NASA unveils its newest supercomputer

Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington Oct. 26, 2004
(Phone: 202/358-1979)

Michael Mewhinney
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
(Phone: 650/604-3937)

RELEASE: 04-353

NASA UNVEILS ITS NEWEST, MOST POWERFUL SUPERCOMPUTER

NASA unveils its newest supercomputer today during a ribbon-
cutting ceremony at the agency's Ames Research Center,
Moffett Field, Calif. The "Columbia" is one of the world's
most powerful supercomputing systems. Columbia was named to
honor the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia lost Feb. 1,
2003.

"This amazing new supercomputer system dramatically increases
NASA's capabilities and revolutionizes our capacity for
conducting scientific research and engineering design," said
NASA Ames Research Center Director G. Scott Hubbard. "It will
be one of the fastest, largest and most productive
supercomputers in the world, providing an estimated 10-fold
increase in NASA's supercomputing capacity. It is already
having a major impact on NASA's science, aeronautics and
exploration programs, in addition to playing a critical role
in preparing the Space Shuttle for return to safe flight next
year," Hubbard said.

Comprised of an integrated cluster of 20 interconnected SGI
Altix 512-processor systems, for a total of 10,240 Intel
Itanium 2 processors, Columbia was built and installed at
the NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility at Ames in less
than 120 days.

"The Columbia system is a tremendous development for NASA and
the nation. Simulation of the evolution of the Earth and
planetary ecosystems with high fidelity has been beyond the
reach of Earth scientists for decades," NASA's Deputy
Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate Ghassem
Asrar said. "With Columbia, scientists are already seeing
dramatic improvements in the fidelity of simulations in such
areas as hurricane track prediction, global ocean
circulation, prediction of large scale structures in the
universe, and the physics of supernova detonations," he said.


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Columbia provides an integrated computing, visualization and
data storage environment to help NASA meet its mission goals
and the Vision for Space Exploration. The new system builds
upon the highly successful collaboration between NASA,
Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI) and Intel Corporation that
developed the world's first 512-processor Linux server. The
server, the SGI Altix located at Ames was named "Kalpana,"
after Columbia astronaut and Ames' alumna Kalpana Chawla.

"With SGI and Intel, we set out to revitalize NASA's
computing capabilities, and the Columbia system has done so
in a spectacular way," said Walt Brooks, chief of NASA's
Advanced Supercomputing Division. "Not only were scientists
doing real Earth and space analysis during the system build,
but within days of the full installation, we achieved a
Linpack benchmark rating of 42.7 teraflops on 16 nodes with
an 88 percent efficiency rating, exceeding the current best
reported number by a significant margin," he said.

"With the completion of the Columbia system, NASA, SGI and
Intel have created a powerful national resource, one that
will serve scientists who strive to unlock the mysteries of
this planet and the universe in which it dwells," said SGI
CEO Bob Bishop. "NASA should be commended for the remarkable
boldness that made the new Columbia computer happen. Our
long-standing partnership with the agency has triggered a new
age in scientific discovery, and based on NASA's initial
success, it seems likely that we'll be discussing new
scientific breakthroughs in the very near future," he said.

"The launching of the Columbia system shows what's possible
when government and technology leaders work together toward a
goal of truly national importance," said Paul Otellini,
president and COO of Intel Corporation. "While this Itanium 2
processor-based system will be one of the highest performing
computers ever created in the world, the real value is how
this system will accelerate scientific design and research
faster than before for years to come."

The almost instant productivity of the Columbia supercomputer
architecture and technology has made the system available to
a broad spectrum of NASA-sponsored scientists. Feedback from
scientists is extremely positive. Columbia already is
enabling scientists to conduct research and analyze complex
data much faster in a variety of scientific disciplines. The
research and analysis ranges from providing more accurate
hurricane predictions, to climate change, galaxy formation,
black holes and supernovas.

Thanks to the powerful Columbia supercomputer, NASA
scientists have developed an improved global circulation
model. Initial results from this new model accurately predict
when a hurricane is expected to hit land five days in
advance, three days sooner than current methods, thereby
helping reduce the potential impact on life and property.

For more information about NASA on the Internet, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov

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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info