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Fabric Networks to help build InfiniBand supercomputer cluster in the Netherlands
June 25, 2003 - Westborough-based Fabric Networks Inc., a provider of Switched Fabric Networking technology, and ClusterVision, an Amsterdam-based specialist in Linux supercomputer clusters, have received an order from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands for the installation of a 66 processor Linux supercomputer cluster using InfiniBand technology from Fabric Networks.
The size of the order was not released, but Fabric Networks says it will be the first public, production-ready cluster in Europe based on InfiniBand technology.
The cluster will be used by a group of scientists from two research institutes of the University of Utrecht. Scientists from the Astronomical Institute will use the cluster for research concerning the evolution of stars and binary star constellations and their interaction with the interstellar medium. This will later be extended with Magneto Hydrodynamic problems associated with star atmospheres and more exotic phenomena like quasars and black holes.
Scientists from the Institute for Marine and Atmospheric research Utrecht will use the cluster for the modeling of ocean currents such as the Gulfstream, flows in the atmosphere, the transport of chemical components such as ozone, the movement of sandbanks in coastal areas and the behavior of ice caps and glaciers.
The cluster will also be used by the High Performance Computing Group of the university.
InfiniBand is a new network technology based on an open standard I/O architecture developed by a consortium which includes Intel, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Microsoft.
The cluster will consist of 33 SuperMicro rack-mount servers with 66 Intel Xeon CPUs at 2.8 GHz and a total of 66 GB of memory. Each server will have a Fabric Networks HCA-X InfiniBand PCI-X card connected to a Fabric Networks FabNet 3200 32-port InfiniBand switch. The cluster will be running the Linux-based ClusterVisionOS cluster operating system and software environment, which includes all software required to effectively use and manage the cluster.
From Mass High Tech, June 25, 2003
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