Wow, does it ever compute. IBM and the University of Hong Kong (UHK) have built and put into operation the region's fastest supercomputer.

The cluster of IBM eServer xSeries servers run on the Linux operating system.

The new high-performance computing (HPC) cluster at UHK delivers more than 638.8 G-flop/s (gigaflops, or billions of floating-point calculations per second), making it the world's 240th most-powerful supercomputer, indicates the independent top 500 list of supercomputers.

It is the fastest computer in Hong Kong.

Francis Ho, permanent secretary for commerce, industry and technology for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, officiated at the unveiling ceremony.

Professors from UHK's departments of chemistry, computer science and information systems, statistics and actuarial science and e-business technology institute also attended the ceremony.

They also discussed their HPC-related research projects, and how they could best leverage the large-scale simulations on the new HPC cluster.

UHK's HPC cluster is 20 times faster than its predecessor. It provides unprecedented number-crunching power to support scientific computation in advanced research in life sciences, chemistry, physics, engineering and mathematics.

Examples of the research projects included studies of nanotechnology and large-scale statistical simulations.

"The entry of UHK's HPC cluster onto the top 500 list marks another milestone in the history of supercomputers in Hong Kong," said Ng Nam, director of UHK's computer centre.

"It demonstrates our university's continuing commitment to fostering local innovation and leading-edge research by harnessing world-class, high performance computers."

Added Timothy Cheung, general manager of IBM China/Hong Kong Ltd, "Leveraging strengths in technology innovation, research and industry expertise, IBM continues to build the world's most powerful computers.

"The launch of UHK's new HPC cluster shows how IBM supports academia, as it broadens the boundaries of knowledge by solving complex problems in fields such as high energy physics research, human genomics and drug development."

Analysis of the top 500 list of supercomputers shows IBM is extending its lead in the global supercomputing stakes, providing 35.5 per cent of installed top 500 performance - more than half as much as its closest rival.

IBM is even more dominant in the fast-growing cluster segment. IBM shipped 42 per cent of all Linux clusters that made the latest top 500 list.

UHK's HPC cluster is composed of 128 IBM eServer x335s, each of which has a pair of 2.8 gigahertz Intel Xeon DP processors.

Running on the popular open-source operating system, Red Hat Linux, the cluster provides an economical way of achieving high-performance, by distributing demanding computations across an array of cost-effective hosts.

China Business Weekly news

(Business Weekly 02/09/2004 page1)