| Primeur Monthly - issue October 2003 |
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| Atlantic |
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| PNNL supercomputer fastest open system in USA |
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The Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is now home to the United States' fastest operational unclassified supercomputer. The laboratory's 11.8 Tflop/s industry-standard HP Integrity system came to full operating power this week, marking the next advance in high-performance computing designed to enable new insights in the environmental and molecular sciences, including chemistry, biology, climate and subsurface chemistry.
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| SC2003 Panels and Workshops to feature topics in extreme computing |
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The SC2003 conference technical programme will include a thought-provoking set of panel discussions led by the top experts on issues ranging from the approaching "data tsunami" to SuperNetworking. In addition, the conference's technical registrants will have access to in-depth, interactive workshops that will delve into topic such as the 100,000 Processor Challenge and desktop Grids.
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| Industry
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HPCN industry |
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| Powerful Linux OS-based SGI system to serve as U.S. military computing prototype |
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The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), Washington, D.C., is the company's first customer under its global beta programme to install a 128-processor single system image SGI Altix 3000 supercomputer. The record-setting system will help military and civilian researchers push the boundaries of open-source Linux applications to solve some of the most challenging computational problems.
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| Pallas to be acquired by Intel |
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The HPC part of Pallas will be taken over by Intel. The Vampir products, Unicore, MPI and benchmarking support of Pallas will be integrated with the already available Intel HPC software that also includes compiler technology from the previous Kuck Associates acquisition. All 23 people working at the Pallas HPC offices in Bruehl will become employee of Intel.
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| NEC improves performance of the SX-6 Vector Supercomputer |
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NEC improves the performance of its vector computer from 8 to now 9 GigaFlop/s. Additionally the company doubles the size of the main memory. Thus the performance of biggest system with 1024 processors (128 nodes) grows to 9.2 TeraFlop/s.
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| Computer scientists unveil architecture for embedded single-chip supercomputer supported with $11.1 million DARPA funding |
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Dr. Doug Burger and Dr. Stephen Keckler at the University of Texas at Austin in the USA have designed an adaptive, high-performance microprocessor that could revolutionise computing. In collaboration with IBM, they are constructing a prototype system based on this architecture. This new architecture, called TRIPS (the Tera-Op Reliable Intelligently Adaptive Processing System), is designed to provide supercomputer performance on a single chip. The two computer scientists are leading a team funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop the TRIPS prototype microprocessor and system. The TRIPS architecture will scale in future implementations to deliver more than one trillion operations per second by 2010.
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| New AMD Opteron processors add more choice and flexibility for 32- and 64-bit computing |
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AMD has added the AMD Opteron processor models 846 and 146 to its line-up of evolutionary server and workstation chips. Both processors provide leading-edge 32-bit application performance while allowing businesses to transition to 64-bit applications as their needs require.
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| Bull announces its NovaScale Blade Series |
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Bull's latest generation of high-end open servers dedicated to business and scientific applications is the NovaScale Blade Series. Bull NovaScale is a fully modular server range based on standard building blocks offering an exceptional price/performance ratio.
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| ARSC and Cray release portable BioLibrary |
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The Arctic Region Supercomputing Center (ARSC) has released a new portable version of the Cray Bioinformatics Library (CBL). The library, which was developed in cooperation with Cray Inc. by ARSC MPP Specialist James Long, contains the same functions as the CBL, but is also compatible with hardware systems other than Cray.
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| IBM leads server market |
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IBM increased sales of its servers by 10.1 percent, to $3.2 billion, in the second quarter, giving it 30.4 percent of the $10.6 billion market, according to a marketing research report from IDC. HP was second with $2.9 million, Sun third with $1.4 million.
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| RackSaver delivers best price/performance server powered by the AMD Opteron processor |
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RackSaver has issued the Transaction Processing Performance Council's (TPC-C) results for its latest enterprise-class server, the RS-2164/op-r, powered by the AMD Opteron processors. The TPC-C benchmark results revealed a sizable gap in the price/performance ratio in favour of RackSaver when measured among the industry's top makers, including IBM, Dell and HP. RackSaver's RS-2164/op-r has a cost of $2.06/tpmC, which is more economical than the nearest competitor at $2.25/tpmC.
