ACADEMIA

The Swiss National Supercomputing Center (CSCS) will be the first organization in Europe to make Cray Inc.'s powerful new Cray XT3 massively parallel processing (MPP) supercomputer and its innovative "Red Storm" technology available for scientific research. In a joint initiative with Switzerland's Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), CSCS has ordered a Cray XT3 system with 1,100 AMD Opteron processors and peak performance of 5.9 teraflops. When the new system, nicknamed "Horizon," begins operating in mid-2005, it will be one of Europe's most powerful supercomputers and will boost CSCS' computing capability more than five-fold. "Horizon will enable Swiss researchers to make important breakthroughs in material science, environmental science, life science, astronomy, chemistry, and other scientific fields. This powerful new supercomputer will also make CSCS an attractive partner for high-value, high-profile collaborations within Europe and beyond," said CSCS General Manager Marie-Christine Sawley.