GOVERNMENT
UAE University boasts of region's biggest supercomputing system
Sun puts University on the Top 500 List of High Performance Computing Grids worldwide: Sun Microsystems has deployed one of the most advanced super grid computers in the world at the UAE University. The system is the regions biggest grid computing system and places the UAE University in the top 500 list of high performance computing grids worldwide. 
The super grid is deployed in service of the community at large, and will support the teaching and research missions of the University by providing students and faculty with unprecedented computing power. Computing applications ranging from intelligent computing to nanotechnology will be supported by Sun’s super grid. In addition, the University intends to connect the super grid with other major international grid computing networks to share grid resources with scientists from around the world. UAE University worked with Sun to develop an economically viable, high productivity computing system, capable of scaling to meet the University’s growth over the next five years. Their prerequisites varied in terms of resources, configuration and I/O throughput and purely application-dependant. A major part of this initiative was to provide real-value and high-end large-scale computing solutions to their intended user-community and students. "The UAE University is pleased to partner with Sun Microsystems to develop a unique grid computing laboratory in service of the university and the greater scientific community,” said Dr Abdullah Al-Khanbashi, Vice Chancellor of UAE University. “The University is looking forward to working with Sun to develop new grid-enabled applications, from energy to medicine, and contribute in a meaningful way to the global grid development initiatives." The grid computing infrastructure is being set up at the College of IT (CIT) at the UAE University. The CIT investigates applications related to petroleum domains, such as seismic and oil-reservoir simulation, as well as to bioinformatics, multimedia, and e-learning. Dr Rafic Makki, Dean of UAE University, College of IT added: “The mission of the grid computing laboratory at the College of IT at the UAE University is to provide talented students and researchers with an exciting environment to design and implement efficient solutions for computing-intensive applications. The college looks forward to investigate issues that are important to world-wide grid computing such as security and service level agreements.” Sun’s deployment consists of 100 blades, each with two quad core sockets, providing grid power of around 8.3 Tera Flops. The system is able to support both Intel-Xeon and AMD-Opetron flavours on the same type of blade server to maximize the usage of a wide range of HPC applications within one infrastructure. Users can log into the grid through Sun Thin Client technology SunRay, that will be distributed among two separate laboratories each with 20 seats. “Sun is delighted to have the UAE University as a new member to Sun’s high performing computing community, a community where it can engage with Sun engineers, partners and other customers in real time,” said Tarek Ayass, Education and Research Regional Manager for Sun Microsystems. “Sun’s open, scalable architecture of world-class components accelerates deployment, speeds results, and removes limitations. Our long-standing commitment to the high performance computing market delivers unmatched performance, flexibility, and ease of management. Sun’s goal is to provide support for educational and industrial research in the region, and collaborate with international grid initiatives to lead international research toward the global grid, the next generation of the Internet,” Ayass added. Providing the power needed to run larger numbers of computing tasks and solve complex problems faster, Sun’s HPC solution will enable the University get to the international frontlines in the research space. Sun’s HPC Community Portal is a new website designed for information sharing and collaboration.
The super grid is deployed in service of the community at large, and will support the teaching and research missions of the University by providing students and faculty with unprecedented computing power. Computing applications ranging from intelligent computing to nanotechnology will be supported by Sun’s super grid. In addition, the University intends to connect the super grid with other major international grid computing networks to share grid resources with scientists from around the world. UAE University worked with Sun to develop an economically viable, high productivity computing system, capable of scaling to meet the University’s growth over the next five years. Their prerequisites varied in terms of resources, configuration and I/O throughput and purely application-dependant. A major part of this initiative was to provide real-value and high-end large-scale computing solutions to their intended user-community and students. "The UAE University is pleased to partner with Sun Microsystems to develop a unique grid computing laboratory in service of the university and the greater scientific community,” said Dr Abdullah Al-Khanbashi, Vice Chancellor of UAE University. “The University is looking forward to working with Sun to develop new grid-enabled applications, from energy to medicine, and contribute in a meaningful way to the global grid development initiatives." The grid computing infrastructure is being set up at the College of IT (CIT) at the UAE University. The CIT investigates applications related to petroleum domains, such as seismic and oil-reservoir simulation, as well as to bioinformatics, multimedia, and e-learning. Dr Rafic Makki, Dean of UAE University, College of IT added: “The mission of the grid computing laboratory at the College of IT at the UAE University is to provide talented students and researchers with an exciting environment to design and implement efficient solutions for computing-intensive applications. The college looks forward to investigate issues that are important to world-wide grid computing such as security and service level agreements.” Sun’s deployment consists of 100 blades, each with two quad core sockets, providing grid power of around 8.3 Tera Flops. The system is able to support both Intel-Xeon and AMD-Opetron flavours on the same type of blade server to maximize the usage of a wide range of HPC applications within one infrastructure. Users can log into the grid through Sun Thin Client technology SunRay, that will be distributed among two separate laboratories each with 20 seats. “Sun is delighted to have the UAE University as a new member to Sun’s high performing computing community, a community where it can engage with Sun engineers, partners and other customers in real time,” said Tarek Ayass, Education and Research Regional Manager for Sun Microsystems. “Sun’s open, scalable architecture of world-class components accelerates deployment, speeds results, and removes limitations. Our long-standing commitment to the high performance computing market delivers unmatched performance, flexibility, and ease of management. Sun’s goal is to provide support for educational and industrial research in the region, and collaborate with international grid initiatives to lead international research toward the global grid, the next generation of the Internet,” Ayass added. Providing the power needed to run larger numbers of computing tasks and solve complex problems faster, Sun’s HPC solution will enable the University get to the international frontlines in the research space. Sun’s HPC Community Portal is a new website designed for information sharing and collaboration.