PHYSICS

The interconnect technology that made 'Thunder' at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories the most powerful computer in the USA, is now available to medium and small scale users at cost effective configurations -- Quadrics, the leading interconnect technology provider is to release a number of standalone switch chassis based on its QsNetII technology in the range of 8-128 way cluster configurations, the E-Series (Enterprise). The new product family combines ultra low latency and high bandwidth performance with cost effective configurations. The improvements in design have made possible a 50% price reduction from the previous product offering, and furthermore, the increase in volume allows the QM500 network adaptor to be priced below $1,000. This translates in per port prices to under $1,800, closing the gap between high performance clustering and affordability. "We are delivering world class cluster technology to a wide range of new users, enlarging the cluster community and extending the benefits of affordable high performance computers. The launch of QsNetII E-Series ensures that we meet the price-performance and the quality of service demanded by enterprises", commented John Taylor, Head of Technical Marketing and Support at Quadrics. The first of the E-Series, the 8-Way Switch, started shipping in March 2004 and more than 20 systems have already been deployed. In June 2004, the range of switches from 48-Way to 128-Way will be released and in August 2004, the range from 16-Way to 32-Way will follow. These systems are targeted at industrial level customers as well as research institutions. Potential uses for the new product family include dedicated ISV codes for industries such as aerospace and automotive. The E-8 also represents an entry-level offer for end users to evaluate QsNetII as a viable solution for 32 and 64-bit commodity computing. The E-Series is supported under LinuxTM for the Intel XeonTM and ItaniumTM processor families and the AMD OpteronTM architecture. Support for other microprocessor architectures is under development. Quadrics software is an open source release that includes all drivers and libraries that enable parallel programs consistent with public domain job start up software. The Quadrics Resource Management System (RMS) is also available and enhances production level capability for such clusters. "As commodity processor capabilities become faster and cheaper, and interconnect technology becomes more efficient as well as cost effective, clustering technology will flow from the big research centres towards mid-sized users. The launch of the E-Series is aligned with our vision of the HPC sector. We have a dual focus, to contribute to the further development of high performance clusters and to expand the reach and benefit of this technology to new users", added Cristoforo Romanelli, CEO of Quadrics Ltd. The new product family will be presented at the International Supercomputer Conference to be held in Heidelberg during June 22-25, 2004 System Prices The system includes switches, network interconnect cards, cables, port shields and drivers. Other E-Series configurations are available, covering the whole range from 8-way to 128-way clusters. Quadrics is a leading supplier and developer of performance clustering technology. With extremely high bandwidth and ultra-low latency QsNet, is a crucial component for building scalable systems. Linux(TM) commodity clusters combine the performance of QsNet with a software environment to ensure that clusters spanning thousands of processors can be used, administered and run effectively. The Quadrics' QsNetII PCI-X 64-bit host adaptor operates at the full 133 MHz specification and provides over 850 Mbytes/s sustained MPI bandwidth and 1.5us MPI latency. Multiple adaptors can be used to provide more MPI bandwidth and high availability when required. The world's leading vendors and integrators as well as major Supercomputing Centres such as Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories, Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have selected QsNet. Quadrics interconnect technology has been recently deployed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Thunder, the most powerful computer in USA. Quadrics Ltd is part of the Finmeccanica Group.