Superclusters: TeraClass computing

The next wave in high performance computing is superclusters. By combining commodity off the shelf parts with a high bandwidth, low latency interconnect, the Albuquerque High Performance Computing Center at The University of New Mexico created a high performance computer at a fraction of the cost of a traditional supercomputer. The Center, along with the National Computational Science Alliance, has proven the concept with its open production Linux supercluster, Roadrunner, and is currently designing a new supercluster with at least 512 processors. Before the implementation of Roadrunner, it was unknown how such a machine would perform in a production environment. In addition, the National Computational Science Alliance and others are expected to propose building Terascale Linux superclusters with thousands of nodes. The Center is also participating in several research projects, including a collaboration with IBM called Vista Azul, to analyze and improve the capabilities and performance of these superclusters. With both production and research superclusters, there are opportunities to study and apply lessons to improve each environment. These new superclusters are integrated nationally and internationally through the Globus Grid Infrastructure and the Virtual Machine Room.