infinite Reality3 graphics pipes to serve as the image generator for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) F-111 mission simulator at RAAF Base Amberley in Queensland. |
| | Full article...
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| | S2A 3000 Silicon Storage Appliances bring simple affordable storage area networks for departmental workgroup applications
DataDirect Networks has launched a Silicon Storage Appliance to serve the needs of departmental-level computing and workgroup applications, setting new standards in application acceleration and simplicity. DataDirect Networks has based their S2A 3000 line on the company's proven Silicon Storage Appliance technology, creating a solution that offers the leading features of their enterprise-class appliances in a more compact form factor with an exceptionally attractive price point.
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| | Full article...
|
| | RLX Technologies announces new bioinformatics BLAST solution
RLX Technologies has launched the RLX BLAST Cluster Solution featuring Platform Clusterware running on RLX Systems. The RLX compute platform utilises Platform Clusterware to facilitate scale-out compute clusters that process BLAST jobs for bioinformatics research.
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| | Full article...
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| | Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute uses Platform LSF licences to crack chromosome 20
The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, working with Platform Computing, has completed the decoding of Chromosome 20, one of the 23 distinct DNA bundles that carry human genetic material. The results, part of the Human Genome Project, will help shed light on why people are genetically prone to diseases such as diabetes, obesity or eczema. Chromosome 20 also carries the gene that is suspected to make individuals more susceptible to contracting variant CJD. |
| | Full article...
|
| | Environmental Modelling Center launches EDGE for improved air quality modelling
The Environmental Modeling Center (EMC), a division of MCNC, has launched the EDGE or Environmental Data GEnerator system to simplify the process of preparing data for use in air quality models used to predict and improve overall air quality.
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| | Full article...
|
| | Earthlink uses new Sun systems to run billing and data warehousing applications
EarthLink, an Internet service provider (ISP), has purchased new Sun systems including two 24-CPU, 900 MHz Sun Fire 6800 Midframe servers, Sun StorEdge 9960 system, configured in a Storage Attached Network (SAN) solution to run its billing and data warehousing applications.
|
| | Full article...
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| | Princess Margaret Hospital to use Platform LSF ActiveCluster to accelerate cancer research
Princess Margaret Hospital, a cancer research facility in Canada, has selected Platform LSF ActiveCluster to
uses idle compute cycles from desktop PCs during off-peak hours. This way Princess Margaret Hospital will improve collaboration between the 1500 scientists, technical staff, students, and trainees in these institutes to accelerate cancer research serving as a basis for life-saving developments. |
| | Full article...
|
| | IBM announces initiatives to help business partners break into life sciences
IBM has unveiled initiatives designed to help resellers, software developers, distributors, solution providers, and other IBM Business Partners capitalise on opportunities in the fast-growing life sciences market. Hundreds of new IBM Business Partners will be recruited over the next two years. IBM also announced increasing support among leading life sciences software companies for the IBM eServer platform, including the new IBM eServer Clusters, easy-to-deploy, highly scalable prepackaged clusters comprised of IBM eServer xSeries running Linux and IBM eServer p690 servers running AIX.
|
| | Full article...
|
| | Delmia tools selected as 3d PLM digital manufacturing solutions for the Airbus A380
Delmia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dassault Systèmes S.A. and the Digital Manufacturing component of Dassault Systèmes 3d PLM solutions will join the team developing the new A380, Airbus' 21st century super jumbo aircraft, for the final assembly processes in Airbus' new manufacturing facility in Hamburg, Germany. Delmia solutions will be used to manage such tasks as material flow, ergonomics simulation and assembly studies. |
| | Full article...
|
| | GeneProt and Zymark reach automation technology agreement for U.S. and Europe
GeneProt Inc. and Zymark Corporation have entered into an agreement in which Zymark is named as an exclusive automation provider to GeneProt in the U.S. and Europe. Concurrently with this agreement, Zymark will make an equity investment in GeneProt.
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| | Full article...
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| | ESI Group announces 5% growth in annual turnover for year 2001
Virtual testing software solutions and specialised in the digital simulation of prototypes and industrial manufacturing processes company ESI, has announced its consolidated turnover for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended January 31st, 2002. Turnover has grown compared to the previous year. |
| | Full article...
|
| | LION bioscience AG and GeneProt team up for better proteomics integration
LION bioscience AG, a provider of integrated IT solutions for the life sciences sector, and GeneProt Inc., specialised in the industrial-scale discovery, identification, and synthesis of naturally occurring proteins, have entered into a three-year strategic and marketing collaboration. The two companies will jointly market an integrated offering that combines their core competencies to accelerate the drug discovery and development process.
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| | Full article...
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| | IBM builds IT infrastructure for Wisconsin Physicians Service
Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corporation, also known as WPS Health Insurance, a non-profit insurance company and one of the largest Medicare carriers in the US, has selected IBM to consolidate its growing data storage environment, resulting in improved performance and a 40 percent hardware cost saving.
|
| | Full article...
|
| | PSilicon Metrics deliver distributed characterisation and modelling solutions based on LSF
Platform Computing I and Silicon Metrics Corporation have integrated Platform LSF with Silicon Metrics' SiliconSmart CR and SiliconSmart MR,characterisation and modelling solutions for standard cells and embedded memory. With these integrated solutions, library development and Systems-on-a-Chip (SoC) design teams can realise the full performance potential of their network environment through a distributed SiliconSmart characterisation and modelling approach. |
| | Full article...
|
| | CATIA V5 for XP
Dassault Systèmes' CATIA on the V5 next generation architecture, the base for its 3D PLM Solution, has obtained the "Designed for Microsoft Windows XP" logo. |
| | Full article...
|
| | MSC.visualNastran 4D 2002 offers engineers advanced motion and stress analysis
MSC.Software Corporation, a provider of simulation software, services and systems, has made available MSC.visualNastran 4D 2002. MSC.visualNastran 4D is a Windows-based tool that sets 3D assemblies into motion, animates the resulting stresses, and lets mechanical engineers measure the performance of moving components.
|
| | Full article...
|
| | Lockheed Martin selects Dassault Systemes for the Joint Strike Fighter programme
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics has selected Dassault Systemes and IBM for Product
Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions and services, including CATIA and
DELMIA software and implementation as well as training and integration
services for the next generation
advanced military aircraft, the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).
|
| | Full article...
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| Industry
- HPCN industry |
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| | SciDAC grant allows Fermilab to develop new supercomputer
Since the autumn of 2001, Fermilab has gained the financial means of cranking up its computing power for lattice quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Introducing the Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing programme (SciDAC), the Department of Energy awarded Fermilab almost two million dollars over the course of three years to develop a new supercomputer system. The SciDAC grant is part of a nation-wide effort to provide teraflop computing power for lattice theory projects in nuclear and high energy physics, one of many SciDAC computing initiatives. This was reported by Fermilab's "Fermi News" magazine.
|
| | Full article...
|
| | Fujitsu Siemens' BS2000/OSD innovative mainframe computing uses SPARC processors
Fujitsu Siemens Computers (FSC) announced at CeBIT, Hannover, that it ported its proprietary mainframe operating system BS2000/OSD from /390 CMOS processors to its own SPARC processors. The SX130 is the first system of the new SX-series. It can run BS2000/OSD and Solaris in parallel in
different hardware partitions. This allows a fibre channel connection on a mainframe and the usage of all the Solaris application software. |
| | Full article...
|
| | New server from Fujitsu Siemens Computers offers a Server Farm in a Box
Fujitsu Siemens Computers and Fujitsu have made a new addition to the Intel-based PRIMERGY server family, the PRIMERGY BX300 Blade Server. A complete server unit with one or two processors, main memory, hard disks and LAN interfaces comes in the form of a single plug-in card (blade). |
| | Full article...
