LLNL reaches new heights of storage performance -- supporting advanced multi-tier compute, simulation and archival supercomputing applications

PORTLAND, Ore., Nov. 18 -- SC09 -- DataDirect Networks, Inc. (DDN), the data infrastructure provider for the most extreme, highest performance computing environments in the world, today announced that the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has added nineteen DDN S2A9900 systems, over 95GB/s of additional storage performance and 3 petabytes of capacity, to its already extensive DDN-based storage environment. With these newly deployed systems, LLNL has crossed the 350GB/s milestone for site-wide DDN storage performance deployed and ranks among the world's largest HPC centers as the paragon of supercomputing storage performance.

For over five years, LLNL has deployed DDN technology to support several of the functions within their HPC environment -- ranging from online HPC system storage to data visualization to archive storage. The DDN S2A9900 storage systems provide a dynamically scalable storage infrastructure that delivers mission-critical uptime, maximum performance and scalability across tens of thousands of drives. The majority of the new S2A9900 systems will be used in conjunction with the Lustre file system to accelerate I/O performance in the computation and simulation environment used by a number of LLNL supercomputers. In addition to supporting the Lustre file system, several of the S2A9900 systems will be deployed to accelerate data archiving for LLNL's IBM HPSS archive system.

"The mission requirements of the Advanced Simulation and Computing program continually demand higher performance and massive data analysis to ensure national security. Storage systems optimized for performance in scalable compute environments, with the highest levels of data integrity and protection, while energy and space efficient are key to our supercomputing environment," said Dr. Mark Seager, assistant department head for advanced technology at LLNL. "Only by partnering with industry leaders on projects like Hyperion can we provide the high performance computing environment that meets the rapidly evolving demands of the research efforts at the core of our Laboratory missions."

"DDN's Extreme Storage technology powers nearly half of the world's Top100 supercomputers and that number continues to increase every year," said Alex Bouzari, CEO and co-founder of DataDirect Networks. "The fact that Lawrence Livermore has once again selected DataDirect Networks reinforces our focus on this highly demanding marketplace. By consistently delivering storage platforms with extreme levels of performance and scalable capacity to address high-speed scientific simulation, computation, data analysis and visualization, we look forward to continuing to help LLNL fulfill its mission to push the boundaries of science and technology."

With over 250 petabytes installed worldwide, DDN Extreme Storage solutions are powering the most demanding storage deployments at HPC centers all over the world. According to the June 2009 Top500.org rankings, DDN systems deliver more aggregate bandwidth to the world's Top500 supercomputers than all other storage providers to the Top500 combined. The world's leading HPC centers depend on DDN technology day-in and day-out to support their research & science missions -- including eight of the world's Top10 HPC systems, 28 of the Top50 and 48 of the Top100 world's fastest supercomputers.

About DataDirect Networks

DataDirect Networks, Inc. is the data infrastructure provider for the most extreme, content-intensive environments in the world -- including the largest online gaming and music sites, social networking applications developers, photo and video sharing services, high performance computing environments, and more than 450 broadcast and post-production facilities around the globe. Having sold over 250 petabytes of Extreme Storage systems worldwide, the company's storage technology delivers massive throughput, scalable capacity, consistency, efficiency and data integrity for today's extremely competitive and evolving markets. Founded in 1998, DataDirect Networks serves customers through its global partnerships with Dell, IBM, Sony and other industry leaders; and through its offices in Europe, India, Asia Pacific, Japan and throughout the US. For more information, go to www.ddn.com or call +1-800-TERABYTE (837-2298).

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Source: DataDirect Networks, Inc.