Air Force print news (April 25, 2005): center receives DoD's most powerful supercomputer.WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 8,023 acres (3,247 hectares), W Ohio, NE of Dayton; est. 1917. One of the largest airport installations in the world, it is the air force's main research and development base, and the headquarters of the , Ohio -- Aeronautical aer·o·nau·tic also aer·o·nau·ti·cal adj. Of or relating to aeronautics. aer  o·nau Systems Center's major shared resource Sharing a peripheral device (disk, printer, etc.) among several users. For example, a file server and laser printer in a LAN are shared resources. Contrast with shared logic. center officials announced April 25 the installation of the newest and most powerful supercomputer supercomputer, a state-of-the-art, extremely powerful computer capable of manipulating massive amounts of data in a relatively short time. Supercomputers are very expensive and are employed for specialized scientific and engineering applications that must handle very in the Department of Defense. The 2,048-processor supercomputer will aid weapon systems design of innovative materials, advance design concepts, improve and speed modification programs, increase high fidelity high fidelity n. The electronic reproduction of sound, especially from broadcast or recorded sources, with minimal distortion. high simulations, and allow more efficient tests and evaluations. "In our efforts to serve more than 1,000 researchers throughout the DoD, we needed a supercomputer with industry-leading capability, scalability, production quality, ease of use, and the ability to handle massive amounts of data," said Steve Wourms, deputy director for the center's advanced computational analysis directorate. "This supercomputer will help power groundbreaking research and development for the DoD weapon systems of the future." The supercomputer expands the capability to more than 4,100 processors spread across five separate shared memory systems See shared memory. . "Our high-performance computing High-speed computing, which typically refers to supercomputers used in scientific research. technology today is creating new ways for the Department of Defense to achieve military advantage and warfighting superiority on the 21st century battlefield," said Benn Stratton, national director of defense and civilian agencies business unit for Silicon Graphics, Inc., the computer's manufacturer. "This massive, shared-memory system allows DoD to simulate entire aircraft, entire weapon systems, and entire battlefield engagements with a fidelity not possible before now," he said. The supercomputer contains 41 racks each of which uses as much power and cooling as a regular four-bedroom house, and more than 1,400 interconnecting cables. The increased performance and scalability will help put advanced technology in the hands of U.S. forces more quickly, less expensively, and with greater certainty of success. The supercomputer is finishing up its initial 30-day test period. |
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