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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION
FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY / JUNE 16, 2003: VOL. 2 NO. 24
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Applications:
DELL CLUSTERS POWER GRID-BASED
DISEASE RESEARCH
The University of Liverpool unveiled its new large-scale Dell
high-performance
computing cluster (HPCC), powered by Intel Pentium 4 processors, to
underpin further ground-breaking disease mapping and physics research, and to
enhance international public-interest work conducted on the University's own
cross-campus Grid network (ULGRID). The University's Department of Physics
will use the 940-node cluster of Dell PowerEdge(tm) 650 servers -- expected to
be in the top 100 of the official TOP500 list of largest supercomputer sites
in the world -- to simulate the collision of particles to help determine the
origins of the universe. In addition, ULGRID and the Advanced Institute for
Methods and Emergent Systems (AiMeS) will harness the power of the cluster to
assist in student and faculty research, to undertake work conducted with the
World Health Organization to simulate the spread of epidemics of diseases such
as SARS, and to support a planned research grid with the European Centre for
Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland.
Increased Processing Power And Speed At A Lower Cost
Professor Themis Bowcock of the Department of Physics, University of
Liverpool, says: "The combination of Dell and Intel technology will help to
exponentially increase the processing power at our disposal, allowing us to
perform larger simulations, at a far greater rate and lower cost. We also have
the added reassurance that the cluster will perform well into the future with
the option to expand as required."
"Our demands were high -- we were looking for a cost effective, reliable
cluster solution that would fit within a very restricted space and be deployed
as quickly as possible. In addition we have a limited budget in the
Department, so we needed a high performance system with low power consumption.
Dell's HPCC solution with Intel Pentium 4 processor met all these
requirements," continues Bowcock.
About The University Of Liverpool Cluster From Dell
The Dell 940-node supercomputing cluster powered by 3.06 GHz Intel Pentium
4
processors running the Red Hat Linux operating system and is connected by 48
PowerConnect(tm) 5224 network switches, providing high-performance switching
capabilities. Due to be fully operational in July 2003, the solution will
initially co-exist with the University's original array of 300 PCs and servers
with plans to eventually link in with a wider university science network.
Bill Rodrigues, Vice President & General Manager UK and Global EMEA, Dell,
comments: "Dell HPCC solutions continue to prove standards-based architectures
that scale out to meet customers' performance needs at significantly lower
cost, are the future of the data centre. The flexibility of easily increasing
the size and power of the cluster is very attractive to organisations that are
required to process and analyze large quantities of data quickly and
efficiently."
Dell, managing the delivery and installation of the HPCC solution, is
working
closely with Intel on the project. Ajay Malhotra, EMEA Enterprise Marketing
Director, Intel, says: "Systems built from clusters of high-performance
processors are leading the way at the high end of scientific computing.
Intel's Pentium 4 processor, with Hyper-Threading technology, addresses the
needs of scientific users, giving a combination of outstanding performance and
cost-effectiveness. Armed with these capabilities, the University of Liverpool
has the Computing power to drive forward its groundbreaking research
activities."
In a further research project, the University of Liverpool is hosting part
of
a separate Dell cluster, purchased by a consortium of four universities
including Oxford, Glasgow and UCL (University College London). This HPCC
provides computing power and data storage for the study conducted by the
consortium analysing particle accelerator data generated and collected by
Fermi National Accelarator Laboratory (Fermilab) in the US.
About Intel
Intel, the world's largest chip maker, is also a leading manufacturer of
computer, networking and communications products. Additional information about
Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom.
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