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| University Of Utah selects AMD Opteron and Angstrom Microsystems for its cluster |
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The University of Utah has selected AMD Opteron processor-based systems from Angstrom Microsystems for a new supercomputing cluster scheduled to be delivered by October 2003. The 500-node cluster is designed to use 1000 AMD Opteron processors and is part of the University's plan to provide the vast computational power needed in its biomedical research.
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| SC20003 tutorials to offer hands-on experience in cutting-edge technologies |
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Registration is now open for 29 tutorials, on topics ranging from new programming tools to quantum information processing, to be presented as part of this year's conference, which will convene with the theme of "Igniting Innovation" from November 15-21 in the Phoenix Civic Plaza Convention Center. Seating is limited for each of the tutorials, which are either half-day or full-day sessions, depending on the topic.
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| IBM eServer BladeCenter increases performance and lowers cost |
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IBM has enhanced the eServer BladeCenter. Systems based on these enhancements, including the latest Intel Xeon Processor technology, have also set new benchmarks that establish BladeCenter the world's most powerful blade server with 2 processors.
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| Cray gets additional $17.5 million development money from US government |
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Cray has signed an agreement with the U.S. government to pursue the development of next-generation supercomputer technologies. The agreement calls for Cray and the government to each invest $17.5 million over the next two years.
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| Sun outpaces high performance and technical computing market |
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Sun Microsystems says it was the only vendor to outgrow the overall HPTC market year-to-year in unit shipments, according to IDC's Q2CY03 Technical Server report. Sun grew 43 percent versus 30 percent for the overall market. This quarter also marked Sun's entry into the Technical Capability segment, which tracks systems configured and purchased to solve the largest, most demanding problems.
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| Integrated RISC/DSP core provides potent platform for accelerating volume Asic projects |
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Cambridge Consultants Ltd (CCL) is releasing a ready-integrated combination of its lean RISC and DSP cores, providing a time saving solution for ASIC and SoC applications involving data-intensive processes. Royalty free, and capable of being implemented in as few as 20,000 gates, the processor combination offers a very economic and efficient solution for high-volume and battery-powered applications.
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| Xilinx FPGAs flying aboard Optus Communications satellite |
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Xilinx's Virtex radiation tolerant FPGAs have been deployed on board Optus C1, the largest hybrid commercial and defence communications satellite ever launched. The UHF payload for the communications satellite was designed and manufactured by Raytheon in St. Petersburg Florida under contract with Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Japan, and was launched on June 11, 2003 for the use of the Australian Defence Force.
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| Tarebyte and RackSaver to deliver scalable backup servers |
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RackSave and TareByte Solutions partner to deliver high performance online backup for the data warehouse marketplace. The TareByte Backup Server (TBS) is a joint development between RackSaver and TareByte Solutions.
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| Jim Mitchell to lead Sun's DARPA HPCS Research and Development programme |
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Dr. Jim Mitchell, Sun Fellow and Vice President of Sun Microsystems Laboratories, will lead Sun's High Productivity Computing Systems (HPCS) Research and Development Programme. Funded in part by the recent three-year $50 million grant from DARPA, the HPCS research programme will explore novel approaches to the hardware and software total system design leading to the next generation of supercomputers.
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| Sun's N1 installed at over 60 sites |
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Sun has more than 60 customers deploying N1 solutions, including Cingular, DaimlerChrysler and Deutsche Bahn AG. The company also announced expanded partnerships, availability of N1 technologies in iForce Solution Centers worldwide, an N1 Early Deployment Programme and the N1 Center of Excellence which provides dedicated N1 consulting expertise.
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| Sun leads wordwide Unix server market |
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Quarter-to-quarter, Sun outperformed the overall UNIX server market in both unit and vendor revenue growth, and maintained its position as the worldwide leader in both categories, according to the 2Q03 Worldwide Server Database by Gartner Dataquest. The company's performance also resulted in growth in the overall OS category.
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| Industry
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Media |
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| SGI visualization supercomputer prepares NASA for shuttle return to flight |
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NASA, United Space Alliance (USA) and Silicon Graphics did create one of the world's highest performing visual film analysis systems. SGI provided the complete state-of-the-art, greater than high-definition imaging solution, including scanning capabilities, image analysis capabilities and time-synched review capabilities of multiple cameras. The system, built by SGI Professional Services, is currently being used to review and analyze previous shuttle flight data at the NASA Ice/Debris Team's Image Analysis Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida in preparation for the shuttle fleet's return to flight.
