Posted on Fri, Oct. 28, 2005



Lab computer is the fastest in the world

By Betsy Mason
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

LIVERMORE - Livermore gained some world-class bragging rights Thursday
when Lawrence Livermore Laboratory unveiled the world's most powerful
supercomputer.

Clocked at the record-breaking speed of 280.6 trillion calculations per
second, or teraflops, BlueGene/L buried its own previous record of
70.72 teraflops set in 2004 when the computer was just a quarter of its
current size.

Back then, BlueGene recaptured the supercomputing crown for the United
States from Japan whose Earth-Simulator had led the world at 35.86
teraflops in 2003.

Even more impressive, at full strength, BlueGene can sustain more than
100 teraflops of computing power for at least seven consecutive hours,
a feat once thought to be unattainable.

"This mammoth computer power is really far beyond unmatched anywhere
else in the world," Bruce Goodwin, the lab's associate director of
defense and nuclear technologies, said at a dedication ceremony
Thursday.

Built in Rochester, Minn., by IBM, BlueGene now has more than 130,000
processors and occupies more than 2,400 square feet of floor space in
the lab's new supercomputer center.

But wait, there's more. In the room next to BlueGene the lab unveiled
what is likely the second most powerful computer in the world, ASC
Purple. Also an IBM product, Purple is capable of 100 teraflops, nearly
all of which will be dedicated to classified nuclear weapons
simulations.

Both computers are the culmination of 10 years of work by the
Department of Energy's Advanced Simulation and Computing program, which
was tasked with finding a way to certify the safety and reliability of
the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile without testing.

At the time, scientists agreed that in order to do complete
three-dimensional computer simulations of explosions, 100 teraflops of
computing power would be needed. This was about a million times greater
than what existed at the time, and some experts doubted the goal was
attainable in a decade.

"If my car went a million times faster than it did 10 years ago, it
would be one-fifth of the speed of light," said Linton Brooks,
administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, the
Energy Department branch that oversees the nation's nuclear weapons
labs.

"The magnitude of this accomplishment is just stunning."

But ASC Purple has officially proved the naysayers wrong and will soon
take over stockpile stewardship duties from its predecessor, the
12.3-teraflop ASC White.

With a footprint of 6,720 square feet, Purple was delivered to
Livermore this month on 27 trucks from IBM's Poughkeepsie, N.Y.,
facility. The monster computer requires almost 5 megawatts of power to
run and another 3 megawatts to keep it cool.

"When we turned on this machine, the (Western Area Power
Administration) called us and said, 'What are you doing?'" said
Livermore's computation director, Terri Quinn. "It's like a small city
in terms of power."

Meanwhile, BlueGene runs on 1.5 megawatts and occupies less space but
nearly triples Purple's peak capacity. The two computers are optimized
for different applications, however. While Purple is best at highly
integrated simulations of all the different aspects of a nuclear
explosion, BlueGene excels at quickly running molecular dynamics and
materials science calculations.

For the next three months, BlueGene will continue doing unclassified
science for researchers at Livermore and other Energy Department labs.
In February, the computer will turn to classified simulations of the
aging of nuclear materials and weaponry in support of Purple.

BlueGene is an experimental computer that represents the future of
supercomputing, said Nicholas Donofrio, IBM's executive vice president
of Innovation and Technology.

BlueGene and Purple were part of a $200 million contract the Energy
Department signed with IBM in 2002.

IBM is currently selling smaller 5.7-teraflop versions of BlueGene for
around $1.5 million, but Donofrio is already looking into the future.

"What we did in 10 years, we are likely to do again in the next five,"
Donofrio said. "In the hands of our youngsters (are now) those
wonderful little game boxes that they are all clutching in their hands,
soon in their hands will be a teraflop's worth of computing power."

Reach Betsy Mason at bm***n@cctimes.com or 925-847-2158.

