Since 1986 - Covering the Fastest Computers
in the World and the People Who Run Them
Visit additional Tabor Communication Publications
November 20, 2009
SGI Powers the Number One Open System on TOP500
NASA's supercomputer relies on Altix ICE for climate modeling, top performance and leading energy efficiency
FREMONT, Calif., and PORTLAND, Ore., Nov. 19 -- SC09 -- SGI, a global leader in HPC and datacenter solutions, today announced that, for the second year in a row, NASA's Pleiades Supercomputer at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) facility at Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., was certified by the TOP500 list as one of the fastest supercomputers in the world as measured by the LINPACK Benchmark.
The fastest supercomputer on the November 2009 list based on an open systems approach (commodity processor, operating system and interconnect), the Pleiades supercomputer ranked sixth overall. It is powered by Altix ICE 8200EX, which helps the world's most sophisticated HPC installations solve their most complex scientific computing problems. Recently, the system was enhanced with 2,304 additional Intel Xeon X5570 processors (9,216 cores) to drive advanced earth science research.
"NASA scientists are leading the way in climate, weather and oceanic modeling," said Mark J. Barrenechea, president and CEO of SGI. "This is important work that affects current and future generations. SGI is proud to partner with NASA to provide the necessary infrastructure to enable its research."
One of the most powerful, general-purpose supercomputers ever built, the Altix ICE installation at NASA employs 14,080 quad-core Intel Xeon processors for a total of 56,320 cores in 110 racks, reaching a peak performance of 673 TFLOPS. Pleiades features the world's largest open system using Linux OS, Intel processors and InfiniBand cluster. At 544.3 TFLOPS on 56,320 cores, it is one of the industry's most efficient systems in the Top 10, with 9.7 GFLOPS per core as measured by the LINPACK Benchmark, the industry standard for measuring a system's floating point computing power. Pleiades also includes four petabytes of storage via SGI InfiniteStorage 15000, a high performance SAS-based storage system utilizing high capacity SATA drives.
"We were very pleased with the performance of Pleiades before this enhancement," said William Thigpen, Pleiades project manager at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division at Ames. "With SGI's integration of the new Nehalem processors, we are seeing a 2.4x increase in the science that can be done on the system."
"Platforms based on Intel Xeon series processors, like SGI Altix ICE, have brought essential new capabilities to the supercomputing industry," said Richard Dracott, general manager of Intel's High Performance Computing Group. "We are thrilled to have worked so closely with SGI to develop powerful, fast and energy-efficient systems that excel in the world's most demanding HPC application environments."
The TOP500 list is compiled by Hans Meuer of the University of Mannheim, Germany; Erich Strohmaier and Horst Simon of NERSC/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; and Jack Dongarra of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
About SGI
SGI (NASDAQ:SGI) is a global leader in large-scale clustered computing, high performance storage, HPC and datacenter enablement and services. SGI is focused on helping customers solve their most demanding business and technology challenges. Visit www.sgi.com for more information.
-----
Source: SGI
Discussion
There is 1 discussion item posted.
not #1 open system
Submitted by jeff.science
on Nov 20, 2009 @ 6:26 PM EST
The headline - "SGI Powers the Number One Open System on TOP500" - is neither justified by the article content nor true. Jaguar is the undisputed #1 supercomputer in the world and is an open system. I don't see how NASA has an open system, since while it is not used for weapons research, user accounts are not generally available to outsides and I'm 98% certain they run classified research on that machine.
Post #1
|
Join the Discussion |
Sponsored Links
Businesses that want to be on the cutting edge of their industries are increasingly turning to high-performance computing (HPC) solutions to handle complex compute processes and speed up their rate of innovation. Download this Executive Brief to see how businesses in energy, life sciences and entertainment put HPC solutions to work in their operations.
Accelerate your science with Seneca
One of the first HPC providers installing a 4X NVIDIA Kepler K-20 cluster. Invites you to a free evaluation on Seneca’s NVIDIA K20 Kepler cluster, pre-loaded with AMBER, NAMD, LAMMPS
Webinar: Programming Heterogeneous X64+GPU Systems Using OpenACC
Join Michael Wolfe as he compares the advantages and costs of using both low-level models and the directive-based OpenACC model for programming accelerated heterogeneous systems. Registration is free.
- PGI 2013: OpenMP 1.5X faster than GCC, new GNU-compatible OpenACC C++ compiler, CUDA 5 and Tesla K20 support, and more.
