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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION
FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY / OCTOBER 6, 2003: VOL. 2 NO. 40
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Special Features:
INDIANA UNIVERSITY, PURDUE TO JOIN
SUPERCOMPUTER GRID
Indiana University and Purdue University will join a national program to
build
the world's fastest computer for open scientific research.
The two schools will become part of the National Science Foundation's
"TeraGrid" network, officials at both schools announced Monday. The foundation
awarded $3 million to enable the universities to link their campuses in
Bloomington, Indianapolis and West Lafayette (all in Indiana) to a national
supercomputer network.
The Grid will make it possible to perform 20 trillion calculations per
second
and enable academic researchers to harness that power no matter where they
are. The project will create a smaller state network called the IP-Grid. IU,
Purdue and IUPUI already are linked by I-Light, a state-funded optical fiber
network built in 2001.
"At one level, this really means that Indiana as a state has joined the big
leagues in supercomputing," said Michael McRobbie, IU vice president for
research and information technology.
"I think it's a testament to the quality of the infrastructure and the
science
being done here," he said. "And at the same time, it is going to really open
up a whole range of new opportunities to IU scientists."
The Indiana Grid will connect with TeraGrid through a hub in Chicago. The
TeraGrid connection could be completed within six months, said McRobbie.
The National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of
Illinois is in charge of the $88 million national project. Other TeraGrid
partners include the San Diego Supercomputer Center, Argone National
Laboratory in Illinois, and the Caltech Center for Advanced Computing
Research.
Also Monday, the National Science Foundation announced two other TeraGrid
grants: $3.9 million to Oak Ridge National Laboratory to establish a new
network hub in Atlanta; and $3.2 million to the Texas Advanced Computing
Center for a connection at the University of Texas.
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