K.U.Leuven Selects SGI Altix ICE and InfiniteStorage NEXIS NAS Solution as Engines for 'Virtuous Circle' of Research, Funding and Recruiting: Belgium's Catholic University of Leuven (K.U.Leuven) has selected an energy-smart, space-efficient cluster system from Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI) to form one of the initial building blocks of a new supercomputer center to drive research excellence in the Flemish Region of Belgium. K.U.Leuven, the oldest existing Catholic university in the world, recently installed a 928-core SGI Altix ICE system and a 29 Terabyte (TB) SGI InfiniteStorage NEXIS 2000 InfiniBand NAS storage solution. The high- productivity installation will hasten computational results Belgian researchers require to achieve breakthroughs in the study of climatology, molecular imaging, computational systems biology, nanoscale physics, chemistry and more. Like every university, K.U.Leuven depends on the quality of its academic research to create a "virtuous circle" in which published high-quality research attracts increased funding that leads to better facilities, which help attract the best researchers, who in turn produce more widely recognized research. "Academic research is the lifeline of a university, the substrate of education, and the basis of its community service," said Professor Marc Vervenne, Rector of K.U.Leuven, which was founded in 1425. "Investment in high-quality research in an international environment is thus indispensable. These solutions from Silicon Graphics provide the foundation for future research efforts that will benefit K.U.Leuven, Belgium and the scientific community at large." K.U.Leuven's SGI Altix ICE 8200 system is powered by 232 Intel Xeon 5000 Sequence processors with a dual MPI backplane and unique door design that reduces data center cooling costs by removing heat via an innovative chilled water system. The Linux system is supported by two InfiniBand-connected SGI InfiniteStorage NEXIS NAS arrays with a total capacity of 29 Terabytes. Both compute and storage systems are designed to easily scale as the demands of K.U.Leuven's scientific research escalate. "The scalability shown in some of our users' benchmarks and the professionalism of the Silicon Graphics staff showed us that Silicon Graphics was the way to go," said Kurt Lust, coordinator, Flemish Supercomputer Center. "In addition to triggering a 'virtuous circle' for research, this new cluster and storage array will satisfy our HPC-oriented user base." "Like everyone else, universities must compete for funding -- and one way to remain competitive is to invest in world-class technology solutions that fuel innovation," said Joop Ruijgrok, EMEA vice president, Silicon Graphics. "Silicon Graphics is proud to work with K.U.Leuven and the Flemish Supercomputer Center to deliver the strategic backbone of its new compute and data management resource. And with the rapid growth of scientific data sets, K.U.Leuven can scale its compute and storage solutions as its needs warrant." Demonstrations at SCO8: Silicon Graphics will demonstrate its high-productivity solutions, including Altix ICE and InfiniteStorage arrays, in Booth 1009 at the SC08 International Conference, Nov. 15-21 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas.