New computing powerhouse to speed up research
By the end of the month, OIT will open its new high-performance computer cluster, known as a Beowulf cluster, which will support research in several departments.The cluster will serve faculty and students who run computationally intensive programs by offering processing time on its high-performance computers.The cluster will also allow OIT to provide departments that already have Beowulf clusters with trouble shooting and other support services, Curt Hillegas, OIT's manager of research and academic applications support, said.The new cluster will be composed of many PC's linked by an extremely fast network and will mimic a supercomputer, Hillegas explained."The Beowulf cluster takes standard, mass-produced parts and forms, in essence, a supercomputer," he said.Though it does not look like a typical desktop computer, it works the same way, he said.The Beowulf cluster, funded by OIT, is a minimal cost project, Hillegas said, noting that supercomputers usually cost millions of dollars."We are operating at a list price of only $180,000, and the University paid even less," he said.The Beowulf was formed out of a partnership between OIT and Dell Computer Corporation, who will begin installing the hardware and software Monday.The new cluster will allow OIT to better support the more than six Beowulf clusters already in place in various departments, Hillegas said.Chemistry Professor Kevin Leh-mann said OIT will be able to ensure that all components of Beowulf clusters across campus are working."Maintenance of these computers is a significant problem," Lehmann said.