- Visualize Historical Usage for Optimized Returns on HPC Investments
- Receive Higher Application Performance with end-to-end 56GbE
- Acer and Altair simplify cluster computing
- Memory Debugging Challenges in Parallel and Distributed Applications
- The Accelerated Genomics Cloud $25,000 Giveaway
- Introducing the Cray CS300 Cluster Supercomputer Series
- ClusterStor™ 1500 – High Performance Efficiency
RSS Feeds
Feeds by Topic
- Applications
- Developer Tools
- Interconnects
- Middleware
- Networks
- Processors
- Storage
- Systems
- Visualization
Feeds by Industry
Feeds by Content Type
- Features
- Blogs
- Short Takes
- Off the Wire
- Whitepapers
- Multimedia
- HPC Soundbite Podcasts
- HPCwire Job Bank
Subscribe to All Content
May 21, 2013
- Cyber Network Gears Up for Growth in the Cloud With IBM PureSystems
- New OMAP5432 Processor-Based Evaluation Module From Texas Instruments
- TwinStrata Introduces On-Demand Disaster Recovery as Service for VMware Users
- Weidlinger Launches PZFlexCloud Using CliQr Technologies
- "Places2Be" Project to Boost European Leadership Around FD-SOI
May 20, 2013
- Cray and VBRX to Host Event for Upstream Applications in Oil and Gas
- Dell to Deliver Public Cloud Through Partner Ecosystem
- Mentor and Tezzaron Optimize Calibre 3DSTACK for 2.5/3D-ICs
- Cloud Provider Selects Mellanox's InfiniBand as Their Cloud Interconnect
- Xyratex to Present at Barclay Telco and Media Event
May 17, 2013
May 16, 2013
- D-Wave Two Quantum Computer Selected for New AI Initiative
- Mines' Powerful New Supercomputer to Focus on Energy Research
- Kitware Develops Customizable Simulation Framework to Provide HPC for Mid-Sized Manufacturers
- Next HPC Installation Step Initiated at High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart
- HybridCluster2.0 Self-Healing, Ultra-High Availability Capabilities Unveiled
May 15, 2013
- Nominations for SC13 Cray, Fernbach and Kennedy Awards Due July 1
- Mellanox Technologies Ltd. Announces Definitive Agreement to Acquire Kotura, Inc.
- NYSERDA Awards $1.8 Million to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- Bright Computing Named Finalist for the 2013 Red Herring Top 100 North America Award
- Flow Science Releases FLOW-3D/MP 5.0
- NEC Establishes NEC Ukraine to Strengthen Operations in Russia and the CIS
- Fujitsu Receives Supercomputer Order From Nagoya University
- Avere Systems Helps Framestore Create Extraordinary Visual Effects for Blockbuster Films
- Workshop on Modeling and Simulation of Exascale Systems Call for Papers
May 14, 2013
- Multimillion Pound Project to Develop Next Generation Computing Systems
- HPC Simulations Target Nanoscale Materials Under Strain
- New IBM Center in Beijing to Speed Linux Applications on Power Systems
- OpenCL Software Development Kit Fosters FPGA Exploitation
- S&P Capital IQ and Kuberre Systems Sign Data Facilitator Agreement
- Solarflare to Speak at Linux Foundation Enterprise End User Summit
May 13, 2013
- SDSC Hosts First Annual Industry Partners Research Review
- AMD Targets Server Performance with Open 3.0 Release
- BICS Selects Infinera DTN-X for 500G Pan-European Network
- Juniper Systems Celebrates its 20th Anniversary
May 10, 2013
- Two ORNL Researchers, Two Joint Faculty Receive DOE Early Career Awards
- ODCA to Hypervisor and VM Providers: Interoperability is an Enterprise Cloud Requirement
- Special ISC’13 Session to Probe the Thinking behind Europe’s Human Brain Project
May 09, 2013
- Ireland Sprouts Native Top Supercomputer List
- Durham University Cluster Boosts Study of the Stars
- Supermicro Ships New 4U 72x 3.5" Hot-Swappable HDD Storage Platform
- Two Virginia Tech Teams Named Finalists in DARPA Spectrum Challenge
May 08, 2013
- Cloud-Ready GlusterFS 3.4 Beta Now Available
- NCSA Hosts 2013 Private Sector Program Annual Meeting May 13-17 in Champaign/Urbana.
- Seagate Unveils Complete SSD Product Line
- Clustered Systems Installs Efficient 100kW Rack at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
- Penguin Computing Named Open Compute Project Solution Provider
- Silicon Mechanics Shows Computing and Storage Platforms at TechKnowFile
- OrangeFS Available on AWS Marketplace
- Teradata Introduces In-Memory Technology that Supports Big Data Deployments
Most Read Features
- Adapteva Shows Off $99 Supercomputer Boards
- "No Exascale for You!" An Interview with Berkeley Lab's Horst Simon
- Cray Answers Mid-Market's Call
- The Week in HPC Research
- A Conversation with Dr. Hans Meuer and Dr. Horst Gietl
- Saddling Phi for TACC’s Stampede
- Intel’s Big Data to HPC Interconnect
- Supercomputing Vet Champions Quantum Cause
- The Week in HPC Research
- NERSC Managers Shed Light on 'Edison'
Most Read Around the Web
- Speaking Many Languages into the MIC
- Floating Funding to Exascale Island
- Supercomputing's Golden Age?
- New Tome Tells Modern History of Supercomputing
- Sequoia Hits Warp Speed
- HPC and the True Cost of Cloud
- Revolutionizing Tornado Prediction
- CUDA-Designed Robot: It's a Hit!
