IBM announced performance results Friday for a new Spanish supercomputer that won't top the company's Blue Gene/L machine but that does use more mainstream technology.
Blade servers are thin machines that slide into a chassis that provides shared resources such as power and network switches. MareNostrum uses IBM's JS20 blades based on its PowerPC 970 processor and is the fastest blade-based supercomputer so far announced.
The 3,564-processor machine uses Linux and 1,772 blade servers with a high-speed network from Myricom. It was built at the University of Barcelona but has been temporarily moved to Madrid and will permanently reside at the Polytechnic University of Barcelona.
The system will be used for a wide range of scientific and industrial research, IBM said.
The computer will be a top contender in a list of the 500 fastest supercomputers compiled twice annually and due to be updated Nov. 8. So far, MareNostrum lags only Blue Gene/L, built for Lawrence Livermore National Labotory; Silicon Graphics' Columbia, built for NASA and clocked at 51.9 teraflops; and the earlier champion, NEC's Earth Simulator, clocked at 35.9 teraflops.
MareNostrum will get faster, though. It's scheduled to receive another 500 dual-processor JS20 blade servers by the end of the year, IBM said.
Mare Nostrum is the Latin name for the Mediterranean Sea, on which Barcelona is a port.
Join the conversation
Comment replyThe posting of advertisements, profanity, or personal attacks is prohibited. Click here to review our Terms of Use.
Tommy Jordan, the man who shot his daughter's laptop for YouTube, gets a visit from police and child protection services. Oh, and Good Morning America.
Game on: European Union grants unconditional approval for $12.5 billion deal, but says it will keep an eye on Google. The company says it aims to "supercharge" Android with the acquisition.
The Samsung Galaxy Mini 2 S6500 could make its debut at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona later this month, according to a leaked promotional image.
Did anyone else besides Jeff get teary-eyed yesterday watching Adele's performance at the Grammy Awards? On today's episode, we'll go around the table with the songs and movie scenes that pull at our heart strings, and why.
The Washington State Senate passed a bill that would charge electric car owners $100 per year to compensate for not paying gas taxes. The bill still has to pass the House.
Join the conversation