Los Alamos lab getting new 'Science Appliance' supercomputer

Computerworld - A powerful new 2,048-processor, $6 million Linux supercomputer is being built for the Los Alamos National Laboratory to run unclassified analyses and nuclear weapons simulations.
Among the key features of the system is that it's being constructed without internal storage disks, in order to increase reliability and reduce the number of moving parts inside the machine.
The machine, called The Science Appliance, is being built by hardware vendor Linux NetworX Inc. in Sandy, Utah, using 2,048 processors and more than 30GB of memory, the company said in an announcement today.
The machine will be used to crunch numbers as part of massive calculations for unclassified weapons simulations and other work, said Jim Danneskiold, a spokesman for the lab, in Los Alamos, N.M.
The technology involved in creating this Linux supercomputer today, he said, is seen as a model that could later be used to build powerful, high-security Linux supercomputer clusters that could perform ultrasecret classified work on nuclear weapons and related simulations. This machine will be used by scientists at Los Alamos to run nonclassified analyses on molecular dynamics and other investigations, Danneskiold said.
"I'm sure they're champing at the bit to get at this machine," he said.
When delivered by the end of this year, the cluster is expected to be one of the five fastest supercomputers in the world, pumping out 10 trillion operations per second, according to LinuxNetworX.
The Linux NetworX Evolocity cluster will also incorporate LinuxBIOS, an open-source BIOS alternative developed by Los Alamos with Linux NetworX and others. LinuxBIOS replaces the proprietary BIOS with an open-source BIOS that incorporates the Linux kernel, making the cluster easier to install and manage. By using LinuxBIOS, the machine will have an extremely fast boot time and other benefits.
Clark Roundy, vice president of marketing at LinuxNetworX, said leaving out storage drives in the nodes boosts the machine's reliability, reduces internal heat build-up and makes it easier to service. When needed, drives will be available using network-attached storage configurations. Calculations are stored in the massive amounts of memory in the machine when it's in use.
The purchase of the Science Appliance was funded by the National Nuclear Security Administration's Advanced Simulation and Computing program.
The machine is running Los Alamos' own version of Linux, which is based on the kernel from Red Hat Linux.
The experimental cluster system will give Los Alamos researchers opportunities to improve the open-source software environment, parallel file systems and ancillary operating system software to prepare for future classified supercomputers.
The Los Alamos National Laboratoryis operated by the University of California for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) of the U.S. Department of Energy and works in partnership with the NNSA's Sandia and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories. Los Alamos is used to ensure the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile and for solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health and national security concerns.

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