<hobbitfan111******.com> wrote in message
news:1130511601.080858.306480@o13g2000cwo.googlegr oups.com...
>
> Posted on Fri, Oct. 28, 2005
>
>
>
> Lab computer is the fastest in the world
>
> By Betsy Mason
> CONTRA COSTA TIMES
>
> LIVERMORE - Livermore gained some world-class bragging rights Thursday
> when Lawrence Livermore Laboratory unveiled the world's most powerful
> supercomputer.
>
> Clocked at the record-breaking speed of 280.6 trillion calculations per
> second, or teraflops, BlueGene/L buried its own previous record of
> 70.72 teraflops set in 2004 when the computer was just a quarter of its
> current size.


I'm sure nerds everywhere are wanting to know what kind of frame rate Doom 4
will get on it.

-----------------------------------------------
DW

<hobbitfan111******.com> wrote in message
news:1130511601.080858.306480@o13g2000cwo.googlegr oups.com...
>
> Posted on Fri, Oct. 28, 2005
>
>
>
> Lab computer is the fastest in the world
>
> By Betsy Mason
> CONTRA COSTA TIMES
>
> LIVERMORE - Livermore gained some world-class bragging rights Thursday
> when Lawrence Livermore Laboratory unveiled the world's most powerful
> supercomputer.
>
> Clocked at the record-breaking speed of 280.6 trillion calculations per
> second, or teraflops, BlueGene/L buried its own previous record of
> 70.72 teraflops set in 2004 when the computer was just a quarter of its
> current size.


I'm sure nerds everywhere are wanting to know what kind of frame rate Doom 4
will get on it.

-----------------------------------------------
DW

<hobbitfan111******.com> wrote in message
news:1130511601.080858.306480@o13g2000cwo.googlegr oups.com...
>
> Posted on Fri, Oct. 28, 2005
>
>
>
> Lab computer is the fastest in the world
>
> By Betsy Mason
> CONTRA COSTA TIMES
>
> LIVERMORE - Livermore gained some world-class bragging rights Thursday
> when Lawrence Livermore Laboratory unveiled the world's most powerful
> supercomputer.
>
> Clocked at the record-breaking speed of 280.6 trillion calculations per
> second, or teraflops, BlueGene/L buried its own previous record of
> 70.72 teraflops set in 2004 when the computer was just a quarter of its
> current size.


I'm sure nerds everywhere are wanting to know what kind of frame rate Doom 4
will get on it.

-----------------------------------------------
DW

On Fri, 28 Oct 2005 11:22:31 -0500, "Darkwing"
<theducksmail"AT"yahoo.com> wrote:

>I'm sure nerds everywhere are wanting to know what kind of frame rate Doom 4
>will get on it.

Well DAMMIT, how many????????????????????????????????????????

I aint goin ta sleep till's I find's out's on da web's

thanx

good afternoon, good evening and good night.

***************************
http://www.dubyareport.net/
to send e-mail remove "koty="
Ann Coulter Is A Man!
Who Hit Nelly In The Belly?
Please Nominate Me For Kook of the month/year
Please NUKE THE MOON!

On Fri, 28 Oct 2005 11:22:31 -0500, "Darkwing"
<theducksmail"AT"yahoo.com> wrote:

>I'm sure nerds everywhere are wanting to know what kind of frame rate Doom 4
>will get on it.

Well DAMMIT, how many????????????????????????????????????????

I aint goin ta sleep till's I find's out's on da web's

thanx

good afternoon, good evening and good night.

***************************
http://www.dubyareport.net/
to send e-mail remove "koty="
Ann Coulter Is A Man!
Who Hit Nelly In The Belly?
Please Nominate Me For Kook of the month/year
Please NUKE THE MOON!

On Fri, 28 Oct 2005 11:22:31 -0500, "Darkwing"
<theducksmail"AT"yahoo.com> wrote:

>I'm sure nerds everywhere are wanting to know what kind of frame rate Doom 4
>will get on it.

Well DAMMIT, how many????????????????????????????????????????

I aint goin ta sleep till's I find's out's on da web's

thanx

good afternoon, good evening and good night.

***************************
http://www.dubyareport.net/
to send e-mail remove "koty="
Ann Coulter Is A Man!
Who Hit Nelly In The Belly?
Please Nominate Me For Kook of the month/year
Please NUKE THE MOON!