Silicon Graphics Deploys Ireland's Fastest Supercomputer in Just One Day
06 February 2009 - 9:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
At Irish Centre for High-Performance Computing, New SGI Altix ICE
System Powers Climate Change and Life Sciences Research SUNNYVALE,
Calif., Feb. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ireland's most powerful
computer was installed in three hours and powered up in just one
day, thanks to a rapidly deployable computing platform from Silicon
Graphics, Inc. (SGI) (NASDAQ:SGIC) that is transforming what users
can expect from supercomputer deployments. Installed in November at
the Irish Centre for High-End Computing (ICHEC), "Stokes," a new
SGI(R) Altix(R) ICE 8200 system that operates at up to 25.1
trillion operations per second, is ranked No. 117 on the Top500
list of the world's fastest computers. Perhaps more significantly,
the latest ICHEC supercomputer delivers 87.6 percent of its peak
performance when running the LINPACK benchmark - the best
efficiency of any industry-standard system appearing in the list's
top 225 systems. This remains a serious factor for scientific and
engineering institutes that use MPI and seek to minimize run times,
processor counts and power use while maximizing job throughput.
ICHEC selected Silicon Graphics after a competitive evaluation in
which the SGI Altix ICE system delivered the highest performance in
benchmark tests. Other factors included low cost of ownership,
Silicon Graphics' renowned application support and collaboration
with customers, positive assessments from other SGI Altix ICE
users, and the reliability and scalability of the acclaimed
integrated blade platform. The purchase was financed mainly through
e-INIS, a national collaborative project coordinated by the Dublin
Institute for Advanced Studies and funded by Ireland's Higher
Education Authority together with contributions from University
College Dublin and the National University of Ireland, Maynooth.
Operated by ICHEC on behalf of the Irish research community, the
system will allow national researchers to address some of the
world's most pressing scientific challenges. The Altix ICE system
will accelerate efforts to develop whole-earth weather and climate
models, perform complex DNA sequencing, and simulate the immune
response to HIV infection. "This new system from Silicon Graphics
not only meets the application performance levels the company
promised, but it exceeds them," said Dr. J.-C. Desplat, Associate
Director at ICHEC, Ireland's first national computing center
(http://www.ichec.ie/). "We now have a national resource that
dramatically improves our ability to solve more complex problems
involving ever-larger data volumes. The SGI Altix ICE architecture
gives researchers the flexibility to pursue multiple courses of
investigation rapidly and interactively - a vital advantage that
simply was not available to them before now. On top of all this,
the ability to use Stokes so quickly means we don't have to keep
researchers at bay during a long, frustrating deployment. With
Silicon Graphics, we were up and running right away." The Future of
Supercomputing: Immediate ROI The ICHEC system is the latest
installation of an acclaimed SGI platform that typifies a new kind
of supercomputer - one that delivers world-class performance
without requiring months to put into service. With a tightly
integrated and modular design that simplifies deployment, the SGI
Altix ICE platform allows customers to realize a return on their
investment sooner than is possible with traditional supercomputer
systems. For instance, the ICHEC system was available to users
within three weeks of arriving on site. "Now more than ever,
organizations are under pressure to quickly derive value from their
strategic technology investments," said Dr. Eng Lim Goh, chief
technology officer, Silicon Graphics. "ICHEC's Stokes system makes
good on that promise, delivering nearly immediate productivity to
researchers with one of the world's most powerful supercomputers.
Silicon Graphics is proud to provide the Republic of Ireland with
this vital national resource." Additional Details on Stokes: --
Stokes is powered by 640 Intel(R) Xeon(R) processors (totaling
2,560 cores) and features 5.1 trillion bytes, or Terabytes (TB), of
memory. It is connected via InfiniBand an 84TB Panasas ActiveStor
parallel file storage solution. -- The Panasas solution utilizes
Panasas' InfiniBand routers for seamless connectivity between
compute and storage systems. -- Reflecting the industry-standard
nature of the SGI Altix ICE platform, ICHEC's system was deployed
in custom racks from APC. -- For more information on ICHEC research
projects, visit: http://www.ichec.ie/research Multimedia: -- ICHEC
video:
http://www.sgi.com/company_info/newsroom/press_releases/2009/february/
ichec_video.html e-INIS - The Irish National e-Infrastructure
e-INIS (http://www.e-inis.ie/) is a federation of core electronic
infrastructure providers dedicated to the provision of a
sustainable national e-infrastructure for the support of advanced
research activities in Ireland. The project is funded under the
Irish Higher Education Authority's Programme for Research in
Third-Level Institutions (PRTLI), a component of the National
Development Plan. By coordinating and consolidating the activities
of the national research infrastructure providers, e-INIS provides
a cohesive e-infrastructure of a scale that enables internationally
competitive research. The acquisition of the SGI Altix ICE, by
project partners ICHEC, is part of ongoing strategic activities
intended to rationalise national investment in world-class ICT and
support infrastructure. Silicon Graphics, Inc. Silicon Graphics,
Inc. (SGI) (NASDAQ:SGIC), is a leader in high-performance
computing. SGI delivers a complete range of high-performance server
and storage solutions along with industry-leading professional
services and support that enable its customers to overcome the
challenges of complex data-intensive workflows and accelerate
breakthrough discoveries, innovation and information
transformation. SGI solutions help customers solve their computing
challenges whether it's enhancing the quality of life through drug
research, designing and manufacturing safer and more efficient cars
and airplanes, studying global climate, providing technologies for
homeland security and defense, or helping enterprises manage large
data. With offices worldwide, the company is headquartered in
Sunnyvale, California, and can be found on the Web at
http://www.sgi.com/. (C) 2009 SGI. All rights reserved. SGI, the
SGI cube, Altix and the SGI logo are registered trademarks of SGI
in the United States and/or other countries worldwide. Linux is a
registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in several countries. Intel,
Xeon and Itanium are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel
Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other
countries. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property
of their respective owners. MEDIA CONTACT Marla Robinson
256.773.2371 SGI PR HOTLINE 408-524-2810 DATASOURCE: Silicon
Graphics, Inc. CONTACT: Marla Robinson of Silicon Graphics, Inc.,
+1-256-773-2371, ; or SGI PR HOTLINE, +1-408-524-2810 Web Site:
http://www.sgi.com/
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