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| | Fujitsu Siemens Computers beats new TPC-C world record with PRIMERGY H250
Fujitsu Siemens Computers provided impressive proof of the performance of its PRIMERGY H250 server, announced just a few days ago, with a new world-best score in an OLTP performance test. The new PRIMERGY H250 model achieved the best result to date of any dual servers in the TPC-C on-line transaction benchmark, with 33768.41 tpm-C at a price/performance ratio of EURO 7.97/ tpm-C (status at 26 February 2002). This bettered the previous record held by the PRIMERGY F200 by more than 50 percent.
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| | Full article...
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| | Cray wins Boeing order for supercomputer solutions
Cray has received an order from the Boeing Company for high-end supercomputer technologies and professional services to support current research and development efforts.
|
| | Full article...
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| | New high-end servers with 4, 8 and 16 processors from Fujitsu Siemens
Fujitsu Siemens Computers has introduced three new PRIMERGY server models based on the latest Intel Xeon MP processor technology. The PRIMERGY H450 four-way floorstand server is ideal for running compute-intensive applications in small and medium-sized companies as well as in branch offices of large organisations. The PRIMERGY R450 rack server offers four-processor performance in data centre environments. Fujitsu Siemens Computers is breaking new ground with the PRIMERGY T850 eight-way server. This model not only integrates maximum computing performance in a minimal form factor (eight processors in four vertical rack units), but also offers a high level of investment protection thanks to its flexible scalability.
|
| | Full article...
|
| | Xilinx-Cray collaboration advances supercomputing technology
Xilinx and Cray reported that their collaboration on the new Cray SV1ex supercomputer product advanced the boundaries of field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technology. The design goals of Cray's leading-edge supercomputer posed multiple new challenges for FPGA technology.
|
| | Full article...
|
| | SC2002 in Baltimore requests paper proposals
SC2002, the annual high performance networking and computing
conference in the USA , will this year be held in Baltimore, November 16-22.
The organizers are requesting technical paper abstracts
as well as proposals for tutorials, workshops, panel
discussions, and other programme content. |
| | Full article...
|
| | Fujitsu Siemens introduces Collaborative Lifecycle Management concept at CeBIT 2002
On this year's CeBIT Fujitsu Siemens Computers presents in co-operation with market leading ISVs solutions for the thematic Collaborative Lifecycle Management (CLM). CLM helps the manufacturing industry to share design, engineering, production and project data. Fujitsu Siemens Computers shows how to integrate best of breed solutions for PDM, MCAD, EDA, CAE, ERP and System Integration to cut sensible costs and to optimise the development processes and the quality of the products.
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| | Full article...
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| | Resignation of Michael P. Haydock at Cray, Chairman James Rottsolk returns as President and CEO
Michael P. Haydock has resigned as president and chief executive officer at Cray Inc. and from the company's board of directors due to differences with the board of directors in how to restore the company to long-term industry leadership. Cray remains committed to the strategic plan developed last autumn, to current financial guidance for 2002 and, most importantly, to profitability. To achieve consistent profitability the company is committed to carefully controlling expenses and developing a cost structure that matches its revenue stream.
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| | Full article...
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| | New 8-way Unix server from HP
Hewlett-Packard introduced the HP Server rp7410 designed for enterprises, mid-market companies, service providers and high-performance technical computing environments. The server is configured with up to eight high-performance PA-8700 processors at 650 or 750 MHz running HP-UX11i. To support dynamic partitioning and maximize server usage, the rp7410 uses the same high-end cell design HP introduced in September 2001 with the HP Server rp8400. The rp7410 also packs incredible performance density in a 10U size to minimize floor-space requirements and significantly reduce operational costs. |
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| | Compaq achieves rank 1 in high performance revenue for second consecutive year
For the second consecutive year, Compaq Computer Corporation is the number one vendor in high performance server revenue with a 22.8 percent overall market share and $1.15 billion in sales revenue, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Technical Systems and Servers 2001 Year in Review Report released in February 2002. |
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| | IBM announces two new high-performance powerPC processors
IBM has launched two new low-power PowerPC processors designed to give chip designers a richer mix of features for a broad set of embedded applications. The new chips are part of the IBM PowerPC 4xx family of integrated 32-bit embedded RISC processors.
