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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION
FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY /
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Applications:
HP FIRST COMMERCIAL MEMBER OF CERN
LHC COMPUTING GRID
HP announced it will support an operational Grid for the Large Hadron
Collider
(LHC) at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics.
The LHC, the world's largest scientific instrument, enables research into
the
fundamental nature of matter. It is in the final stages of construction at
CERN's facility outside Geneva, Switzerland.
HP will link computing resources at its HP Labs locations in Palo Alto,
Calif., and Bristol, England, as well as HP Brazil and HP Puerto Rico to
CERN's LHC Computing Grid (LCG) to help manage and analyze the massive
quantities of data expected to be produced by the facility.
HP joins in the second phase of the project. CERN is launching LCG-2, the
latest version of the software for the massive computing Grid dedicated to the
LHC. The first phase of the LCG project -- LCG-1 -- involved a limited number
of sites around the globe. With LCG-2, the list of contributing sites is
expected to grow rapidly into an operational, worldwide computing Grid that
will scale to the proportions necessary to accommodate the data produced by
the LHC.
"HP is thrilled to be the first commercial member of CERN's LCG and to
bring
our technology to bear on this global Grid collaboration of epic proportions,"
said Dick Lampman, senior vice president of research and director of HP Labs.
"HP's commitment to Grid computing spans scientific applications to enterprise
deployments, and an opportunity to participate in the LCG will provide us with
unique insight into the functionality and complexity of large-scale Grid
environments. Ultimately, HP's Grid customers around the globe will reap the
benefits of this collaboration."
When it becomes operational in 2007, the LHC will collide tiny fragments of
matter (protons and nuclei) head-on to explore the fundamental laws of nature
in intricate detail. These experiments are expected to produce unprecedented
amounts of data -- 12-14 petabytes per year -- and will require a worldwide
computing Grid of extraordinary power to analyze and render the data useful to
scientists.
Starting in 2004, the LCG resources and the resources contributed by HP
will
be used for simulating petabytes of the sort of data that the LHC will
produce. This simulated data will in turn provide vital information for
understanding the behavior of the detectors and optimizing the data collection
procedure in anticipation of the real data that is expected to pour forth from
the LHC in the next three years.
"There are few facilities in the modern scientific world with the
significance
of CERN's LHC and fewer still that present such massive technological
challenges," said Wolfgang von Ruden, head of the IT department at CERN. "Our
ability to process and analyze data is critical to the success of the LHC, and
we are pleased to have HP joining us on the LCG to expand our resources and
create one of the largest operational Grid computing environments in the
world."
"On many levels, being a part of the LCG embodies HP's vision for technical
collaborations," said Michel Benard, program manager in university relations
at HP. "HP is excited to support the operational LCG and its significance to
the global scientific community. The LCG has the potential to redefine the
technical limits of Grid computing. We believe that participating in CERN's
project is a great demonstration of how HP's collaborations can ultimately
bring value to our customers."
CERN's LCG currently operates at 26 sites across Europe, America and Asia.
More information about the project and the sites involved is available at
www.cern.ch/lcg.
About HP
HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and
institutions globally. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure,
personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and
printing. For the fiscal year ending on Oct. 31, HP revenue totaled $73.1
billion. More information about HP is available at www.hp.com.
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