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  • From: zman <zman AT gibbon.kungfumonkey.com>
  • To: raustin3 AT nc.rr.com, "Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/" <internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Cc:
  • Subject: Re: [internetworkers] "Big Mac" seeks slimmer carriage
  • Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 14:26:34 -0500 (EST)

On Wed, 28 Jan 2004, Roger Austin wrote:
> Question: Why did they build this machine? Was there some other reason
> than to build the largest clustered Mac or was there a business reason.

They were out to build a supercomputer, they went with Apple because of
price vs. performance. They also ran the specs on Dell, so it wasn't a
purely a publicity stunt. And they did want to build it for scientific
research.

> Has this system done anything of value so far other than be really big
> and really fast? I'm not against it just for being big, but I would need
> a lot more explanation before dismissing whether it is a waste of money
> or not. SCNC didn't leave a lot of people saying that North Carolina
> should invest in more supercomputing power.

It's all in how you leverage it. There are a lot of ways to sell
supercomputing time on the open market as well as use it in your own
research. If you read VT's site you would know
"The university's faculty
and students are involved in more than 3,700 research projects in fields
ranging from biotechnology to materials, from the environment and energy
to food and health, and from transportation to computing information."

This kind of research can take an immense amount of computational power.
They now have it in the palm of their hands. As for NC research. I work in
a lab at NCSU, there are at least 4 small (under 30 machine) clusters in
our building alone. If there was some sort of cooperation between these
labs there would probably be a super cluster here as well. I think more
right now in NC it's about politics than a spirit of cooperation.

--
Scott H. Zekanis
zman AT kungfumonkey.com
http://www.rod-o-rama.com
http://www.thehellbenders.com
1957 Buick Riviera Hardtop (2 dr., 364" Nailhead)
1959 GMC in Chevy Sheetmetal 1/2 Ton (235" Inline 6)





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