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| | Terra Soft ships 2U dual 1 GHz G4 with YDL & Mac OS X
Terra Soft Solutions, a developer of integrated PowerPC Linux solutions, has shipped a dual GHz G4 cluster node/server/workstation in a GVS 9000 2U Rack System with Yellow Dog Linux 2.2 and Mac OS X pre-installed. |
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| Industry
- Linux |
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| | AMD to support SuSE Linux in next-generation processors
SuSE has submitted enhancements to the official Linux kernel to support AMD's x86-64 instruction set. The Linux kernel is the fundamental source code upon which all Linux operating systems are based.
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| | Open Cluster Group releases OSCAR 1.2.1
The Open Cluster Group (OCG) has released OSCAR 1.2.1, a new version of the software package that makes configuring and maintaining a Linux cluster as easy as installing commercial software from a CD. OSCAR stands for Open Source Cluster Applications Resources. |
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| | SuSE launches 64-bit-version of SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 7 for IBM eServer zSeries
The SuSE Linux advanced enterprise operating system, the 64-bit SuSE Linux Enterprise
Server 7 for IBM eServer zSeries, will be available by the beginning of May. |
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| | NCSA, UIUC join HP in global consortium to enable Linux capabilities for academic and industrial research
The National Center for Supercomputing (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), and the UIUC College of Engineering will join Hewlett-Packard Company and five other research institutions in the Gelato Federation, a worldwide consortium focused on enabling open source Linux-based Intel Itanium Processor Family computing solutions for academic, government and industrial research. |
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| | Linux NetworX names Stephen Hill President/CEO and Bernard Daines Chairman of the Board
Linux NetworX, a provider of powerful and easy-to-manage cluster supercomputing solutions, has elected Bernard Daines chairman of the board and named Stephen Hill president and CEO. Daines, a recognised expert in the networking and Ethernet industry, has been a member of the company's board of directors for more than two years. Former Linux NetworX Vice President Stephen Hill replaces Glen Lowry as president and CEO.
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| | SuSE Linux 8.0 personal and professional versions available from mid-April
SuSE Linux will launch the eighth generation of Europe's most popular Linux operating system and applications package to be available from software retailers from mid-April. Increased security, the newest KDE desktop, KDE 3, super fast installation and expanded multimedia capabilities highlight the most advanced Linux distribution for professional and private desktop users. |
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| Industry
- Media |
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| | New South Wales Government boosts transport safety with $17 million Virtual SGI Reality Center
The New South Wales (NSW) State Rail Authority (SRA) has signed a five-year, $17 million Australian dollars contract with SGI to build a state-of-the-art virtual reality and simulation centre that will enhance training and education levels for all State Rail employees. The project demonstrates the State Rail Authority's commitment to maintaining highest standards in NSW transport occupational health and safety.
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| | Compaq Computer and Media 100 bring media supercomputer power to the desktop
Media 100 and Compaq have established a co-marketing and co-development relationship in support of Media 100's newest advanced media system, 844/X and its media supercomputer platform, GenesisEngine. This relationship enables Media 100 and Compaq to provide a powerful workstation to host Media 100's new content design system.
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| | Media 100 introduces 844/X for content design
Media 100 unveiled 844/X, a next-generation system for content design.
844/X delivers real time image processing along with high internal precision to support the arrangement and editing of complex audio-visual content incorporating many layers, to broadcast designers, visual effects artists, and on-line editors. |
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| | SGI demonstrates Visual Area Networking concept at Glasgow Visualization Summit
SGI has showcased advances in collaborative visualisation technology and Visual Area Networking within the scientific, academic, and oil and gas arenas during the SGI Visualization Summit at the Glasgow Science Centre, March 6-8, 2002. Total Fina Elf, de pinxi, the British Museum, the European Space Agency, University of Manchester, and Shell U.K. were among the key customers at the event discussing their innovative use of SGI visualisation technology.
