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News Release

Last modified: Thursday, August 24, 2006

Run, Big Red, run!

On August 22, Indiana University officials and other dignitaries celebrated the first run of Big Red, the university's new supercomputer system, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at IU Bloomington's Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Facility at the Wrubel Computing Center, located at 2711 E. 10th St.

The fastest academic supercomputer in the U.S., Big Red also is the 23rd fastest in the world, according to a list of the world's most powerful computer systems. The supercomputer system -- an IBM e1350 BladeCenter Cluster -- is also the fastest of its type in the world.

Big Red's considerable capabilities will be used at IU to support the work of researchers in fields of study ranging from astronomy and physics to ethnomusicology and medical sciences. The speedy machine also will help to realize some of the key goals of the Indiana METACyt Initiative -- and of the Indiana University Life Sciences Strategic Plan -- allowing IU's life scientists to analyze massive amounts of biological data and perform path-breaking simulations of biological phenomena.

Major funding for the Big Red supercomputer comes from the Indiana Metabolomics and Cytomics Initiative (METACyt), a $53 million grant from the Lilly Endowment Inc. to advance life sciences research at IU Bloomington and in Indiana.

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