SCIENCE

Dr. Hassan Aref, dean of Virginia Tech's College of Engineering and a former chief scientist at the San Diego Supercomputer Center, will present the evolution of the Terascale Cluster computer built by Virginia Tech, nicknamed "Big Mac" by some. Big Mac utilizes 1100 G5 Apple computers and technology devised at Virginia Tech to cluster the machines together. "Virginia Tech's idea was to develop a supercomputer of national prominence based upon a homegrown cluster," said Dr. Aref. Big Mac now ranks third among the world's 500 fastest supercomputers, many of which handle with ease 1 trillion calculations per second. The super computer conducts 9.6 trillion calculations per second, zipping along with 2,200 IBM microprocessors not unlike those found in high-end consumer desktop computers. Theoretically, Big Mac could handle a potential 17 teraflops, or 17 trillion operations per second. That still falls short of the No. 1 machine, Japan's Earth Simulator, whose 5,000-plus processors keep it on top with 35.8 teraflops, with the potential of another 5 teraflops. Costs to develop and build Big Mac are expected to total $5.2 million over 5 years. By comparison, the cost of Japan's Earth Simulator is estimated at $350 million. "We're excited to have Dr. Aref as our guest for Technology & Toast," said Gordie Zeigler, NCTC Executive Director. "This supercomputer project is a perfect sign of the ingenuity here in this region, and we are extremely proud that it has tested out as fast as it has. We will continue to promote and highlight the technical milestones being reached in this region." Virginia Tech plans to utilize Big Mac to provide support for the university's growing needs for computing power as its research areas continue to expand into the areas of nanoscale electronics, quantum chemistry, computational chemistry, aerodynamics through multidisciplinary design optimization, molecular statics, computational acoustics, and the molecular modeling of proteins. The New Century Technology Council's vision is to harness technology to drive regional prosperity. Its mission is to champion a climate for the sustainable success of technology based businesses in the New Century Region. More information is available on the NCTC website, www.thetechnologycouncil.com.