• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Download full size image

World’s Largest Supercomputer Housed At Saudi University

Posted on: Monday, 20 October 2008, 14:40 CDT

The world's largest supercomputers are being housed by a new science and technology university in Saudi Arabia and experts say it is helping lure top researchers to the conservative desert state.

Set to open next year, the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) sits on the Red Sea coast near Jeddah, the most liberal city in a country where religious conservatives have extensive control over society.

Contrary to the strict gender segregation enforced in most of the country, male and female students at the campus will be able to mingle freely. The university is part of a series of reforms by King Abdullah aiming to open the country up.

"The supercomputer is the cornerstone of this knowledge-based economy that we are seeking," said Majid Al-Ghaslan, in charge of the acquisition, design and development of the "Shaheen" supercomputer.

Ghaslan said Shaheen, named after the peregrine falcon, is expected to reach 222 teraflops, a measure equaling a trillion floating point operations per second—making it the sixth most powerful computer in the world.

Shaheen will be able to simulate the Red Sea environment and model oil fields in three dimensions.

Although the country has immense financial resources as the world's biggest oil exporter, the parameters of school and university education in Saudi Arabia are governed by religious strictures and many subjects are even off-limits for women to study.

KAUST will offer research in biosciences and bioengineering, material sciences and engineering, applied mathematics and computational sciences.

With almost unlimited funding for research work, thanks to a $10 billion donation from King Abdullah, the university will be able to lure experts from around the globe.

"KAUST is a remarkable addition to the world's resources in high-end computing," said David Keyes, Chair of the Mathematical and Computer Sciences and Engineering Division, who is moving from Columbia University in the United States.

Keyes said the machine that is being purchased is one of the main attractions for him.

KAUST and its partners including Cornell University, the University of Oxford, Stanford University, and Texas A&M University will use the supercomputer.


-----

On The Net:

KAUST

Cornell University

University of Oxford

Stanford University

Texas A&M University

Source: redOrbit staff

More News in this Category