The global publication of record for High Performance Computing / June 25, 2004: Vol. 13, No. 25

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Features:

TOP500 AND HPCC BENCHMARKS -- WHAT THEY CAN AND CAN'T DO: Commentary from the High-End Crusader
The High-End Crusader explains: In the new HPC Challenge benchmark suite, Linpack measures program segments with exceptional temporal locality, while other HPCC benchmarks measure program segments that communicate locally and globally without temporal locality, with and without spatial locality. Locality characteristics of segments and benchmark results can be used to predict the performance of full-scale applications.
CANDID COMMENTS FROM SC04's GEN CHAIR, JEFF HUSKAMP: by Tom Tabor, Publisher
HPCwire publisher Tom Tabor sat down with Supercomputing 2004's General Chair, Jeff Huskamp, to discuss his preparations and what to expect from this year's conference.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: RESPONDING TO THE HIGH-END CRUSADER: Dr. John D. McCalpin, the Large Scale System Architecture team leader for the IBM project (PERCS) funded under the DARPA HPCS program, responds to a recent HPCwire article by the High-End Crusader. [107765, http://www.tgc.com/hpcwire/hpcwireWWW/04/0604/107765.html ]
TOP500 LIST OF WORLD'S FASTEST SUPERCOMPUTERS RELEASED: In what has become a closely watched event in the world of high- performance computing, the 23rd edition of the TOP500 list of the world's fastest supercomputers was released.
TOWARD COMPUTING CRYSTAL FORMS: by Katherine A. Caponi, NCSA Science Writer
A team of scientists from Syracuse University use periodic quantum chemical calculations to figure the limits of molecular quantum theory in describing molecular crystal properties.

Cluster Computing:

TECH U OF KARLSRUHE ADVANCES R&D W/ LINUX CLUSTER FROM HP: HP and the Technical University of Karlsruhe (TH) have signed a contract to build an Itanium 2-based high performance cluster of HP Integrity servers running Linux that will help advance research and development in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany.
THE SPACE SIMULATOR -- MODELING THE UNIVERSE ON A BUDGET: For the past several years, a team of University of California astrophysicists working at Los Alamos National Laboratory have been using a cluster of roughly 300 computer processors to model some of the most intriguing aspects of the Universe.
COLSA TO BUILD APPLE XSERVE G5-BASED SUPERCOMPUTER: COLSA Corporation announced the purchase of 1566 dual processor 1U rack-mount 64-bit Xserve G5 servers from Apple to build a new supercomputer expected to be one of the fastest in the world.
VOLTAIRE CLUSTER TECH HELPS CUSTOMERS ACHIEVE TOP500 STATUS: Voltaire customers Mississippi State University, Ohio Supercomputer Center, and Sandia National Laboratories all achieved Top500 status with supercomputer-class clusters networked with Voltaire's InfiniBand- based interconnect solutions.
INFINICON, SCALI ANNOUNCE APP-OPTIMIZED CLUSTER ENVIRONMENT: InfiniCon Systems and Scali announcedthe Application-optimized Cluster Environment (ACE), which provides breakthrough performance levels for commercial High Performance Computing applications such as Fluent, Eclipse, Magma, LS-Dyna, and others.

High Performance Ads:

Vendor Spotlight:

IBM SECURES STRONG POSITION ON TOP500 LIST: An independent study released named IBM as a leading provider of both installed supercomputing systems (with 224 systems) as well as total aggregate supercomputing power (with a record total 407 teraflops, or trillions of calculations per second).
CRAY'S PROCESSORS ARE AMONG MOST POWERFUL ON TOP500 LIST: Cray Inc. reported that the Cray X1 supercomputer once again had the most powerful processors and the highest efficiencies in the latest rankings of the "World's TOP500 Supercomputers."
AMD SEES A SEVENFOLD INCREASE IN PLACEMENTS ON TOP500 LIST: AMD announced that 30 AMD Opteron processor-based systems are listed among the world's highest-performing supercomputers, as determined by the TOP500 Organization.
QUADRICS HELPS THUNDER BECOME FASTEST IN U.S.: Quadrics and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have built a system, called Thunder, that is not only the fastest Linux cluster in the world, but also the fastest computer system in the US and the #2 system in the world.
HALF OF TOP 500 SUPERCOMPUTERS RUNNING ON INTEL PROCESSORS: More than half of the 500 fastest supercomputers in the world are now based on Intel Itanium or Xeon processors, reflecting the trend towards a building-block approach that takes advantage of standards- based, off-the-shelf components to build these powerful machines.

Quote of the Week:

"In the field of high-performance computing, if you are standing still, you are really falling behind. Without question, America had surrendered our leadership in high-performance computing. Japan's leadership could seriously weaken U.S. economic growth, science and technology, and international prestige."

Jeff Wadsworth, director of
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

IBM READIES FOR $12B GRID MARKET BY 2007

GIMPS PROJECT DISCOVERS
NEW LARGEST KNOWN PRIME NUMBER

News Briefs:

Hardware

Software

Networking

Storage

General

Short Takes:

Product Watch:: MicroStrategy Releases BI Platform.
HP Tru64 Improves With Tek-Tools Profiler.
QlikTech To Demo QlikView 64 At TechEd.
Financial Update:: SGI Announces Preliminary Altix Orders.
Red Hat Reports Fiscal First Qtr Results.
Corporate Liaisons:: Am. Superconductor, DARPA To Partner.
EFILM Selects SGI To Upgrade.
Oracle, Red Hat Promote Linux In Asia-Pac.
People and Position:: Comp. Associates Names Handal Exec VP.
Verari CEO Receives Ernst & Young Award.

HPCwire Job Bank

This Week's Career Opportunities From:
Accenture Adaptec CDEE ClearSpeed	Comp. Assets Cray ECMWF Instrumental	LLNL NTNU PathScale	SCYLD TACC Voltaire

Conferences & Events

HPCwire notes events and highlights a complete listing of industry-related conferences, exhibitions, meetings, etc.

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