For release: April 8, 1999
Contacts:
Mark Gordon, Ames Laboratory, (515) 294-0452
Dick Booth, IBM, (507) 253-4167
Saren Johnston, Ames Lab Public Affairs, (515) 294-3474
AMES, Iowa -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory and Iowa State University
will host IBM officials April 12 when they arrive in Ames
to formally announce the company's selection of ISU's chemistry department as the
recipient of a Shared University Research grant.
The daylong visit will include a 9:45 a.m. stop at Ames Laboratory's Scalable Computing Lab to see the network of 15
dual-processor, top-of-the-line IBM Power3 RS/6000 43P Model 260 workstations made
possible by the SUR grant. The chemistry department, SCL and Ames Laboratory's Condensed
Matter Physics program will use the $665,000-worth of workstations to foster "cluster
computing."
Cluster computing involves networking groups of high-performance workstations to create
clusters that operate at supercomputer speeds for a fraction of the cost of most parallel
computers.
"The SUR grant is highly competitive," said Mark Gordon, an ISU distinguished
professor of chemistry and director of Ames Laboratory's Applied Mathematics and
Computational Sciences program. "The fact that we received it says that Ames Lab's
and ISU's combined expertise is very attractive to IBM and that they see great promise in
our collaborative efforts."
Jeff VerHeul, vice president of server and workstation development in IBM's server group,
said the grant allows IBM, Ames Lab and ISU to work closely in exploring the performance
of clustered systems.
"Professor Gordon's team has built a world-class learning laboratory using this new
technology to solve real-world scientific problems," said VerHeul, who received a
bachelor's degree in computer engineering from ISU in 1980.
The SCL is home to the 15 IBM workstations supplied by the grant. Fondly called
"Cluster," because SCL researchers have been using the system to do calculations
on clusters of atoms, it will be used to determine the best methods of communication
between computers in a cluster. It will also be used for applications in theoretical
chemistry and physics, such as running quantum chemistry code and modeling new materials
with specific magnetic and high-temperature properties.
Gordon said he thinks there is a good chance that Cluster may become an IBM showcase
system. "I know there are other SUR grants like this one where the focus is to use
the RS/6000 workstations to do good science. Ames Lab and ISU are already doing good
science, and because of the SCL, we'll also be able to supply feedback on future
developments that may be of benefit to IBM," he explained. "That's why it's a
real partnership.
"One of the reasons for the existence of the SCL is to develop new methods for doing
scalable computing," Gordon added. "We are hoping that people in other parts of
the ISU campus and the Ames Laboratory will make use of Cluster to gain expertise in how
to do high-performance computing on systems like this, and to extend that expertise to
training students."
A tribute to the success of the cluster computing effort made possible by IBM's SUR grant
is recent DOE funding to substantially enhance the RS/6000 cluster -- possibly increasing
it to 24 dual processors. "What makes this even more interesting is that we have
submitted a proposal to the National Science Foundation, which we hope will allow us to
expand to 32 dual-processor systems," Gordon said.
Ames Laboratory is operated for the DOE by ISU. The Lab conducts research into areas of
national concern that include energy resources, high-speed computer design, environmental
cleanup and restoration, and the synthesis and study of new materials.
Last revision: 4/8/99 sd