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| Industry
- The Grid |
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| | NCSA selects 7 Silicon Storage Appliances to support terascale, distributed computational Grid applications
The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has selected seven Silicon Storage Appliances, developed by DataDirect Networks, for use in developing and evaluating storage networking solutions for terascale, data-intensive applications.
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| | French ACI Globalisation of Computing and Data Resources project refines grid computing concept
During the Fourth DataGrid Conference in Paris, Michel Cosnard introduced the ACI Globalisation of Computing and Data Resources (GRID) project to the audience. Mr. Cosnard, who is manager of ACI GRID, explained how the ACI GRID initiative reaches beyond the initial phases of grid computing by combining parallel and distributed computing models. ACI GRID will offer scientists a powerful tool to remotely access high-performance systems with large storage and complex calculation capacities in a very transparent way. |
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| | First results and future perspectives of the European DataGrid project
At the DataGrid Conference in Paris, Fabrizio Gagliardi, responsible for the European DataGrid project at CERN funded by the European Commission and supported by no less than 21 partners spread over Europe, presented recent project achievements. Three pilots are currently running in a test-bed powered by the high-speed Géant network. More experiments will be set up in the third quarter of 2002. The DataGrid project passed its first annual review with the European Commission. |
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| | Plug in the grid and have all the computational power you like
Since several decennia, informatics have fundamentally changed the organisation of our society. Thierry Priol, Director of Research at INRIA, described in his talk at the DataGrid Conference in Paris how computational science, allthough fairly young and in constant interaction with mathematical and physical sciences, has been the object of numerous evolutions. The last development has been excessively focused in the media and involves a brandnew computing infrastructure, called the Grid in analogy with the infrastructures for distributed electrical energy. |
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| | The Grid is about connecting people
Is the Grid about connecting computers? Yes it is. Is the Grid about making very large amounts of data available over the Internet? Yes it is. Is it about connecting information sources to create knwowledge? Yes it is. And the list continues. The Grid is not just about very large scale efforts, but also about departments clustering, and about commercial nonstop-self repairing computers. And this is only a selection of the interpretations of what belongs to Grid computing that was heard on the DataGrid conference which was held in Paris. One interpretation, or definiton perhaps, caught my attention: the Grid is about connecting people. The whole DataGrid effort for instance allows 6000 physicists to collaborate better, by having access to the same data, the same programmes and a collaborative working environment. This vision was expressed by Manuel Delfino from CERN during a panel discussion on March 7.
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| | Alberta and British Columbia join forces in $30 million grid project
Scientists from Alberta and British Columbia are meeting to shape a grid of powerful computing resources that will span the two provinces.
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| | Isis pharmaceuticals selects Entropia's DCGrid and joins advisory program
Isis
Pharmaceuticals has entered into an agreement to deploy Entropia's DCGrid enterprise distributed
computing products. Isis also joined Entropia's advisory program, which focuses on PC-based distributed
computing to accelerate life sciences research. |
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| | French government heavily invests in powerful computing and high-speed networks for competitive research
The French Ministry of Research has turned the access for researchers to larger computer systems and information and communications technologies into a first-class priority. Whatever the scientific disciplines may be, ranging from physics to medicine or social sciences, the use of powerful information tools has become indispensable to the knowledge progress and to its effects on society, pleaded Catherine Roucairol, representative of the French Ministry of Research, at the Fourth DataGrid Conference in Paris. The understanding of large climatological or economic phenomena as well as the analysis of the human genome and matter in general require the increasing use of the most powerful computers in the world and the largest data storage capacities. High-performance tools combined with the use of high-speed networks constitute the necessary equipment for scientific research. International competitivity and the efficiency of the French Research are directly depending on it. |
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| | EuroGrid to focus on HPC-GRID activitation for distributed scientific applications and basic technologies