- Finnish Researchers Welcome New Cray Super
- Running Computational Fluid Dynamics in the Cloud
Most Read This Just In
- IBM and Forrester Webinar to Discuss New Ways to Reduce Cost in HPC and Big Data
- Altera Opens FPGAs to Programmers with SDK, Off-the-Shelf Boards for OpenCL
- D-Wave Two Quantum Computer Selected for New AI Initiative
- New Simulation Speed Record Achieved with Sequoia Supercomputer
- Argonne Training Program on Extreme-Scale Computing Taking Place July 28 - Aug. 9
- AMD Targets Server Performance with Open 3.0 Release
- Brain Outperforms Supercomputers
- Vicor's ChiP Power Component Packaging to Make European Debut at PCIM Europe 2013
- Commercial Quantum Computing Company D-Wave Systems Launches
- Mines' Powerful New Supercomputer to Focus on Energy Research
Feature Articles
CERN, Google Drive Future of Global Science Initiatives
Large-scale, worldwide scientific initiatives rely on some cloud-based system to both coordinate efforts and manage computational efforts at peak times that cannot be contained within the combined in-house HPC resources. Last week at Google I/O, Brookhaven National Lab’s Sergey Panitkin discussed the role of the Google Compute Engine in providing computational support to ATLAS, a detector of high-energy particles at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
Read more...
Saddling Phi for TACC’s Stampede
The Xeon Phi coprocessor might be the new kid on the high performance block, but out of all first-rate kickers of the Intel tires, the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) got the first real jab with its new top ten Stampede system.We talk with the center's Karl Schultz about the challenges of programming for Phi--but more specifically, the optimization...
Read more...
"No Exascale for You!" An Interview with Berkeley Lab's Horst Simon
Although Horst Simon was named Deputy Director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, he maintains his strong ties to the scientific computing community as an editor of the TOP500 list and as an invited speaker at conferences.
Read more...
Short Takes
Running Computational Fluid Dynamics in the Cloud
May 16, 2013 |
When it comes to cloud, long distances mean unacceptably high latencies. Researchers from the University of Bonn in Germany examined those latency issues of doing CFD modeling in the cloud by utilizing a common CFD and its utilization in HPC instance types including both CPU and GPU cores of Amazon EC2.
Read more...
Computing the Physics of Bubbles
May 15, 2013 |
Supercomputers at the Department of Energy’s National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) have worked on important computational problems such as collapse of the atomic state, the optimization of chemical catalysts, and now modeling popping bubbles.
Read more...
Internet2 Awards Program Seeks Innovative Applications
May 10, 2013 |
Program provides cash awards up to $10,000 for the best open-source end-user applications deployed on 100G network.
Read more...
Floating Funding to Exascale Island
May 09, 2013 |
The Japanese government has revealed its plans to best its previous K Computer efforts with what they hope will be the first exascale system...
Read more...
HPC and the True Cost of Cloud
May 08, 2013 |
For engineers looking to leverage high-performance computing, the accessibility of a cloud-based approach is a powerful draw, but there are costs that may not be readily apparent.
Read more...
Sponsored Whitepapers
Best Practices in Big Data Storage
05/10/2013 | Cleversafe, Cray, DDN, NetApp, & Panasas | From Wall Street to Hollywood, drug discovery to homeland security, companies and organizations of all sizes and stripes are coming face to face with the challenges – and opportunities – afforded by Big Data. Before anyone can utilize these extraordinary data repositories, however, they must first harness and manage their data stores, and do so utilizing technologies that underscore affordability, security, and scalability.
Progress in Parallel: the Bull Parallel Programming Center
04/15/2013 | Bull | “50% of HPC users say their largest jobs scale to 120 cores or less.” How about yours? Are your codes ready to take advantage of today’s and tomorrow’s ultra-parallel HPC systems? Download this White Paper by Analysts Intersect360 Research to see what Bull and Intel’s Center for Excellence in Parallel Programming can do for your codes.
Sponsored Multimedia
SGI DMF ZeroWatt Disk Solution
In this demonstration of SGI DMF ZeroWatt disk solution, Dr. Eng Lim Goh, SGI CTO, discusses a function of SGI DMF software to reduce costs and power consumption in an exascale (Big Data) storage datacenter.
Cray CS300-AC Cluster Supercomputer Air Cooling Technology Video
The Cray CS300-AC cluster supercomputer offers energy efficient, air-cooled design based on modular, industry-standard platforms featuring the latest processor and network technologies and a wide range of datacenter cooling requirements.
HPC Job Bank
Featured Events
- June 13, 2013
- June 14, 2013
Think Beyond Plastics Conference
Berkeley, CA
United States
- June 16, 2013
- June 20, 2013
ISC'13
Leipzig,
Germany
.gif)
- June 17, 2013
- June 18, 2013
Forecast 2013
San Francisco, CA
United States
- June 20, 2013
- June 21, 2013
CIO North America
Marina Del Rey, CA
United States
- June 24, 2013
- June 25, 2013
The Trading Show Chicago
Chicago, IL
United States
- June 25, 2013
- June 26, 2013
TERATEC 2013 Forum
Paris,
France
