IBM Selected to Build Europe's Most Powerful Supercomputer For Fundamental Scientific Research

Business Wire,  May 17, 2001  

Tags: IBM Corp., supercomputer

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Business & High Tech Editors

ARMONK, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 17, 2001

Max Planck Society Will Use New IBM POWER4 Technology to Solve

Grand Challenges of Science

Germany's most prestigious science institution today selected IBM to build an ultra-powerful supercomputer devoted to solving Grand Challenges of science. Incorporating IBM eServer(a) POWER4 technology, the machine is expected to be the fastest non-classified supercomputer in Europe when completed in 2002.

The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of the Sciences awarded the multi-million dollar contract to IBM after carefully evaluating proposals from several vendors. POWER4 is the advanced microprocessor that powers the next generation of IBM eServer systems, scheduled to begin shipping later this year.

"The new IBM supercomputer gives Max Planck scientists the ability to once again carry out competitive, state-of-the-art research in the field of numerical simulations," said Stefan Heinzel, director of Computer Center Garching, where the supercomputer will be located.

The Max Planck Society's new POWER4-based supercomputer will be designed to achieve a peak performance of 3.8 trillion calculations per second, offering 10 times the application performance of the Society's current supercomputer. The next-generation IBM machine will help researchers tackle a number of Grand Challenges in disciplines such as polymer research, solid state physics and theoretical chemistry, fusion research, astrophysics and biochemistry. Using the machine, scientists expect to achieve a parameter-free description of instabilities at the atomic level in the helical structure of proteins that are assumed to be responsible for diseases such as Creutzfeld-Jakob and Alzheimer`s.

"Joining a long roster of pioneering IBM supercomputers -- from Deep Blue to ASCI White -- this system will represent a quantum leap forward for supercomputing in Europe," said Rod Adkins, general manager, pSeries, IBM eServer. "IBM is proud to have been selected to provide the machine that will help the Max Planck Society address some of the most daunting scientific problems known to man."

POWER4 System

Designed to provide industry-leading performance for both commercial and technical workloads, POWER4-based systems will feature groundbreaking new technology, such as:

-- IBM's POWER4 Gigaprocessor -- the world's first computer chip
containing two processors, the Gigaprocessor incorporates IBM's copper and
silicon-on-insulator technology to operate in excess of one gigahertz.

-- Massive bandwidth -- each chip delivers more than an order of magnitude
improvement in bandwidth over today's systems. Bandwidth from Level 2
cache to the processors is in excess of 100 GB per second - the equivalent of
downloading 20 full length DVDs in a single second. IBM has designed POWER4 so
that bandwidth increases in proportion to microprocessor frequency, ensuring
unprecedented scalability.

-- Distributed switch interconnect architecture -- a new method of connecting
devices that dramatically increases scalability by combining the benefits of
bus and switch architectures.

Today's announcement illustrates IBM's growing leadership in the supercomputing market. According to the TOP500 Supercomputer List(b), IBM systems account for 215 of the world's 500 most powerful high performance computers -- more than any other vendor. The list was published on November 3, 2000 by supercomputing experts Jack Dongarra from the University of Tennessee and Erich Strohmaier and Hans Meuer of the University of Mannheim (Germany).

About the Max Planck Society

Based in Munich, Germany, the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of the Sciences is an independent, non-profit organization that conducts basic research in service to the general public in the areas of natural science, social science and the arts and humanities.

The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of the Sciences e. V. was founded in 1948 as an independent, non-profit organization. It promotes research in its own institutes and maintains the Administrative Headquarters as well as a number of other organizations in order to advise and support its more than 80 research facilities with 10,000 employees, including 5,000 scientists. The president is Prof. Dr. Hubert Markl.

(a) The IBM eServer brand consists of the established IBM e-business

logo with the following descriptive term "server" following it.

(b) View the entire list at http://www.top500.org/

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