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| SGI debuts InfiniteStorage solutions for broadcast and production |
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At IBC 2003, September 12-16, Silicon Graphics debuts new SGI InfiniteStorage solutions for broadcast and production. SGI InfiniteStorage accelerates work flows for broadcasters and production facilities by giving all systems access to the same data at the same time at any required speed-through a combination of SAN/NAS architecture. Sharing data rather than moving it typically doubles work flow efficiency. The open nature of the SGI CXFS shared filesystem allows facilities to choose the best tools for the job without operating-system constraints and enables easy integration of media management tools.
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| Immersive 3D simulation environment helps radiotherapists visualize cancer treatment plans |
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A large-scale immersive display system is helping university and industry researchers at the University of Hull in the United Kingdom gain deeper understanding of highly complex data. The ability to view and manipulate three-dimensional models and simulations in an immersive, volumetric space is enhancing communications and improving collaboration among research teams. The system helped the staff at an area medical centre demonstrate how 3D visualization can improve the planning and administration of radiation treatment for cancer patients.
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The Grid |
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| SDSC Releases Storage Resource Broker Version 2.1.2 |
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The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UCSD has released version 2.1.2 of the SDSC Storage Resource Broker (SRB) middleware package, which enables scientists to create, manage, and collaborate with flexible, unified "virtual data collections" that may be stored on heterogeneous data resources that are distributed across a network.
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| Grid matures |
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Over the recent two years, CSC (the Finnish IT Center for Science) has been placing increasing emphasis on the maturing of Grid activities. CSC surveys the current Grid technologies and tools, shares information on the Grid in various fields of science, supports the development of the Grid infrastructure in Finland, and participates in national and international Grid activities. CSC is currently involved in two European grid activities: the European Network for Advanced Computing Technology for Science project, or ENACTS for short, and the European DataGrid project, both funded by the European Union.
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| Oracle 10g, the Grid, GGF and the new standardisation organisation |
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For a company that just entered the Grid, Oracle has already attracted a lot of attention. Claiming to bring Grid computing to the commercial enterprise in an integrated fashion and during the introduction a few weeks ago, announcing the plan to form a new commercial Grid standardisation organisation. In Amsterdam we talked to Oracle's Chuck Rozwat who explained that, indeed, there are plans and discussions with several companies to form a new organisation. He also explained what he sees as the main standardisation issues and expressed his views on the Global Grid Forum. And, of course, the 10g Grid product set and how it relates to the overall Grid picture.
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| Grease results in GridAssist |
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DutchSpace has released GridAssist, a middleware Grid tool that lets one create a workfolow of computing jobs in a graphical user interface. It also assists with resource discovery. GridAssist is a spin-off of the European Space Agency (ESA) funded project Grease.
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| DAS-2 is a Grid that works |
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The Grid is about connecting heterogeneous resources from different organisations in a seamless, secure, and efficient way. Today, we have still a long way to go to reach that goal. At the Free University of Amsterdam, computer scientists have simplified the problem by trying to create an efficient homogeneous Grid infrastructure and developing a transportable programming environment. At the Dutch National ICT conference in The Hague, Henri Bal explained this approach is paying off: more algorithms can be run efficiently on the Grid as one expects. Earlier in the week, Rob van Nieuwpoort defended his thesis "efficient Java-Centric Grid-Computing" describing the Ibis system.
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| GOME Ozone Analysis on the Grid delivered |
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As part of EDG, ESA and partners, including IPSL, KNMI, NIKHEF, and SARA have concluded the GOME project. This project studied the Ozone analysis on the Grid. NIKHEF representative David Groep showed results during his Grid presentation at the Dutch ICT conference in The Hague.
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| GGF perspectives on commercial Grid standards - Would another consortium be helpful? |
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This week Oracle announced the concept of a new Grid standards organisation aimed at commercial standards, co-operating rather than competing with extant standards organisations including Global Grid Forum. I've not had a chance yet to speak with anyone at Oracle nor have any of the other GGF leaders, and so without more information it's not yet clear what will be the focus of such a consortium. (Charlie Catlett)
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| GridSystems releases InnerGrid Nitya |
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Spanish Grid company GridSystem has released InnerGrid Nitya. According to the company this is a robust, mature platform, which inherits from the Inne | | |
