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Strathclyde University Scientists to Deliver Faster Research Projects With New SGI Altix 3000

Posted on: Tuesday, 30 March 2004, 06:00 CST

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. and LONDON, March 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Silicon Graphics today announced that physics, chemistry, mathematics and biology researchers at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, will run a wide range of applications on a new SGI(R) Altix(R) 3000 supercluster which was installed in December 2003. Deployed by the academic consortium of the Faculty of Science headed by the Department of Physics, the Linux(R) OS-based SGI Altix 3000 system will help university scientists to develop a number of research projects with the help of high- performance parallel computing. The new Altix system is powered by 28 Intel(R) Itanium(R) 2 processors and 36GB of system memory, and leverages an SGI(R) InfiniteStorage solution with 1TB of capacity.

The university is using the Altix system's open-source environment to make it easily available to high-performance computing (HPC) applications in multiple disciplines, including mathematics, statistics, virtual photonics, atomic physics, chemistry, biology and even architecture. Strathclyde selected Altix 3000 over a PC-based cluster solution because of its flexibility in accepting different numerical codes, easy administration, low latency and peak power performance.

"The entire science faculty is excited about using the Altix 3000 system because its Linux OS-based, open-source architecture allows researchers to develop individual HPC projects much faster and more efficiently," said Professor Gian-Luca Oppo of the Department of Physics at the University of Strathclyde. "Altix allows a wide variety of scientific projects to be optimized on the same architecture and paves the way for collaboration and cross-disciplinary computation across many scientific subjects."

The SGI Altix 3000 supercluster offers global shared-memory across multiple nodes, scaling to hundreds of Intel Itanium 2 microprocessors. Each node in an SGI Altix 3000 supercluster can combine up to 256 processors in a single Linux operating system image. With its unique global shared-memory capabilities and industry-leading SGI(R) NUMAlink(TM) interconnect fabric, the SGI Altix 3000 supercluster is ideal for managing complex data sets and complete workflows, enabling the highest levels of innovation for technical users.

The Parallel Computing Research Infrastructure (PCRI) project at Strathclyde University covers a multitude of scientific projects. For instance, researchers will leverage the SGI Altix 3000 supercluster to study virtual photonics, in which numerical models simulate new laser systems.

"The development of new photonic devices is at the heart of the future expansion of communication and information processing systems," added Professor Oppo. "High-performance computing and distributed visualization are crucial elements in virtual photonics, where new devices are invented and tested for performance ahead of expensive prototypes. Key collaborations between academic institutions and small- and medium-sized enterprises are based on the accuracy and speed of the numerical simulations and require a good balance of HPC and visualization to properly assess the performance of the virtual devices. It is paramount to have a good HPC-visualization balance, which was one of the most fundamental reasons we choose SGI servers when developing new applications in virtual photonics."

"We are delighted to be assisting the University of Strathclyde in its scientific endeavors with a true end-to-end, fully supported Linux server that delivers record-setting performance levels. Our relationship with the university spans a decade, and today's achievement with SGI Altix 3000 proves that this remarkable collaboration continues to show the world what is possible with computing technology in scientific research fields," said Tim Butchart, Managing Director UK for SGI.

Launched at the beginning of 2003, the SGI Altix 3000 family of products has already been adopted by more than 200 customers, including more than 25 major research organizations around the world, such as the University of Tokyo's Earthquake Research Institute, the Queensland Parallel Supercomputer Foundation, University of Cambridge's COSMOS project, and UK academic supercomputing service, CSAR, based at the University of Manchester.

For information about the SGI Altix 3000 family, visit http://www.sgi.com/servers/altix, and for details about SGI's involvement with universities and research facilities around the world, visit http://www.sgi.com/go/sciences.

SILICON GRAPHICS | The Source of Innovation and Discovery(TM)

SGI, also known as Silicon Graphics, Inc., is the world's leader in high-performance computing, visualization and storage. SGI's vision is to provide technology that enables the most significant scientific and creative breakthroughs of the 21st century. Whether it's sharing images to aid in brain surgery, finding oil more efficiently, studying global climate or enabling the transition from analog to digital broadcasting, SGI is dedicated to addressing the next class of challenges for scientific, engineering and creative users.

With offices worldwide, the company is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., and can be found on the Web at http://www.sgi.com/.

NOTE: Silicon Graphics, SGI, Altix, the SGI cube and the SGI logo are registered trademarks and NUMAlink and The Source of Innovation and Discovery are trademarks of Silicon Graphics, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries worldwide. Intel and Itanium are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in several countries. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

CONTACT: Lisa Pistacchio, +1-650-933-5683, or pistacchio@sgi.com, or SGI PR Hotline, +1-650-933-7777, or SGI PR FACSIMILE, +1-650-933-0283, or U.K., Julie Cumberland, +44-118-925-7956, all for SGI.

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SGI

CONTACT: Lisa Pistacchio, +1-650-933-5683, or pistacchio@sgi.com, or SGIPR Hotline, +1-650-933-7777, or SGI PR FACSIMILE, +1-650-933-0283, or U.K.,Julie Cumberland, +44-118-925-7956, all for SGI

Web site: http://www.sgi.com/

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