System gives Ohio researchers, businesses a tenfold leap in computational power: With the deployment of the Ohio Supercomputer Center's new IBM Cluster 1350, the State of Ohio is now home to the 65th fastest supercomputer in the world and the 9th fastest among U.S. academic supercomputer centers. The IBM Cluster 1350 furthers the Center's ability to leverage its innovation tools for the betterment of Ohio's academic research and workforce economy. The supercomputer offers researchers a peak performance of more than 17 teraflops, or 17 trillion calculations per second. Ohio's academic and industrial researchers are able to use OSC's resources, such as the IBM Cluster 1350, to accelerate development of new products, promote process improvement as well as solve challenging scientific and industrial problems. For example, through OSC’s Blue Collar Computing program, a nationally recognized "innovation" economic development tool, Ohio businesses can increase their competitiveness in the global marketplace. "The new machine will accelerate research in vital areas such as advanced materials, energy, biosciences, manufacturing, defense, and aerospace applications," said Stan Ahalt, executive director of OSC. "This was a critical acquisition for Ohio to remain competitive in the knowledge economy, and we hope to follow up with other acquisitions to catch up with our competitors in other states." From Ohio’s largest companies to its smallest, supercomputer simulation and design can help lower costs and improve time-to-market. The Ohio Supercomputer Center remains dedicated to growing the economy by providing the computational and engineering tools Ohio's workforce needs to be more productive to increase Ohio's global competitiveness through innovation. "OSC is among the leaders in harnessing the power of high-performance computing to support regional development for the new century," said Dave Turek, vice president of deep computing for IBM. "Access to such resources can help America’s small businesses be competitive players in global supply chains and in emerging industries." The director of modeling and simulation at Procter & Gamble's corporate R&D agrees. Tom Lange and his team use computer models and simulations to help evaluate options, choose better materials, create designs and analyze formulations on a number of consumer products. "Computers are behind everyday products like Ultra Downy, Pampers Diapers or the Braun Pulsonic system," Lange said. "As a result, everyday we use high performance computing to hopefully make everyday life a little better for our customers." The IBM Cluster 1350 includes the latest AMD Opteron multi-core technologies and IBM cell processors. OSC's newest supercomputer also features blade systems based on the Cell Broadband Engine processor, allowing researchers and industries to easily use this new hybrid supercomputing architecture. (See chart for specifics.) "We appreciate the continued support and recognition by Governor Strickland, Chancellor Fingerhut, and the Ohio Legislature of OSC's critical role in the turnaround of Ohio's economy," OSC’s Ahalt said. OSC is a leader in research, innovation and economic development. Along with increased supercomputing capability and Blue Collar Computing program, OSC's services include access to the nation's most comprehensive statewide broadband network, OSCnet, and the workforce development initiative, the Ralph Regula School of Computational Science. Ohio Supercomputer Center IBM 1350 Hardware Configuration

• 877 system x3455 compute nodes
  • Dual socket, dual core 2.6 GHz Opterons
  • 8 GB RAM
• 86 system x3755 compute nodes
  • Quad socket, dual core 2.6 GHz Opterons
  • 16 GB RAM
• 2 system x3755 accelerated compute nodes
  • Dual socket 2 dual core3 2.6 GHz Opterons
  • 8 GB RAM
  • Voltaire 10 Gbps PCI Express adapter
• 1 e1350 Blade Center
  • 4 Dual Cell based QS20 blades
  • Voltaire 10 Gbps PCI Express adapter
• 4 system x3755 login nodes
  • Quad socket 2 dual core 2.6 GHz Opterons
  • 8 GB RAM
• All connected together by 10 Gbps Infiniband