Code Breaker: HW

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11/24/2009

CSIRO to launch GPU-based supercomputer

http://www.crn.com.au/News/161005,csiro-to-launch-gpu-based-supercomputer.aspx

Uses GPU cluster to trump machines twice its size.

The CSIRO is expected to this week announce the launch of a new supercomputer, which uses a cluster of GPUs (graphical processing units) to gain a processing capacity that competes with supercomputers over twice its size.
The supercomputer is one of the world's first to combine traditional CPUs with the more powerful GPUs.
According to the updated CSIRO website it has 128 Dual Xeon E5462 Compute Nodes (i.e. a total of 1024 2.8GHz compute cores) with 16 GB or 32 GB of RAM, 500 GB SATA storage and DDR InfiniBand interconnect. And it has 64 Tesla S1070 - 256 GPUs with 61440 streaming-processor cores.
The supercomputer has 144-port DDR InfiniBand Switch and an 80 Terabyte Hitachi network attached storage file system.
The CSIRO said the supercomputer 's NVIDIA-based GPU technology can increase the speed of its scientific data crunching by a factor of between 10 and 100.
The CSIRO claimed the system boasted processing capacity of some 200+ teraflops (i.e. over 200 trillion floating point calculations per second), which would appear on face level to be greater than the 140 teraflop-capablesupercomputer announced by the Australian National University last week.
But the CSIRO concedes that these stats can't be taken on a like-for-like basis - the CSIRO supercomputer is 256 Teraflops of "single precision" (32-bit) computing performance, while the ANU machine is 140 Teraflops of"double precision" (64-bit) computing performance.
The CSIRO has more information on the GPU cluster here.
Stay tuned for more on the new supercomputer in this afternoon's edition ofiTnews.
The original version of this story working on pre-release information from the CSIRO incorrectly said that the supercomputer would have 100 Intel Xeon CPU chips and 50 Tesla GPU chips. The error was corrected in this version.

Inside the Datacentre pod with CSIRO GPU Cluster.

CSIRO GPU Cluster racks during installation, front view

CSIRO GPU Cluster compute nodes

CSIRO GPU Cluster racks during installation.

Datacentre pod with CSIRO GPU Cluster.

CSIRO GPU Cluster compute nodes Infiniband cabling and patch panel.

CSIRO GPU Cluster Hitachi data storage, front view

CSIRO GPU Cluster Hitachi data storage, rear view.

CSIRO GPU Cluster Hitachi storage controllers (HNAS)

Cluster Communication rack patch panels.

9/23/2009

SGI Unveils Octane™ III Personal Supercomputer

http://www.sgi.com/products/servers/octaneIII/index.html

Octane III Delivers Unparalleled Performance, Energy Efficiency and Ease of Use to HPC Users in Office Environments

FREMONT, Calif. — September 21, 2009 — SGI® (NASDAQ: SGI) today announced the immediate availability of Octane™ III, the company's first personal supercomputer. This new product takes high-performance computing to a new level by combining the immense power and performance capabilities of a high-performance deskside cluster with the portability and usability of a workstation. The Octane III is uniquely suited for workplace environments and supports a vast range of distributed technical computing applications.

Octane III is office-ready with a pedestal, one-by-two-foot form factor, whisper-quiet operations, easy-to-use features, low maintenance requirements and support for standard office power outlets. While a typical workstation has only eight cores and moderate memory capacity, the superior design of the Octane III permits up to 80 high-performance cores and nearly 1TB of memory for unparalleled performance.

"Octane III makes supercomputing personal again," said Mark J. Barrenechea, president and CEOof SGI. "Our customers have been asking for office environment products with large core counts that are easy to use and whisper-quiet. Octane III brings all of this to the HPC professional, and enables a new era of personal innovation in strategic science, research, development and visualization."

Octane III is easily configurable with single- and dual-socket node choices, and offers a wide selection of performance, storage, graphics, GP-GPU and integrated networking options. Yielding the same leading power efficiencies inherent in all SGI Eco-Logical™ compute designs, Octane III supports the latest Intel® processors to capitalize on greater levels of performance, flexibility and scalability.

"IDC research has shown a growing demand for high-performance deskside supercomputers, and the new Octane III personal supercomputer is designed to directly address the requirements of both the entry level HPC technical server market and the desktop workstation market with a high-performance cluster designed to help close the gap between the desktop and the data center," said Earl Joseph, HPC Program Vice President at IDC. "SGI workstations and servers have been highly regarded by HPC scientists, engineers and analysts, and the new system with up to 80 high-performance cores and 1TB of memory is certain to capture the attention of many HPC computing professionals."

Octane III is available in a variety of configurations:

Ten dual-socket, Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® processor 5500 series-based nodes
One dual-socket, Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® processor 5500 series-based workstation with advanced NVIDIA graphics and/or GP-GPU card support
Nineteen single-socket, Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® processor 3400 series-based nodes
Nineteen single-socket, Dual-Core Intel® Atom™ processor-based nodes

"SGI's Octane III offers a solution for workstation users wanting to reach dramatically higher levels of performance with minimal investment. With the support of up to 19 Intel® Xeon® processors,HPC users looking to enhance their workgroup productivity outside the data center can also utilize the benefits of the Octane III for faster discovery and quicker simulations," said Richard Dracott, General Manager of High Performance Computing at Intel. "With certification from the Intel® Cluster Ready program, Octane III will provide a powerful, easy-to-deploy personal supercomputer."

For a simple, out-of-the-box experience, Octane III ships as a factory-tested, pre-integrated platform with broad HPC application support — powerful enough for the most complex applications in the world. These include fluid dynamics, quantum mechanics, molecular dynamics, seismic processing, data analytics, rendering, visualization and computer-aided design, among many otherHPC applications.

Octane III supports Microsoft HPC Server 2008, SUSE® Linux® Enterprise Server and Red Hat® Enterprise Linux operating systems. Linux configurations include SGI ProPack™ and ISLE™ cluster management software.

Octane III will be on display at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) at Moscone Center, San Francisco,Calif., on September 22-24, 2009, in Booth # 718 at the Technology Showcase in the HyperScale Community.

Availability and Pricing: Octane III is immediately available with Intel® Xeon® processor 5500 series or Intel® Atom™ configurations. The base configuration price starts at $7,995. For more information about Octane III, please visit http://www.sgi.com/OctaneIII.

Note to editors: High-resolution photos of Octane III are available for download atwww.sgi.com/media.

About SGI SGI® is a global leader in large-scale clustered computing, high-performance storage, HPC and data center enablement and services. SGI is focused on helping customers solve their most demanding business and technology challenges. Visit www.sgi.com for more information.

Contact Information:

Schwartz Communications, Inc. Jen Spark 415-512-0770 SGIPR@schwartz-pr.com