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IU's IBM supercomputer is upgraded to increase research computing power
Jan. 26, 2000
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University announced today (Jan. 26) that it has carried out a major upgrade to its IBM supercomputer. The upgraded supercomputer is now among the top 25 percent of the most powerful supercomputers in the world and is one of the most powerful in the region.
The IBM RS/6000 SP system was upgraded to a total of 139 processors with a total theoretical peak capacity of 147 billion mathematical operations per second -- what are called gigaflops. Such a machine is extremely fast and flexible, and can handle a large mix of serial and parallel job types.
Many world-class research groups at IU will now have access to a computing resource that will enable them to do new computational research. Supercomputers are vital tools for research in fields as diverse as chemistry, astronomy and environmental science. They allow very complex calculations to be done -- calculations that yield new drugs, better and safer products, and a cleaner environment.
As well as IU's continuing investment in this area, this acquisition was made possible through a major $1 million grant from IBM under its Shared University Research (SUR) program and represents a central component of the university's ongoing relationship with IBM announced in 1999.
"The acquisition of this major new resource by the university will enable IU researchers and graduate students to carry out new computational research, explorations and simulations open to only a limited number of researchers elsewhere in the world," said IU Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer Michael McRobbie. "This also adds another impressive capability in information technology in the state, making IU truly Indiana's supercomputer university."
"As a leading world-class research institution, it is imperative that we make as much computing power as possible available to our researchers," said Craig Stewart, director of research and academic computing for University Information Technology Services. "This system supports disciplines from biology to astrophysics to the social sciences, and it will be used by researchers ranging from graduate students to our internationally recognized computer science faculty."
More than 600 researchers from more than 60 departments on the IU Bloomington and IUPUI campuses have accounts on the SP supercomputer. The SUR grant provided by IBM supports the development and free distribution of high-performance computing software systems being developed by researchers at IU.
For more information about IU's IBM SP supercomputer, see http://sp-www.iu.edu/SP.intro.shtml
(Christine Fitzpatrick, 317-278-1818, cfitzpat@iupui.edu)