Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) has teamed up with
IBM and New York State to form a $100 million partnership,
creating the world's most powerful university-based supercomputing center. The Computational Center for
Nanotechnology Innovations (CCNI) is based in the Rensselaer Technology Park, which is
also home to CR4's parent company, GlobalSpec.
The CCNI houses the 12th fastest supercomputer in
the world. This ranking is done by "standard linkpack", and is based on a
benchmark from a supercomputing website. The CCNI facility is designed to
continue advancing how biotechnology is seen by electronics manufacturers, and
to extend its uses to other industries. Importantly, the CCNI eliminates the
need to perform expensive prototyping. Instead, businesses can now do their
prototyping virtually. This allows manufacturers to "do it right the first time"
and can help simulate the manufacturing process.
According to Omkaram (Om)
Nalamasu, Vice President for Research at Rensselaer, "The CCNI will bring
together university and industry researchers under one roof to conduct a broad
range of computational simulations, from the interactions between atoms and
molecules up to the behavior of the complete device. This will help enable the
semiconductor industry to bridge the gaps between fundamental device science,
design, and manufacturing at the nanoscale."
Nanotechnology-focused industries can join up with the CCNI
by way of a partnership program. Members of this program include semiconductor
manufacturers, systems integrators, equipment makers, software providers, and
materials manufacturers. CCNI membership provides access to the supercomputing
environment, the opportunity to collaborate with leaders in the computational
nanotechnology field, and the ability to identify research areas for the
center.
At an open-house, a group of GlobalSpec employees (including
some bloggers from CR4) were given a tour of the new facilities.
Architecturally, there is an attractive, public space near the building's
entrance. The computer room is on a higher level so that the cooling pipes can
run under the floor. Large windows provide clear views and a sense of
proportion. The pillars in the facility are shaped like Blue Gene computers,
and there is a lattice ceiling throughout much of the building for
architectural effect.
 The supercomputer at the CCNI consists of a series of IBM
BlueGene/L systems, containing a total of 32,768 Power OC 440 700 MHz
processors. Additionally, there is an array of Linux power-based machines and
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Opteron processor-based clusters sharing a common
file system with the main supercomputer. Combined, these systems create over
100 Teraflops of computational power associated with high-speed networking and
storage. The CCNI connects to the Rensselaer campus and the NYSERNet optical
research infrastructure. This allows gigabit connections to the Internet,
Internet2, National LambdaRail (NLR), and most research networks in the world.
More information about the Computational Center
for Nanotechnology Innovations can be found on the following websites:
Additional Resources:
http://www.top500.org/list/2007/11/100
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_Center_for_Nanotechnology_Innovations
http://news.rpi.edu/update.do
http://www.rpitechpark.com/
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