CLOUD

Emerson Network Power, a business of Emerson (NYSE: EMR), is among an international team of technology experts celebrating today the ranking of Virginia Tech University's "X" Supercomputer as the third fastest in the world and fastest among all universities. Emerson Network Power designed and provided the technology for the supercomputer's precision cooling system to keep its heat load under control, protecting against shutdowns that could result in losses of valuable research and data. X, named for its design goal of 10 teraflops, ranks behind only Japan's Earth Simulator and ASCI Q, the Los Alamos National Laboratory's dedicated weapons computer. The ranking was announced Sunday at the SuperComputing 2003 conference in Phoenix. The cooling system for X is especially critical because of heat generated by the supercomputer's first-of-its-kind "cluster" of 1,100 personal computers. Clustering technology provides educational institutions the ability to deploy supercomputing power without incurring the higher cost of a single, larger unit. "Emerson worked to solve every problem we encountered - including developing a cooling solution for high-density computer configurations - and they did it in record time," said Hassan Aref, dean of Virginia Tech's College of Engineering. Standard air conditioning technology for the supercomputer presented the dilemma of wind velocities up to 60 mph under the raised floor of the computer room, said Patricia Arvin, associate vice president, information systems and computing, Virginia Tech. "Based on the heat load for X, normal air conditioning units are not sufficient to protect this system's high-stakes, sensitive electronics," Emerson President James G. Berges said. "Our new high- density precision cooling system answered the supercomputer's unique heat load requirements, as well as the university's budget and tight time constraints for this project." In terms of speed, X can handle a potential 17 teraflops, or 17 trillion operations per second. The recorded 10.28 teraflops is "truly amazing" when one considers the machine was essentially put together in two months of construction time, said Jason Lockhart of Virginia Tech's project team. Emerson Network Power technology for the supercomputer includes the Liebert XD(TM) family of cooling solutions, designed to deliver efficient, high-capacity supplemental cooling without consuming valuable data center floor space. Powerful fan units, coils and chillers draw hot air away from the supercomputer's sensitive electronics, providing the proper temperature and humidity for top performance. In addition, Emerson Network Power will be supplying the reliable power technology to protect the new supercomputer from costly failures in the event of power surges or blackouts, with the installation of Liebert UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) systems. Virginia Tech researchers will use the new supercomputer to help better understand complex topics of worldwide significance, including nanoscale electronics, chemistry, aerodynamics, molecular statics, and computational acoustics.