ADAPCO Sees Software Performance Double with IBM POWER3-II Chips.Business Editors MELVILLE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 24, 2000 New RS/6000 44P Model 270 and POWER3-II Node Use Copper Technology to Dramatically Improve Performance Analysis and Design Application Company, Ltd. (ADAPCO), a provider of mechanical engineering analysis software, today announced significant performance gains while running its Computational Fluid Dynamics Computational fluid dynamics The numerical approximation to the solution of mathematical models of fluid flow and heat transfer. Computational fluid dynamics is one of the tools (in addition to experimental and theoretical methods) available to solve (CFD CFD - Computational Fluid Dynamics ) applications on the new IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) RS/6000 44P Model 270 workstation and the new POWER3-II node for the RS/6000 SP See IBM SP. system. Engineers running STAR-CD software on the new IBM systems to test the aerodynamic properties of car designs, as well as the efficiency of air and coolant coolant (kōō´l  nt),n flows throughout the vehicle, found that their jobs ran nearly twice as fast on IBM's new products. The company's software is used by car manufacturers for a variety of tasks, such as testing the efficiency of engine cooling systems and designing passenger comfort systems. Through simulations, engineers can choose the most efficient design, resulting in a cooler & quieter ride for the consumer. The new products from IBM feature the company's state-of-the-art 64-bit copper POWER3-II microprocessor. ADAPCO's tests of the STAR-CD software on the RS/6000 Model 44P 270 showed an up to 90 percent gain in application speed when compared to the previous 43P Model 260. In addition, testing STAR-CD software in a parallel environment on an RS/6000 SP with 32 POWER3-II nodes, ADAPCO achieved consistent 60 to 80 percent performance gains over a similarly-configured SP with previous-generation nodes. "We found a substantial cost savings can result for our customers if they use this latest copper technology from IBM," said Steve MacDonald Steve Macdonald is a filk musician (singer/songwriter) from Michigan, who also appears at Renaissance Faires as "Gallamor the Bard". He served for several years as the Pegasus Award Evangelista, and was responsible for many changes in the award process that led to much greater , ADAPCO's president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. . "Cutting simulation runs in half means increased productivity." "The Model 270 and new POWER3-II node are the latest examples of IBM's commitment to bring the best and fastest products to the marketplace," said Rod Adkins, IBM general manager, Web Server Division. "Working with ADAPCO, our technology helps engineers create sleek car designs that can substantially reduce drag and increase gas efficiency." The RS/6000 44P Model 270 and Model 170 are the first UNIX UNIX Operating system for digital computers, developed by Ken Thompson of Bell Laboratories in 1969. It was initially designed for a single user (the name was a pun on the earlier operating system Multics). workstations to have copper-based microprocessors. Copper wire technology -- pioneered by IBM -- increases performance substantially compared with similar chips that have aluminum wire. The Model 270 is the world's fastest 4-way workstation as measured by the SPECfp_rate95 benchmark, which determines floating-point performance in SMP (Symmetric MultiProcessing) A multiprocessing architecture in which multiple CPUs, residing in one cabinet, share the same memory. SMP systems provide scalability. As business increases, additional CPUs can be added to absorb the increased transaction volume. workstations. Speedy floating-point calculations are essential for applications that require sophisticated design, analysis and three-dimensional visualization capabilities, like mechanical crash simulation A crash simulation is a virtual recreation of a destructive crash test of a car using a computer simulation in order to examine the level of safety of the car and its occupants. and computational fluid dynamics. The new RS/6000 SP POWER3-II node continues IBM's leadership in high-performance computing. It provides the highest level of floating-point performance for numeric-intensive and technical computing applications and exceptional capacity to meet growth needs. Designed for performance, scalability, availability, manageability, and flexibility in handling both commercial and technical workloads, the SP is made up of building blocks called nodes. An SP can consist of just one or two nodes all the way up to hundreds of nodes. The system's performance scales almost linearly with its size. Each node contains one or more microprocessors and its own random access memory (RAM) and disk storage. IBM sells several types of nodes that can be mixed in one system and used together for large computing jobs, or separately for smaller tasks. About IBM IBM is the world's largest technology company and is dedicated to providing the foundation for the next generation Internet See Internet2. . For additional information on RS/6000, please visit: www.rs6000.ibm.com. About Adapco Analysis and Design Application Company, Ltd. (adapco) is a mechanical engineering analysis service company providing sophisticated software and computer-aided assessments for users and manufacturers of mechanical equipment. For additional information, please visit www.adapco.com. |
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