High-Performance Computers Are Crucial in Science, Engineering
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"High-performance
computers like the IBM Blue Gene/P are critical in virtually every discipline
of science and engineering, and we are grateful for IBM's help in bringing this
resource to Rice," Provost McLendon said in a statement. "For
individual faculty, the supercomputer will open the door to new areas of
research. The Blue Gene also opens doors for Rice as the university seeks to establish
institutional relationships both in our home city and with critical
international partners like USP."
Unlike the typical desktop
or laptop computer, which has a single microprocessor, supercomputers typically
contain thousands of processors. This makes them ideal for scientists who study
complex problems, because jobs can be divided among all the processors and run
in a matter of seconds rather than weeks or months. Supercomputers are used to
simulate things that cannot be reproduced in a laboratorylike the Earth's
climate or the collision of galaxiesand to examine vast databases like those
used to map underground oil reservoirs or to develop personalized medical
treatments.
USP officials said they
expect their faculty to use the supercomputer for research, ranging from
astronomy and weather prediction to particle physics and biotechnology.
"This significant
investment by IBM is the result of a long-standing collaborative initiative
with Rice where together we have developed a unique and substantial
computational resource for the research community in Houston, across the
country and around the world," said Tony Befi, IBMs senior state
executive for Texas, in a statement. "This new computing capability will
speed the search for new sources of energy, new ways of maximizing current
energy sources, new cancer drugs and new routes to personalized medicine. So
we're excited that Rice has now joined an exclusive club of the world's top
research organizations who use powerful and energy-efficient Blue Gene
supercomputers to solve some of the world's most pressing problems."
In 2009, President Obama
recognized IBM and its Blue Gene family of supercomputers with the National Medal of Technology
and Innovation, the most prestigious award in the United States given to
leading innovators for technological achievement, IBM said.
Including the Blue Gene/P,
Rice has partnered with IBM to launch three supercomputers during the past two
years that have more than quadrupled Rice's high-performance computing (HPC) capabilities.
The addition of the Blue Gene/P doubles the number of supercomputing CPU hours
that Rice can offer. The six-rack system contains nearly 25,000 processor cores
that are capable of conducting about 84 trillion mathematical computations each
second. When fully operational, the system is expected to rank among the
world's 300 fastest supercomputers as measured by the TOP500 supercomputer rankings.
Meanwhile, on March 27,
Rutgers teamed with IBM to launch a HPC center at the university focused on the
application of big data analytics in life sciences, finance and other
industries. The center is aimed at improving the economic competitiveness
of New Jerseys public and private research organizations.
The HPC center will be part
of the newly created Rutgers Discovery
Informatics Institute (RDI2) and will use supercomputing
equipment and software provided by IBM in the projects first phase. Rutgers
anticipates future expansion of the center will lead to the university having
one of the worlds most powerful academic supercomputers.
The institute, powered by an
IBM Blue Gene/P supercomputer, has several goals. They include creating an HPC
resource, with expert support, for industry in New Jersey and the surrounding
region; educating the New Jersey workforce and Rutgers students in working with
advanced analytics and a state-of-the-art HPC center; and providing HPC resources
to Rutgers faculty members and regional organizations that are expanding their
use of extremely large data sets.
There is immense potential
here because Rutgers and IBM have some of the best minds in high-performance
computing, said Michael J. Pazzani, vice president for research and economic
development and professor of computer science at Rutgers, in a statement. The
ability to conduct data analysis on a large scale, leveraging the power of big
data, has become increasingly essential to research and development.
Just as important is the
valuable new resource that we are creating for industry, Pazzani said. The institute
will collaborate with businesses that need high-performance computing
capabilities but cant justify the cost of building their own system.
The collaboration involving
Rutgers and IBM scientists and engineers is expected to extend beyond
computer science and engineering, to encompass fields such as cancer and
genetic research, medical imaging and informatics, advanced manufacturing, environmental
and climate research and materials science.
The application of
analytics to big data has quickly emerged as the new foundry of the 21st
century economy, said Phil Guido, IBMs general manager for North America, in
a statement. IBM is eager to work with Rutgers to help improve New Jerseys
economic competitiveness through this center. IBM firmly believes that
public-private collaboration and research can be critical in ensuring our
workforce is equipped and empowered with next-generation skills like
analytics.
The IBM Blue Gene
supercomputer, housed in the Hill Center for Mathematics on Rutgers Busch
Campus in Piscataway, N.J., will be the only supercomputer available to
commercial users in the state. Only eight of the nations 62 scientific
computation centers have industrial partnership programs. The two Blue
Gene/ P racks at Rutgers will be far more powerful than any computer at the
university today. Excalibur is the name Rutgers has chosen for it, playing
off the universitys sports mascot, the Scarlet Knight.
Rutgers has agreed to
purchase hardware and software from IBM, as well as entering into a three-year
maintenance agreement for the equipment. As future funding becomes available,
Rutgers expects to add the latest-generation Blue Gene/Q system by the end of
the year. Rutgers also envisions building an expanded facility on the
Busch campus in 2013 as the system and center grows.
