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October 01, 2008
Saudi Arabia Buys Some Big Iron
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Last week, IBM and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) announced a collaboration to build "Shaheen," a 222 teraflop Blue Gene/P supercomputer. When deployed in 2009, it will represent the most powerful computer in the Middle East and one of the top systems in the world. Shaheen is intended to serve KAUST scientists, but will also be shared with a number of other institutions around the world.
Although the 16-rack Blue Gene/P will give the Saudis access to terascale computing next year, KAUST plans to install a petascale machine within two years, leading up to an exascale system when they become available. As such, the new supercomputer appears to be a significant step for Saudi Arabia in becoming a center for scientific research and the larger goal of transforming the country into an information society.
One of the shortest paths to becoming a global R&D player is through the acquisition of supercomputing infrastructure and science expertise, since these are key elements in developing knowledge-based industries, such as energy resource development, bioinformatics, nanotechnology and computational science. All you need is money, and Saudi Arabia has plenty of that. A multi-hundred teraflop machine, such as Shaheen will put the Saudis on par with the top systems in the U.S. and Europe, with the exception, perhaps, of a handful of petascale machines that will be deployed over the next year.
On the expertise side, teaming with IBM and a number of other institutions will enable KAUST to tap into a much larger reservoir of talent. Besides the partners mentioned in the press release -- IBM, MIT, London's Imperial College and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology -- KAUST will also be collaborating with:
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Institut.
- Français du Pétrole.
- National University of Singapore.
- American University in Cairo.
- Technische Universität München.
- GE Global Research Center.
- King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology.
- King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals.
- Saudi Aramco.
We got an opportunity to ask Majid Al-Ghaslan, KAUST's interim chief information officer (and the leader in the acquisition, design and development of the Shaheen supercomputer), a few questions about the upcoming system and how it would be used.
HPCwire: How is King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) funded?
Al-Ghaslan: The University will be supported through a generous endowment established by King Abdullah. This multi-billion dollar fund will be among the largest university endowments in the world.
HPCwire: Can you disclose how much money KAUST has invested in "Shaheen"?
Al-Ghaslan: Because of contractual arrangements between KAUST and IBM, we are not at liberty to disclose the total cost of the supercomputer project. Having said that, the most important thing to realize is that KAUST will always make available the finest tools and world-class facilities, central amongst these is scientific computation capability.
HPCwire: Did you consider any other supercomputing architectures for the KAUST system besides Blue Gene/P? What were the deciding factors that led you to select the IBM system?
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