The University of Houston Texas Learning and Computation Center Becomes First Texas Academic Institution to Commission an Itanium2 Linux Cluster for Research and Education
Itanium 2™-based Linux Cluster will feature HP zx6000 nodes with Scali interconnect technology and cluster management systems
November 2002 - Brock Computer Applications, Inc. (BCAI), a Houston-based Hewlett-Packard (HP) "platinum certified" channel partner together with Scali, a supplier of software technology for cluster based high performance computing, have installed a Linux cluster for research and education at the Advanced Computing Research Laboratory (ACRL) of the Texas Learning and Computation Center (TLC2) at the University of Houston. The initial configuration includes 19 two-way Itanium 2™-based HP zx6000 workstation systems and a four-way Itanium2™-based HP rx5670 server as a front end. TLC2 is the first academic research facility in the state of Texas to have this cutting edge technology.
The capabilities of the Itanium2™ platform bring unparalleled investigative possibilities to researchers and students throughout the university. This Itanium2™ based Linux cluster will be used both in regular courses, undergraduate and graduate projects, and research in software technologies for high-performance and Grid computation, and for computationally demanding research in environmental modeling, seismic modeling and data analysis, and drug design.
TLC2's ACRL has chosen the Linux based cluster environment because of its compatibility and easy integration into the university's existing research and educational needs. Several research groups and many students in graduate classes will be using the cluster. Because of its seamless integration a few researchers began using it the day after the software environment was brought up on the system.
ACLR's system is using a Scali's cluster management and high performance interconnect communication software. The low latency and high bandwidth of the Scali Message Passing Interface (MPI) and SCI interconnect match well with the thrust of the high-performance software research at ACRL.
Immediately the ACRL will enlist the cluster to serve as a powerful compute resource on a High Performance Computing and Storage Network with 40 TB of storage distributed among TLC2 member center sites on campus. This network is part of the University of Houston's Tier One initiative. On a national level, this technology will strengthen ACRL's participation in the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (NPACI).
The Itanium2™ cluster will be used by scientists and students in the ACRL for research on methods and techniques for the design and generation of software adapting itself to execution environments and applications mainly in the scientific and engineering disciplines. Such adaptive software is essential for efficient resource use in the emerging computation and data Grids. This research is pursued as part of the Grid Applications Development Software (GrADS) and the National Computational Science Alliance (Alliance) projects and with support from the Los Alamos Computer Science Institute (LACSI).
The Itanium2™ cluster will also benefit research in air quality modeling for improved emissions control, processing and analysis of seismic data, genetic medication targeted against cancer, disease, along with viral and bacterial infections.
"The Itanium2™ Linux cluster with Scali's high performance MPI enables ACRL to continue its record of innovative approaches to challenging software problems. It also extends TLC2's ability to provide high performance computing to a wide variety of scientific disciplines. We expect the Itanium™ architecture to dominate the high performance computing market" says Dr. Lennart Johnsson, Director of ACRL and TLC2.
"It's not often that step changes occur in computing technology" according to Fred Graves, vice president of business development at BCAI. "HP Itanium™-based systems are beginning to have a significant effect in the high performance computing market by delivering exceptional performance at commodity price points. Demand for Itanium™ clusters is increasing rapidly, with small to medium clusters taking on chores previously the domain of costly data center systems. The even better news is that the same Itanium™ architectures are proving themselves for commercial and transaction processing, as well. The potential savings in terms of both purchase price and support costs are huge."
"Scali is excited about this leap into the new world of 64-bit clustering that is being followed by many organizations with large data sets and complex computing needs. We are proud to be chosen for delivering the MPI communication and cluster management software for the HP Itanium2™-based cluster. Through our collaboration with HP and BCAI, we have demonstrated record-breaking performance on a cluster that was fully operational a few hours after the hardware arrived at the TLC2 facilities", says Einar Rustad, Vice President of business development at Scali.
About ACRL
The Advanced Computing Research Laboratory (ACRL) carries out research on new and innovative ways to harness computational resources for scientific and engineering applications and participates in several national and international research efforts in high-performance computing, storage and networking. More information about ACRL is available at http://www.cs.uh.edu/~johnsson.
About TLC2
The Texas Learning and Computation Center (TLC2) fosters and supports interdisciplinary research, education and training in computational sciences and engineering through centers, laboratories and individual faculty initiatives. TLC2 has state-of-the-art computation, visualization and educational facilities for environmental studies, biological, biomedical and energy research, undergraduate and graduate education and teacher training. More information about TLC2 is available at http://www.tlc2.uh.edu.
About Brock
BCAI has been an HP channel partner since 1992 and designs and delivers computing & storage solutions and services to a wide variety of customers. In addition to Houston, BCAI is represented in Dallas, TX, Denver, CO, and Orlando, FL. Inquiries can be directed to 713-693-0608 ext 102 or fred_graves@brockcomputer.com.
About HP
HP is a leading global provider of products, technologies, solutions and services to consumers and businesses. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and printing. HP completed its merger transaction involving Compaq Computer Corp. on May 3, 2002. More information about HP is available at http://www.hp.com.
About Scali
Scali is a leader in delivering scalable, high-performance cluster software and solutions. Companies and institutions are able to leverage high performance and reliable parallel processing platforms while substantially reducing their technology investment and improving their price performance ratio. Scali has strategic relationships with industry leaders such as Dell, Fujitsu Siemens Computers, HP and Intel. Customers include companies such as DaimlerChrysler, Lockheed Martin and Rolls-Royce. Founded in 1997, Scali has received venture funding from Four Seasons Venture, Intel Capital, Kongsberg Gruppen and SND Invest. The company is headquartered in Oslo, Norway with sales and support presence in France, Germany, Great Britain and The United States and world-wide distribution capabilities through global and local system integrators. Additional information is available at http://www.scali.com.
About LACSI
The Los Alamos Computer Science Institute (LACSI) was created to foster computer science and computational science research efforts at Los Alamos that are both internationally recognized and relevant to the goals of the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The Institute is a collaboration between LANL and the Rice University Center for Research on High Performance Software (HiPerSoft), along with its partners at the University of Houston (UH), the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), the University of New Mexico (UNM), and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UTK). More information about LACSI is available at http://lacsi.lanl.gov.
About NPACI
The mission of the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (NPACI) is to advance science by creating a ubiquitous, continuous, and pervasive national computational infrastructure: the Grid. NPACI is one of two National Science Foundation supported Partnerships for Advanced Computational Infrastructure that provide to the national scientific user community support for and access to high-end computing infrastructure and research. More information about NPACI is available at http://www.npaci.edu.
About the Alliance
The National Computational Science Alliance (Alliance) is a nationwide partnership of more than 50 academic, government and business organizations working together to prototype an advanced computational infrastructure for the new century. The Alliance is one of two National Science Foundation supported Partnerships for Advanced Computational Infrastructure that provide to the national scientific user community support for and access to high-end computing infrastructure and research. More information about the Alliance is available at http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/About/Alliance.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Taken from Brock Computer Applications/HP Release)
For More Information Contact:
218 Philip G Hoffman Hall University of Houston
Texas Learning and Computation Center
218 Philip G Hoffman Hall University of Houston
Tel: 713-743-3361
FAX: 713-743-3376
Internet: webmaster@tlc2.uh.edu
