ACADEMIA

ISC's interactive parallel computing platform to run on 64-bit AMD Opteron-based high performance computers -- Interactive Supercomputing Inc. (ISC) today announced a new version of its Star-P technical computing software designed to make high performance computing more economical and accessible for a wider range of technical computing users. The new version now runs on lower-cost AMD Opteron-based systems, which enables users who previously didn't have the budgets and programming knowledge, to tap the power of parallel computing clusters to solve their growing scientific and engineering problems. Star-P is the world's first interactive parallel computing platform. It allows scientists, engineers and other researchers to code algorithms and models on their desktops using familiar mathematical software packages such as MathWorks' MATLAB, and run them instantly and interactively on parallel servers. Star-P eliminates the need to re-program the applications in C, FORTRAN or MPI languages to run on parallel computers, which typically takes months to years to complete for complex and computationally intensive problems. The new Star-P version will be available from SGI's Professional Services team and distribution partners. For high-end parallel processing needs, Star-P also runs on Itanium-based SGI Altix servers supporting from one to 512 processors, 24 terabytes of memory, and running 64-bit Linux. "Delivering Star-P on the Opteron platform will help usher in the era of personal supercomputing," said Ilya Mirman, vice president of marketing at Interactive Supercomputing. "Star-P's ease-of-use combined with the price/performance of Opteron-based clusters will change the landscape of how users program parallel architectures." The AMD Opteron processor has been gaining traction in the supercomputing market thanks to its ability to support 64-bit computations and large, high-speed memory capacity at an affordable price. According to the most recent survey by Top500, the Opteron now powers approximately 10 percent of the world's 500 most powerful supercomputers. Star-P automatically connects desktop applications to Opteron-based servers and parallelizes the application code on the fly, enabling users to scale their applications across any multi-processor system or parallel cluster in real time. Using Star-P they can tackle much larger problems on their desktops than ever before possible, while arriving at a solution in a fraction of the time. Pricing and availability Star-P for SGI's Opteron-based servers will be available in the summer with pricing starting at under $8,000, and can be pre-ordered immediately from SGI's Professional Services team by calling 1-800-800-4SGI.