GOVERNMENT

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- HP today announced that it has installed a supercomputer system valued at more than $22 million at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (WTSI) in the United Kingdom. The HP AlphaServer system will significantly expand WTSI’s scientific research capabilities in the field of genomics and double WTSI’s information technology computing power in the next two years. As one of the leading genomics centers in the world dedicated to analyzing and understanding genomes through focused research and collaborations, WTSI has embarked on a new five-year, multi-million dollar research program to bring healthcare benefits from its groundbreaking work in sequencing the human genome through the Human Genome Project. WTSI also studies the genomes of disease-causing organisms such as malaria, sleeping sickness, typhoid and tuberculosis with the goal of identifying targets for new drugs or vaccines. The HP system will provide scientists at the institute with 24x7 computing capabilities to capture and electronically publish the results of their genomic sequencing. The HP AlphaServer supercomputer (which includes 38 ES45, four ES40, two DS20 and one 32-CPU GS320 system) will more than double current computing power. New HP StorageWorks capabilities will provide three times WTSI’s current storage capacity. HP also will provide managed care and business-critical services through onsite logistics and resident engineering resources. “As we increase our emphasis on understanding how genomes work -- and how genes can bring disease -- we move into ever more complex computational arenas,” said Phil Butcher, head of systems, WTSI. “DNA is a 4-bit linear code; proteins in the cell are three-dimensional objects interacting with one another. Our compute needs can be met only by finding flexible, scalable solutions that allow adaptation and growth in this demanding environment.” Additional High Performance Technical Computing Successes HP is the global leader in high performance technical server revenue based on sales of its AlphaServer, PA-RISC and Intel® Itanium®-based systems.(1) The WTSI supercomputer project and other recently announced wins demonstrate HP’s leadership in the high performance technical computing market. For example, HP and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) recently announced that PNNL has ordered a $24.5 million HP supercomputer that will allow researchers to apply computational science to address key scientific challenges. When fully operational, the 9.2 teraflop supercomputer will be the world’s most powerful Linux-based supercomputer and the largest attached to a computer grid anywhere in the world. Consisting of 1,400 of the next generation of Itanium processors, the new HP supercomputer would have an expected total peak performance of more than 8.3 teraflops -- roughly 8,300 times faster than a current personal computer. Calculations that currently take a month to complete could be done in one day on the new system. Other recent high performance technical computing wins include: • CESGA Supercomputing Centre in Spain -- CESGA purchased an additional 32 AlphaServer systems in April to meet the growing computing needs of the Spanish National Council for Scientific Research for meteorological, chemical, mathematical, geographical and bioinformatics research. • Singapore Bioinformatics Research Centre -- The Nanyang Technological University and HP signed a $12.4 million agreement to develop the infrastructure for the new Singapore Bioinformatics Research Centre, which will focus on education, human resource training, and research and development for bioinformatics. • Brazil Telecom -- To face the increasing competition in the telecommunications market, Brazil Telecom has installed Latin America’s largest supercomputer based on six HP Superdome servers. With its high levels of performance and availability, the HP supercomputer significantly increases the efficiency and reliability of its services to customers. • Medical College of Wisconsin -- HP’s $1 million contract with the college will provide supercomputer technology and services to support research on analyzing the rat genome sequence in concert with human and mouse genomes. • University of Missouri Bioinformatics Consortium -- The university is collaborating with HP on a bioinformatics consortium intended to provide for the joint development of a long-term technology and performance strategic plan to enhance bioinformatics research. • Genoscope/French National Sequencing Center -- The center recently added eight more AlphaServer systems to multiply its compute power by a factor of five to expand Genoscope’s work in sequencing the human genome. • New York Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics -- New York Governor George Pataki announced HP was providing $30 million worth of AlphaServer systems, data storage and Tru64 UNIX software, plus a commitment to invest up to $10 million for start-up companies which become associated with this drug design and research center.