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| 30 September 2002 |
EuroFlash no. 525
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Primeur-EnterTheGrid is the premier news service on HPCN, supercomputing and The Grid in Europe. Primeur Weekly delivers the news each week in your e-mail box. Check out http://EnterTheGrid.com for all information on The Grid. Check out the Primeur HPCN web site for the Calendar, the Analysis section with background on the TOP500, the Monthly en Live! special issues, information on HPCN centres and industry.
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As one of the first PC manufacturers worldwide, MEGWARE Computer GmbH is focusing on the novel "InfiniBand Technology". In collaboration with the Technical University of Munich, the Chemnitz-based computer and cluster specialist is building a supercomputer in which the new Bus Technology, called "InfiniBand", will be integrated. In the near future, this technology will replace the currently dominating PCI-Bus technology, which will lead to a next quantum leap in the development of the information and communication technology.
InnerGrid, the software developed by GridSystems to easily integrated Grid technology in corporate intranets, has been awarded the European IST Prize. It has been selected by a group of 16 European experts nominated by Euro-CASE, for its technical excellence, innovative content, and potential market value.
Professor Alexander Reinefeld, Head of the Computer Science Department at Konrad Zuse Institute Berlin and Professor at the Humboldt University Berlin, has received an IBM Faculty Award and 40.000 Dollar. He was honoured for his scientific work in the field of Grid Computing. IBM sponsors with the IBM Faculty Award guiding research work of international scientists in the field of Information Technology.
HP has installed a supercomputer system valued at more than euro 22 million at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (WTSI) in the United Kingdom. The HP AlphaServer system will significantly expand WTSI's scientific research capabilities in the field of genomics and double WTSI's information technology computing power in the next two years.
HP has joined the CERN Openlab project for DataGrid applications. The CERN openlab is an industrial collaboration formed to push the limits of emerging Grid technologies by developing novel solutions to the massive data storage and analysis challenges of both the research community and the IT industry.
As a strategically instrumental developer of the DSP-C language extensions for high-level DSP programming,Amsterdam based ACE Associated Compiler Experts bv has launched a Web site devoted to educating and promoting use of DSP-C. The Web site will initially provide the DSP-C specification, news and events, industry support updates, and comparisons and descriptions for the DSP programming language options. As use of DSP-C continues to grow, the site will expand to include information about the process of the International Standards Organization (ISO) to include the DSP-C specification in the evolving C standard.
MaXware International AS has launched provisioning capabilities in their carrier class MaXware MetaCenter product. Together with the other product offerings from MaXware such as meta-directory middleware and virtual directory, MaXware offers a full software suite to meet the demand for identity management in enterprises.
The IST priority in the 6th Framework Programme of EU research will be presented in the upcoming IST 2002: "Partnerships for the Future" in Copenhagen, Denmark, 4-6 November 2002.
IBM Scientific and Technical Computing Europe is organising a two-day technical workshop on "High Performance Computing in Chemistry and Life Sciences", October 15 and 16, 2002, at the Garching Computer Center (RZG) at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) in Garching, Germany.
Syntegra, British Telecommunication's Consulting and Systems Integration division, and MaXware International AS, Provider of Identity Management Software, enter into partnership within the areas of user administration and access management.
Never before, so much bandwidth has been available to one place on earth as to the WTCW centre in Amsterdam during iGrid2002 last week. No less than 35 Gbit/s bandwidth was available for connections to the USA and Geneva: that is a million times more than an ordinary dial-up connection offers. Even the current plans for SC2002, the world's largest supercomputer exhibition, that will be held later this year, do not yet foresee this type of bandwidth. This type of bandwidth was made possible by using new generation Lambda routers. There was so much bandwidth available that the applications demonstrations had a hard time to fill it up. This despite the fact that there were a number of very bandwidth-intensive applications, like multi-Cave interactions and multi-channel HDTV over Internet. Playing music together with people in Chicago, flying kites that are calculated around the globe, dancing with people in other Caves were some of the non-scientific applications.
Jackie Matisse's "Kites Flying In and Out of Space" is the first high bandwidth art piece ever created. Exhibited at the iGRID2002 Conference hosted by SARA in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, September 23-26, 2002, "Kites Flying In and Out of Space" utilises a "Grid" model for real time steering of calculations on computers distributed over high-speed networks. Each of the 12 kites appearing in the piece utilises up to 15 megabits per second. This art piece uses a total of approximately 180 megabits per second in calculating the forms and theoretically could utilise even more. CAVEs around the world could potentially view this application through a connection to the Starlight high-speed networking programme.
The first long-term, trans-Atlantic 10 gigabit per second wavelength circuit dedicated to research and education, provided by Tyco Telecommunications to the Internet Educational Equal Access Foundation (IEEAF), and provisioned from the US to Europe through the efforts of Internet2 and SURFnet, was inaugurated at iGrid2002 with a demonstration of uncompressed HDTV over IP sponsored by the Pacific Northwest Gigapop and the Research Channel.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $13.5 million over five years to a consortium led by the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). The funds will support design and development of a powerful distributed cyber "infostructure" to support data-intensive scientific research and collaboration. Initial application efforts will be in bioscience and earth sciences research, including environmental, seismic and remote sensing. It is one of the largest Information Technology Research (ITR) grants awarded since the NSF established the programme in 2000.