The DataGrid Conference participants were presented with the initial HPC-GRID results within the EuroGrid project and future plans for setting up Internet grid services to the benefit of the European scientific community by Victor Alessandrini, Director of the French high-performance computing centre IDRIS. The HPC-GRID builds on the technical acquisitions of the German UNICORE project but is now being installed and tested by the supercomputer experts at IDRIS. |
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| | Carl Kesselman takes on expanded leadership role in NPACI as chief software architect
Carl Kesselman, an expert in grid computing, has accepted an invitation to become the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure's (NPACI) chief software architect. In this new role, Kesselman will be instrumental in helping to deploy the TeraGrid and support NPACI infrastructure across the partnership. |
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| | HNF Europe meeting postponed to April 8
The HNF Europe Spring meeting, originally planned on March 21, will be merged with the GSF Workshop in Stuttgart, Germany, and therefore be postponed to April 8, 2002. |
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| | LSF to manage compute farms and accelerate drug discovery and design at Astrazeneca
AstraZeneca, a pharmaceutical company, has chosen Platform LSF to create and manage three heterogeneous large-scale compute farms within its Discovery Function. The computing power of these farms, located on sites in England and Sweden, will be used by AstraZeneca's research and development teams around the world to support one of the best research and development pipelines in the life sciences industry, maximising the company's investment in hardware and software. |
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| | AVAKI announces availability of reference implementation for Secure Grid Naming Protocol
AVAKI has made available the first version of a reference implementation of its Secure Grid Naming Protocol (SGNP). Also released is a prototype
application that demonstrates the key attributes of SGNP, AVAKI's proposed standard for scalable, secure and migration-transparent naming of global grid resources and services. Both are licensed on an open source basis and available through SourceForge.net. |
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| | NERSC to rollout Grid services by the end of the year
The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) will start rollout of DOE Science Grid by the end of this year. Beginning with two supercomputers and a massive storage repository, the DOE Science Grid will ultimately grow into a system capable of processing more than 10 Tflop/s. NERSC intends to make the largest unclassified supercomputer and largest data storage system within DOE available via the Science Grid by December 2002.
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| | NEC wins order for bio-grid computing platform system from Osaka University
NEC Solutions has received an order for a bio-grid platform system for bio research from the Osaka University Cyber Media Center.
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| | SDSC to form Pacific Rim Applications and Grid Middleware Assembly for international collaboration
The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), has formed the Pacific Rim Applications and Grid Middleware Assembly (PRAGMA), an international initiative to establish sustained collaborations and advance the use of the computational grid among a community of investigators at the leading research institutions around the Pacific Rim.
SDSC also organised an inaugural PRAGMA workshop. |
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| | First optical network linking high-resolution visualisation centres for Earth, ocean sciences and homeland security
Two California universities, a California Institute for Science and Innovation, and four California-based companies unveiled the world's first visualisation complex dedicated to Earth and ocean sciences, linking wide-screen, "immersive" environments over a 2.5 gigabit-per-second optical network. The group also dedicated a permanent Visualisation Center at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), linked to a similar facility at San Diego State University (SDSU) through 44 miles of optical fiber, with optical switches and 3.2-million-pixel screens at each end.
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| | Three new Avaki customers to accelerate drug discovery using comprehensive grid software
Three drug discovery organisations have licensed AVAKI 2.1: software that combines both compute and data grid capabilities into a single product. Gene Logic, Infinity Pharmaceuticals, and Structural Bioinformatics.
(SBI) will use Avaki's technology to provide shared access to critical data and applications and improve the utilisation of information technology resources. As a result, these companies can speed their data and analytic products to market helping to accelerate the drug discovery
process.
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| | MSC.Software launches enhanced Web-based simulation services
MSC.Software Corporation has re-launched the MSC.Software Simulation Center, a Web-based service for engineers worldwide to solve their engineering problems and perform sophisticated analysis via the Web. The enhanced MSC.Software Simulation Center now includes SimAssist, a "full service offering" where customers can outsource their engineering projects to MSC.Software services professionals in addition to performing their own design and testing analysis in an on-line environment.
