May 7, 2006
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Campus Technology (04/06) Vol. 19, No. 8, P. 44
Villano, Matt
Indiana University, the University of Utah, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and the University of Florida show how the latest academic supercomputing deployments are surpassing most people's expectations in terms of computing power. Indiana University aims to revolutionize dangerous weather forecasting so that governments can better prepare for natural catastrophes and reduce casualties through the Linked Environments for Atmospheric Discovery (LEAD) initiative, a National Science Foundation-funded project that utilizes a grid computing methodology for "building an adaptive, on-demand computer and network infrastructure that responds to complex weather-driven events," says co-principal investigator Dennis Gannon. Incoming weather data is interpreted by software agents that study the data for specific hazardous patterns; once such patterns are identified, the information is sent to numerous high-performance computers across private networks for real-time processing and assessment. Meanwhile, Embry-Riddle is using the new Beowulf cluster to speed up various research projects, including those focusing on the study of upper-atmospheric acoustic-gravity waves. Among the cluster's challenges was the need for heavy code modification in order to explore Beowulf's multiple processing capabilities. University of Florida researchers will undertake advanced "multi-scale" climate modeling, molecular dynamics, and aerodynamic engineering projects with a 200-node supercomputer at the High Performance Center (HPC), which enlisted Cisco Systems to supply all the internodal networking connections, as well as to help the university link all of its on-campus clusters so HPC can carry out more grid-based computations. A loose-coupling node architecture is used for grid applications, while a tight-coupling architecture is employed in the UF cluster. Finally, the University of Utah has acquired a metacluster to support advanced bioinformatics applications, and it comes with a "condominium"-style sub-cluster where extra capacity can be added.
For the full article see http://www.campus-technology.com/article.asp?id=18186
Posted by rab5 at 09:51 AM
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