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Virginia Tech Installs New System X Supercomputer, Ranks Third on TOP500

Product Type: Market Research Report
Published by: IDC
Published: January 2004
Product Code: R104-14513
Description
This IDC Insight covers the new System X cluster at Virginia Tech, number 3 on the TOP500 supercomputer list. I wonder whether there was a campus debate between the jocks and the geeks at Virginia Tech this past summer over which would achieve the higher standing: the well-regarded Virginia Tech Hokies football team or the new System X cluster in the previously unranked Computational Sciences and Engineering (CSE) program. This much is clear about System X: There?s nothing Hokie about it. In many ways, the new System X installation at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University is typical of the new breed of cluster installations, albeit on a larger scale. For $7.2 million ? $5.2 million for computer hardware, $1 million for facilities upgrades, and $1 million for a customized cooling system ? VT purchased a 17.6-teraflop behemoth. One hundred and sixty student volunteers booted, configured, and installed 1,100 dual-processor nodes into 182 oversize racks, and after weeks of assembly, System X first booted up on September 23. Once System X became operational, it was immediately tested on LINPACK, the benchmark used for the TOP500 supercomputer rankings. Because LINPACK favors machines with high peak performance without relying heavily on memory, I/O, or system bandwidth, cluster architectures tend to do very well on it, and System X was no exception, debuting at number 3 on the list. IDC categorizes this type of installation as a "special capability cluster," a cluster that targets the capability segment but is not a standard vendor product. These systems may be configured by users (as is the case with VT) or configured by vendors as one-of-a-kind installations. Such clusters frequently excel in measurements such as LINPACK but lag on actual capability workloads, especially if peak megaflops are a major consideration in the cluster's specifications. Virginia Tech is attempting to reduce the gap between theoretical peak speed and real application performance, and it has included the following four features in System X: y The processor, Apple?s new 64-bit, 2GHz G5 will provide a lot of performance without stepping down to 32-bit addressing. The Apple G5 is based on IBM PowerPC technology. y The memory, 4GB per node, is already above average for a specialized capability cluster. Because System X uses 64-bit processors, memory can be expanded on some or all nodes if desired. y The interconnect, Infiniband from Mellanox, provides substantially higher system memory bandwidth than standard Ethernet. VT plans to implement programming models that leverage that bandwidth to provide shared memory across multiple nodes. y A homegrown cluster management scheme called Déjà Vu is being designed to address the traditional limitations in large cluster reliability, with features such as application-transparent job migration and checkpoint restart. Virginia Tech is relying heavily on in-house expertise to manage System X, and the work on the programming model and cluster management tools is ongoing. For now, System X is for research codes only. However, the fundamental technology pieces are in place for Virginia Tech to advance the state of the art in cluster computing.
Table of Contents


Table of Contents


IDC Opinion


In This Insight


Situation Overview


Memory Architecture for Sustained 64-Bit Performance


Déjà Vu: Application-Transparent Reliability Features


In-House Expertise


Future Outlook


IDC Analysis


The Role of Clusters in High-Performance Computing


Growth in Cluster-Based High-Performance Computing


Figure: Worldwide High-Performance Computing Revenue for Reported/Bright Clusters by Segment, 1Q00?3Q03


Figure: Worldwide High-Performance Computing Revenue Share for Reported/Bright Clusters by Segment, 1Q00?3Q03


Capability Computing with Clusters: The Importance of Academic Research
Ordering and More Information
Price and Delivery Options


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