ENTERTAINMENT
Fraunhofer Institute installs 9 Teraflops supercomputer based on Cell/B.E.
Fraunhofer Research Institute ITWM, located in Kaiserslautern, Germany, has installed a new supercomputer cluster that is one of the world's most energy-efficient clusters. With only about 2 watt per gigaflop (488.1 Mflop/watt) and a 9.26 teraflop/s performance, the system will also count among Germany's most powerful computer clusters. The Fraunhofer Institute will use its new system for developing new multicore software technologies as well as simulations in seismics, fluid dynamics, molecular dynamics and finance. As seismics and finance are concerned, the ITWM can use its own software which has already been optimized for the Cell CPU and can therefore show a performance that significantly outranges even the Linpack performance. 
"Using the new supercomputer, we plan to test new multicore technologies more extensively. Furthermore, we are expecting an increased performance for several own applications with less energy consumption and floor requirements. We have been dealing with Cell architecture since 2004. Now we are realizing some of the developments in industry," says Dr. Franz-Josef Pfreundt, ITWM director of the Competence Center HPC and Visualization and IT director. The supercomputer clusters have been developed and tested by IBM Technology Development Center Boeblingen IT specialists. The clusters consist of 70 IBM QS22 blade servers with 140 IBM PowerXCell 8i chips, succeeding generation to Cell/B.E. processors which are used in Playstation 3 gaming consoles. QS22 blade systems are also deployed in Roadrunner supercomputers, the world's first system to reach a one petaflop/s speed. The basic elements, the QS22 blade system and the relating Linux derivative, both come from the IBM Technology Development Center Boeblingen. "IBM BladeCenter QS22 has been developed in the IBM Technology Development Center Boeblingen in cooperation with IT specialists from international IBM Development Centers and has proven to be highly powerful and energy-efficient," says Oliver Rettig, blade program manager for IBM Germany Development. Using the powerful Cell clusters, which complement an existing 10 teraflop/s standard cluster, the Fraunhofer Institute will create further improved working conditions for its IT researchers in Germany and develop new powerful software for industrial use.
"Using the new supercomputer, we plan to test new multicore technologies more extensively. Furthermore, we are expecting an increased performance for several own applications with less energy consumption and floor requirements. We have been dealing with Cell architecture since 2004. Now we are realizing some of the developments in industry," says Dr. Franz-Josef Pfreundt, ITWM director of the Competence Center HPC and Visualization and IT director. The supercomputer clusters have been developed and tested by IBM Technology Development Center Boeblingen IT specialists. The clusters consist of 70 IBM QS22 blade servers with 140 IBM PowerXCell 8i chips, succeeding generation to Cell/B.E. processors which are used in Playstation 3 gaming consoles. QS22 blade systems are also deployed in Roadrunner supercomputers, the world's first system to reach a one petaflop/s speed. The basic elements, the QS22 blade system and the relating Linux derivative, both come from the IBM Technology Development Center Boeblingen. "IBM BladeCenter QS22 has been developed in the IBM Technology Development Center Boeblingen in cooperation with IT specialists from international IBM Development Centers and has proven to be highly powerful and energy-efficient," says Oliver Rettig, blade program manager for IBM Germany Development. Using the powerful Cell clusters, which complement an existing 10 teraflop/s standard cluster, the Fraunhofer Institute will create further improved working conditions for its IT researchers in Germany and develop new powerful software for industrial use.