Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Selects HP High-performance Computing Technology to Aid Research
PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 28, 2007 - HP today announced that Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory (PNNL) will use its technology to build one of the world's most
powerful high-performance computing (HPC) systems designed to accelerate research in
the environmental molecular sciences.
The new system will provide the computing engine to advance research in support of the
Department of Energy's (DOE) mission in the fields of energy, the environment and
national security. PNNL is one of the DOE's 10 national laboratories managed by its
Office of Science.
With the HP system, scientists will be able to study more complex problems with larger
and more realistic models and obtain answers faster by scaling computational models
to a larger number of processors. Some of the research projects planned include:
o Discovering safe and effective materials for producing and storing hydrogen;
o Studying chemical processes in bacteria's behavior to address bioremediation and
energy production issues; and
o Developing computer simulation tools to aid in environmental clean up.
o The system will be a key capability in the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory,
a DOE national scientific user facility located at the PNNL in Richland, Wash. As such,
the system will be available as a resource to scientists from around the world.
We are thrilled to continue our work with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory,
helping them drive higher levels of productivity and advance their research goals, said Winston Prather, vice president and general manager, High Performance Computing,
HP. HP brings deep experience and proven HPC technology to deliver the level of
reliability and performance needed to meet the aggressive computational requirements
of this important research initiative.
Robust high-performance computing system serves science and scientists alike
The HP high-performance cluster configuration provides a scalable platform that can
address the demanding computational and storage needs of the Lab. The new cluster
uses the infrastructure of the existing HP cluster making it easier to introduce into PNNL's computing environment.
The HP supercomputer architecture runs on HP ProLiant servers and includes an
InfiniBand 4x DDR interconnect, 4,620 AMD Opteron(TM) processors, 37 terabytes of
memory and aggregate disk bandwidth of about 950 gigabytes per second enabled by
nearly 21,000 disk drives in HP enterprise virtual arrays. Consisting of 18,480 2.2
gigahertz AMD Opteron processor cores, the supercomputer will have an expected total
peak performance of about 163 teraflops.
The Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) is a unique resource where
users can access and conduct both theoretical and experimental molecular science.
Because of the complexity of calculations and analysis involved with fundamental
science, the scientists who use EMSL require a high rate at which data can be written to disk.
At EMSL, we recognize the importance of providing the right balance of science-driven
computing integrated with interdisciplinary experimental resources, said Allison
Campbell, director, EMSL. The HP system will allow us to acquire a greater level of
detail than previously possible and therefore more complete answers to our scientific
questions.
The Office of Biological and Environmental Research within DOE's Office of Science
funded the supercomputer's purchase. Scientists will be granted access to the new
computer based on a competitive, externally peer-reviewed proposal process.
The system is expected to be delivered and tested in two phases starting in January
2008 and is expected to be fully operational September 2008.
More information about HP's high-performance computing solutions is available at
http://.hp.com/go/hptc.
About HP
HP focuses on simplifying technology experiences for all of its customers - from
individual consumers to the largest businesses. With a portfolio that spans printing,
personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure, HP is among the world's
largest IT companies, with revenue totaling $100.5 billion for the four fiscal quarters
ended July 31, 2007. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at
www.hp.com.
