Logo

World's fastest: IBM's Roadrunner supercomputer breaks petaflop barrier using Cell and Opteron processors



Roadrunner is a supercomputer built by IBM at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, USA. Currently the world's fastest computer, the US$133-million Roadrunner is designed for a peak performance of 1.7 petaflops, achieving 1.026 on May 25, 2008.

Roadrunner differs from many contemporary supercomputers in that it is a hybrid system, using two different processor architectures. Usually supercomputers only use one, since such a design is easier to design and program for. To realise the full potential of Roadrunner, all software will have to be written specially for this hybrid architecture. The hybrid design consists of dual-core Opteron server processors manufactured by AMD using the standard AMD64 architecture. Attached to each Opteron core is a Cell processor manufactured by IBM using Power Architecture technology. As a supercomputer, the Roadrunner is considered an Opteron cluster with Cell accelerators, as each node consists of a Cell attached to an Opteron core and the Opterons to each other.

Processors

Roadrunner is unique for its hybrid design using two different models of processors.


Opteron

AMD Opteron 2210, running at 1.8 GHz. These are processors with two general purpose cores each. Opterons are used both in the computational nodes feeding the Cells with useful data and in the system operations and communication nodes passing data between computing nodes and helping the operators running the system. Roadrunner has a total of 6912 Opteron processors (6480 computation, 432 operation), for a total of (12960+864) 13824 cores.


PowerXCell

IBM PowerXCell 8i, running at 3.2 GHz. These processors have one general purpose core (PPE), and eight special performance cores (SPE) for floating point operations. Roadrunner has a total of 12,960 PowerXCell processors, with 12,960 PPE cores and 103,680 SPE cores, for a total of 116,640 cores.

Overall system information:
6,480 Opteron processors with 51.8 TiB RAM (in 3,240 LS21 blades)
12,960 Cell processors with 51.8 TiB RAM (in 6,480 QS22 blades)
216 System x3755 I/O nodes
26 288-port ISR2012 Infiniband 4x DDR switches
296 racks
2.35 MW power .

Inventory auditing software 

      If you can lovingly call your small- or medium-sized business IT department "scrappy"--maybe you're both company president and network administrator--the right tools can make the most of your resources. Inventory auditing software can keep track of company hardware and software without taking your time from other tasks. You'll be able to keep track of assets, plus you'll gain valuable troubleshooting clues, such as an always-current list of software version numbers. 

Network Inventory Advisor from ClearApps seeks out these details across your company PCs. The tool runs from a Windows system, but it can also audit Mac and Linux clients. You'll install the software, and it'll return a list of systems attached to the network. 

More than just a list of each PC's software, the tool notes the date applications were installed and includes version numbers for both applications and operating systems. You can use it to make sure that clients have current antivirus software and other patches. It'll even track licenses for certain applications, helping you manage allocations. And if you don't have the resources--or mentality--to prevent employees from installing software on their systems, you'll appreciate a running list of their applications.

Hardware audits provide details about PCs' model, and specs: video card information, hard disks, busses, and more. If an employee complains that a system is too slow, you can check the CPU and RAM details at a glance. 

Automated scans make the most of your time. You can set Network Inventory Advisor to run on a schedule, without your intervention. It can notify you if it detects a change, so you can be alerted about any PC updates or modifications. 

Check out the free demo to see if your business can make use of the tool. If you decide to buy, Network Inventory Advisor starts at $89 for up to 25 networked PCs, and per-system costs drop off with more volume.

To try out this software : Click here.

WIX - Helps to create website

Creating a stunning website with Wix is as simple as making presentation slides. You can make a business website to promote your products‚ a personal web page for your loved ones‚ or an art website to exhibit your creations. Whatever your needs‚ Wix offers a complete website solution. And Wix is search engine friendly!   

To use this site : Click here