Director's Forum
ARL MSRC adds significantly more power with TI-04 upgrades
I have never ceased to be amazed at how rapidly computational technology has evolved over my lifetime. In the early part of the ‘80s, back when sneakernet was king, I begged Ballistic Research Laboratory brass for a high performance computer–you know, something like a single-processor Cray 1, complete with 8 MB of memory and disk subsystem totaling 2.4 GB.
Now fast forward to today: Our recent Technology Insertion 2004 (TI-04) acquisitions, including a Linux NetworX Evolocity II system, an IBM cluster and a Silicon Graphics Altix system, will push our total computing capability from 9.1 TFLOPS to 35.9 TFLOPS.
The three systems, which are the first major commodity-based symmetric multiprocessor supercomputers utilized in the High Performance Computing Modernization Program Office, will be introduced to the ARL MSRC this summer.
The most powerful of the new systems, the Linux NetworX Evolocity II system, is based on 3.6 GHz Intel Xeon processors arranged in 1,024 two-processor nodes using the Myrinet interconnect. This system alone will increase the ARL MSRC’s computational power by nearly 14 TFLOPS.
A second system, the 2,304-processor commodity cluster from IBM, is based on 1,152 dual-2.2 GHz AMD Opteron processors and a Myrinet interconnect. The system will increase the ARL MSRC’s computational capability by more than 10 TFLOPS.
The last of the three systems is a Silicon Graphics (SGI) 256-processor single system image Altix system with SGI’s NumaLink interconnect. This system will add an additional 2 TFLOPS to the HPC environment.
Overall, the systems will lead to a significant increase in computational power–the challenge will be to take this new technology and integrate it flawlessly. For more information on the ARL MSRC’s monumental upgrade, read Mike McCraney’s article about TI-04 on page 6.
Speaking of new systems, the ARL MSRC’s TI-03 acquisition, the first Linux Cluster Evolocity II system, has been earning high marks from users.
Installed in October 2003, the Evolocity II system recently performed well on a CFD++ code. Dr. Jubaraj Sahu tested CFD++ on the Linux NetworX alongside our SGI Origin 3000, SP3, and SP4 systems. The benchmarking results for this code? The Evolocity II system outperformed all three systems. Visit www.arl.hpc.mil/userservices/benchmarks/cfd++.html to see the results. I’m confident the ARL MSRC’s TI-04 acquisitions will perform just as well!
Since our last issue, the ARL MSRC has been on the road, participating in both the Supercomputing 2003 Conference in Phoenix, AZ., and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) 42nd Annual Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit in Reno, NV. The center’s presence was felt at both shows as many ARL MSRC personnel, including myself, were actively involved in both conferences. Additionally, Mike McCraney, Tom Kendall and I wrote a paper titled, “HPC Technology Trends–An ARL MSRC Perspective,” which was presented by Mike McCraney at the AIAA show. Make sure you read Ric Kositzke’s stories on both of the technical meetings on pages 10 and 11.
Kositzke also profiles two of our hostnames’ namesakes, Professor John G. Brainerd and Gen. Henry H. Shelton on page 8. His article also includes information about the IBM NH-2 SMP P3 (Brainerd) and the IBM pSeries 690 SP (Shelton).
Also, please read a new section called Challenge Projects. In the section, Dr. Sahu provides details on his interesting research on time-accurate aerodynamic modeling of synthetic jets. Dr. Sahu's story appears on page 18.
Finally, the editors that bring you Link have made a conscious effort to improve not only the look and feel of the magazine, but also create a relationship between the staff and you, our users. Please email the Link staff if you have a suggestion as to how Link can better serve you. You can find editorial information on page 27.
We will meet again soon.
- Charlie