Dell selected by Purdue University for high-performance computing cluster

Telecomworldwire, May 6, 2008

TELECOMWORLDWIRE-6 May 2008-Dell selected by Purdue University for high-performance computing cluster(C)1994-2008 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD http://www.m2.com

A new high-performance computing cluster (HPCC) from computer company Dell Inc (Nasdaq:DELL), has been selected by Purdue University, reportedly providing the largest HPCC on campus at any school in the Big 10 Conference outside of national computing centres.

Dell said over 200 university employees took part in the building of the HPCC in half a day, from its arrival on campus to racking and loading the software and bringing the systems online.

The Purdue 'Steele' supercomputer incorporates 812 Dell PowerEdge 1950 dual quad-core computer nodes and is expected to have a peak performance of over 60 teraflops, enabling it to exceed more than 60 trillion operations in one second. The HPCC will be used for research across various disciplines, such as physics, mathematics, engineering, earth and biological and atmospheric sciences.

According to the university, the new supercomputer will improve its research capabilities and support efforts to make advances in a range of areas, from the design of new materials and drugs, to learning disease-causing virus structures. It confirmed the Dell servers will be used by scientists and engineers from across campus for research.

Much of the funding for the cluster, which is housed at the university's Mathematics Building, was provided from grants made to researchers at Purdue University.

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