INDUSTRY

Dell is working with the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative (LONI) to help create one of the nation's most powerful supercomputing grids. It will include six Dell server clusters packing 30 teraflops of computing power, or the capability to perform 30 trillion operations per second. The interconnected system is designed to provide a significant increase in computational resources for academic research, including the ability to perform hurricane tracking and storm surge modeling with much greater speed and accuracy. LONI is a fiber optics network connecting supercomputers at Louisiana's six major research universities. It is designed to vastly increase computation speeds and transform the research capability of Louisiana's educational institutions. Each LONI member campus will host a 132-node supercomputing cluster made up of Dell PowerEdge(TM) 1950 servers with five teraflops of storage. "These advances position LONI and Louisiana to become a world leader in supercomputing and emerging cyber technologies," said Charlie McMahon, LONI executive director. To continue recruiting new businesses to Louisiana, 10 percent of the grid's computing power will be reserved for Louisiana businesses, providing supercomputing capabilities to businesses that could benefit from it. LONI's member institutions include Louisiana State University; Louisiana Tech University; LSU Health Sciences Center - New Orleans; LSU Health Sciences Center - Shreveport; Southern University and A&MCollege; Tulane University; University of Louisiana at Lafayette; and the University of New Orleans. "Louisiana is building a world-class supercomputing system that will serve as a boon to the state's businesses and education institutions," said John Mullen, vice president of Dell's Higher Education and Health Care businesses. "Using standards-based Dell technology, LONI can cost-effectively scale to meet future computing needs, making the most of the state's investment." For more information on LONI, visit its Web site.