 his summer,
the Supercomputing Institute made a transition from purchasing supercomputing services
from a resource provider to directly managing and operating the major supercomputing
resources it provides to the University of Minnesota research community. The primary
high-performance computing research tool for the Supercomputing Institute is the
256-processor IBM SP with 192 GB of memory. This machine features the latest Symmetric
Multi-Processor technology and is built with the same nodes as those that power the
Department of Energy's Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative (ASCI) project.
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| 256-processor IBM SP supercomputer
housed at the Supercomputing Institute. |
The IBM SP supercomputer is a 64-node machine with four 332 MHz 604e processors and
3 GB of memory on each node. This machine is twice the size of the one used in the
"Deep Blue" chess match. An additional terabyte and a half of IBM SSA disk
and an IBM 3575 Tape Library are also attached.
In addition to the 256-processor IBM SP, the Supercomputing Institute has recently
acquired a 128-processor SGI Origin 2000 with 64 GB of memory. This machine has a
processor speed of 195 MHz.
The Supercomputing Institute manages and operates both supercomputers and provides
technical support to its users. The 256-processor IBM SP supercomputer and 128-processor
SGI Origin 2000 are located at the Supercomputing Institute�s facilities in the Minnesota
Technology Corridor at the edge of the West Bank on the Minneapolis Campus of the
University of Minnesota.
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| SGI/Cray Origin 2000 supercomputer
housed at the Supercomputing Institute. |
In addition to these supercomputers, the Supercomputing Institute has recently upgraded
its IBM East Bank Laboratory, co-managed by the Supercomputing Institute and Computer
Science Department, to include 72 processors with 36.5 GB of memory and 500 GB of
disk. The Supercomputing Institute also offers its researchers access to a 32-processor
SGI Origin 2000 with 8 GB of memory, an SGI Power Challenge, and a 2-processor Onyx2
as part of its Basic Sciences Computing Laboratory.
With these IBM and SGI resources and laboratories in the Supercomputer Center Building
and Weaver-Densford Hall for scientific development, visualizations, and workstations,
the Supercomputing Institute is providing its researchers with a diversified array
of state-of-the-art tools.
To mark the arrival of the new 256-processor IBM SP supercomputer, the Supercomputing
Institute hosted a dedication ceremony. The ceremony brought together faculty and
student researchers of the Supercomputing Institute, representatives of the University�s
administration, representatives from IBM, and individuals whose efforts helped bring
the supercomputer to the University.
The dedication ceremony featured remarks by Supercomputing Institute Director Professor
Donald Truhlar, outgoing Vice President for Research Mark Brenner, incoming Vice
President for Research Christine Maziar, Institute of Technology Dean H. Ted Davis,
and Vice Provost for Graduate and Professional Education Norma Allewell. In addition,
IBM Client Executive Patrick Carey presented the University of Minnesota with an
IBM Shared University Research Award of IBM RS/6000 43P Model 240 workstations and
a $25 million symbolic check that represented the money that IBM has given to the
University of Minnesota in donations and grants over the years. Associate Vice President
for Development and President of the University of Minnesota Foundation Gerald Fischer
and Chair of the Board of Regents William Hogan were on hand to accept the award. |
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