SCIENCE
Fixstars Completes Linux OS Integration for Air Force Research Lab's 2,016 PS3 Cluster
Fixstars Solutions has completed the initial deployment and training phase in it's contract with the Air Force Research Labratory (AFRL) to provide the Linux OS for the AFRL's new PS3 cluster named Condor.
The cluster is composed of 2,016 PlayStations, 1,700 of which were purchased from Fixstars in early 2010. In addition to its processing super powers the system will be economically friendly with an initial cost of only $2 million dollars while providing an estimated 500 teraflops of performance for use in synthetic aperture radar, video processing, and neuromorphic computing.
Fixstars provided versions of both its Yellow Dog Enterprise Linux as well as the Fedora Linux distribution. Both YDEL and Fedora have been specifically modified by Fixstars for optimal performance in a large scale PS3 cluster.
MIT Professor Michael Cusumano commented the following about the cluster: "PS3 clusters like the Air Force Research Labs's Condor PS3 Cluster is a step forward to demonstrate the computational power and accessibility of economical multicore architecture game consoles, Fixstars is at the forefront of software development for multicore technologies."
Fixstars visited the Rome Research Site to assist with the first stages of software deployment as well to provide training of AFRL personnel on the processes and techniques used to manage the software on the 2,016 node cluster. Fixstars will continue to support the AFRL with OS maintenance and support through 2013.