ACADEMIA

SGI announced that the United States Department of Defense (DoD) has selected an SGI ICE X high performance computing (HPC) system as part of its High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP) to provide compute resources for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) DoD Supercomputing Research Center (DSRC). The agreement also includes storage and four years of support in a transaction valued at over $27.8 million.

The SGI ICE X compute solution selected will be housed in 32 M-racks and includes 2,304 IP-115 (twin) compute blades with cold-sink technology. It features 9,216 sockets (73,728 cores) powered by Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 series operating at 2.6 GHz and will boast a theoretical peak performance of over 1.5 petaflops. As part of the multi-year agreement the DoD has also selected SGI InfiniteStorage 5500 providing 6.72 PB of storage and operating on the SGI Lustre file system. SGI Professional Services will also provide four years of technical support services.

"Breaking through the challenges faced by the DoD in research, acquisition, and operations requires increasingly powerful supercomputers along with the unique expertise and advanced communications infrastructure that the HPCMP provides," said John E. West, director of the DoD HPCMP. "SGI has long been one of our technology partners, and we look forward to extending that relationship with them over the coming years."

"SGI is honored to provide the AFRL DSRC with the compute, storage and services solutions required to take its compute capabilities to the next level," said Jorge Titinger, president and CEO of SGI. "The results of its work and research ensure that the men and women of our armed services will always have the best information, anytime and anywhere, to keep them safe and ensure the success of their missions."

The High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP) provides DoD laboratories and Test Centers HPC capabilities and expertise through partnerships with the Laboratories and Test Centers. HPCMP resources are used to provide military programs with a competitive advantage for the design, operation and sustainment of new weapons systems; for example, preparing U.S. aircraft for overseas deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq, and assisting in long-term weather predictions to plan humanitarian and military operations throughout the world. The Air Force Research Laboratory is such a partner with the HPCMP by providing a world class HPC Center committed to providing the resources necessary for DoD scientists and engineers to complete their research, development, testing and evaluation projects. Since the organization's inception in 1996 the AFRL DSRC has supported the warfighter by combining powerful computational resources, secure interconnects, and application software with renowned services, expertise and experience.

"HPC customers such as the U.S. Air Force require the finest leading-edge technology to perform increasingly complex, data-intensive computations," said Rajeeb Hazra, vice president and general manager, Intel Technical Computing Group. "SGI's newest generation of its ICE HPC compute platform combines engineering innovations with the compute power of the Intel Xeon E5 processor family to create an efficient and extremely effective product for leading edge technology users such as these."