Linux NetworX has been selected to build the two most powerful Linux clusters in the world for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). LinuxBIOS and the LinuxBIOS Utilities comprise a key component on both systems. LinuxBIOS and LinuxBIOS are utilities for use on the Evolocity line of cluster systems. LinuxBIOS is an Open Source BIOS alternative that provides remote BIOS management capabilities and decreases the boot time for the entire cluster.
The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego, USA (UCSD) will help design and develop the information technology (IT) underpinnings for tomorrow's research in the geosciences, environmental science, biology, and other fields by playing a key role in six Information Technology Research (ITR) initiatives announced today by the National Science Foundation (NSF). These awards are designed to support "visionary work" that could lead to major advances in IT and its applications. Four of the projects involve large $5 million-plus ITR awards, among only seven highly competitive such awards made. SDSC is also participating in two medium-sized ITR awards.
Cray has sold two interconnected Cray SX-6 supercomputers to the University of Toronto. Financial terms were not disclosed. The Cray SX-6 systems will support University of Toronto research related to the Earth's interior and atmosphere. Specific projects include modelling the Earth's magnetic field; simulating ice age development and the accompanying variations in sea level; enhancing a coupled atmosphere-ocean-ice-land climate model; simulating the distribution of methane and carbon monoxide in the troposphere; and modelling the thermal convection process within the Earth's mantle, which causes plate tectonics.
A consortium of research institutions in La Jolla, California, has been awarded $10,5 million over the next five years from the National Science Foundation to establish the world's leading centre in the emerging field of theoretical biological physics. The new Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, or CTBP, will combine the intellectual resources of the University of California, San Diego's Division of Physical Sciences, the San Diego Supercomputer Center at UCSD, the Scripps Research Institute, and The Salk Institute for Biological Studies.
Netezza has launched the Netezza Performance Server (NPS) 8000 Series a tera-scale data appliance for Fortune 1000 companies and other data-intensive organisations that need faster, more sophisticated Business Intelligence (BI). The NPS appliance delivers 10 to 20 times the performance for large, complex and constantly growing BI efforts at half the cost of existing systems.
RackSaver has introduced its RS-1100VMX BladeRack line of "MegaDense" servers. The new "MegaDense" BladeRack will house up to 88 RS-1100VMX RackBlades featuring two 2.8GHz Intel Xeon processors per blade for a total of 176 processors in a single 7' cabinet. RackSaver's "MegaDense" BladeRack line of servers and clusters will be highly sought after by anyone requiring high-performance computing (HPC) power. The oil and gas, life sciences, entertainment, and finance industries, as well as government entities and universities are just a few of the groups always needing greater computing power in a more dense form factor.
Grid Computing Planet 2002 Conference and Expowill be held in Boston, USA October 28-29 and is hosted by Jupiter Research amongst others and produced by Jupitermedia Corporation.
Celera Genomics Group and Applied Biosystems Group, Applera Corporation businesses, and IBM have signed an agreement under which the Applera businesses will use IBM eServer products and services for support of therapeutic discovery research and on-line life sciences applications. IBM and the two Applera businesses also are expected to explore potential collaborations on a wide range of initiatives designed to accelerate drug discovery and development by using advanced information technologies. These initiatives include joint research projects to solve complex, computationally intensive problems related to identifying new drug targets, and developing and co-marketing new life sciences solutions based on both companies' products and technologies.
For automotive manufacturers, large-scale immersive visualisation is bringing new efficiencies to vehicle design. Innovative users of the technology, such as Ford Motor Company, have realised the benefits of integrating immersive visualisation into various stages of the design process. The company has begun using the second of two state-of-the-art visualisation systems in its North American facilities. The first is a large-scale flat wall system in the truck design studio.
Regal Entertainment Group, operator of the United States' largest chain of movie theaters, has begun using new IBM point-of-sale systems and open-source Linux technology to serve millions of customers at its high-volume Regal Cinemas concession stands in one of the first and largest roll-outs of Linux in the retail point-of-sale environment. Regal is also testing a new, in-theater, Linux-based kiosk that will enable movie patrons to purchase tickets or retrieve tickets purchased from an on-line service.
SGI and Advanced Digital Information Corporation have signed a reseller alliance that will make ADIC's entire line of automated tape libraries available through SGI's worldwide sales force.
Terra Soft Solutions showcased 1U Apple Xserves running Yellow Dog Linux at the IEEE Fourth International Conference on Cluster Computing.
The OpenGL Architecture Review Board (ARB) announced that adoption of the OpenGL 1.4 specification is proceeding rapidly. The specification was ratified in July by the ARB and the leading graphics hardware vendors have quickly readied their product plans to include support for the new capabilities. Introduced in 1992 by SGI, OpenGL is the industry's leading cross-platform 2D and 3D graphics application programming interface (API). With more than 60 hardware developer licensees today, OpenGL has the broadest industry support of any openly licensed graphics API. Software developers prefer OpenGL for creating interactive 2D and 3D visual applications for computer systems ranging from consumer PCs to graphics workstations and supercomputers.
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© 2002, Genias Benelux