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| | IBM Global Services executive challenges industry to focus on technology integration
Senior Vice President and Group Executive of IBM Global Services Doug Elix challenged the IT industry to stop focusing on unleashing the power of IT and look at ways to unleash the enterprise instead. Elix said that without open standards, it will be impossible for companies now locked into proprietary platforms to share data, applications or computing power. He cited the recent joint proposal between IBM, the Globus Project and Microsoft for industry-wide adoption of the Open Grid Services Architecture as an example of this new spirit of openness.
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| | Platform Computing hosts distributed and grid computing web seminars in March 2002
Platform Computing organises two live web seminars on distributed and grid computing. The first one on March 12 at 4pm is titled "Grid Computing: A Strategic Business Solution" and the second one on March 14 at 5pm is called "Supercharge Your Technology Now". |
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| | Blackstone releases Blueprint for scalable, high-throughput scientific and technical computing environments
Blackstone Computing has made public its reference design or "Blueprint" for highly scalable, high-throughput compute farms, a hardware topology in which networked servers are pooled together as a single, powerful computing resource. With domain-specific experience in life sciences and semiconductor design, the company has helped dozens of companies establish successful compute farms based on this Blueprint. |
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| | Platform releases Platform Site Assure 2.1 to boost enterprise grid performance
Platform Computing has released Platform SiteAssure 2.1, a resource management solution that monitors and actively manages distributed computing resources across the enterprise. By ensuring the availability of applications and services and dynamically reconfiguring workloads, Platform SiteAssure 2.1 dramatically boosts enterprise performance and productivity, while reducing the risks often associated with deployment of a highly complex IT infrastructure. |
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| | J.D. Edwards & Company opened a clustered
J.D. Edwards & Company opened a clustered
solutions laboratory in Denver, Colorado. The cluster lab, powered by Compaq
ProLiant servers running Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
Clustering (MSCS) and SQL Server 2000, provides a clustered fail-over environment
that enables J.D. Edwards to test, prove, and demonstrate a high availability solution offering for its supply chain, CRM and ERP software. |
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| | Grid Computing Planet Conference and Expo debuts in San Jose June 17-18th
Grid Computing Planet 2002 Conference and Expo will bring together Grid technology researchers, developers, vendors and users to learn, exchange ideas, and hear Grid computing success stories. The event also will feature an interactive exhibit floor enabling Grid technology vendors to showcase their products and answer questions. |
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| Networking
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| | KPNQwest delivers pan-European IP VPN for Opodo
KPNQwest has signed a contract with Opodo to provide a multi-site IP VPN connecting sites across Europe. Opodo is a new on-line travel company created by nine of Europe's leading airlines: Aer Lingus, Air France, Alitalia, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, KLM, and Lufthansa. |
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| | KPNQwest chosen to stream Eurovision Song Contest
KPNQwest, a pan-European data communications and hosting company, has signed an agreement with the Estonian national public broadcaster to provide the content delivery services and backbone infrastructure for the Eurovision Song Contest. The event, now in its 46th year, is scheduled to take place on the 25th May in Tallinn, Estonia. This year promises to be a big hit reaching some 100 million viewers worldwide. |
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| Networking
- HPCN industry |
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| | FibreCAT S80 from Fujitsu Siemens provides high-speed storage with 2 Gbit/s fibre channel technology
Storage systems for current and future needs require a high degree of scalability, flexibility and security. FibreCAT RAID storage systems not only satisfy these requirements but also offer outstanding integration into the open system environments of Fujitsu Siemens Computers and many other server platforms. Failsafe FibreCAT systems are disk storage subsystems based 100% on Fibre Channel (FC) technology and have redundant access paths. They can run on all certified servers with FC ports as well as within Storage Area Networks (SAN).
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Primeur Weekly is published per e-mail. Check out the subscription information for more details how to subscribe. You can find the
back issues on the Primeur web site. The EuroFlash! and USflash! are published together with ESIS - European Supercomputing Information Service.
© 2002, Genias Benelux
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