rag900@csc.anu.oz.au (Bob Gingold) (12/01/90)
[Found this on comp.sys.super--steve] Press release from the Australian National University ANU TO ACQUIRE THIRD GIGAFLOP SUPERCOMPUTER The Australian National University is taking a further step towards establishing the world's most powerful centre for advanced computing outside of the USA through an agreement reached with Fujitsu Australia Ltd to install a Fujitsu VP2200 vector processing supercomputer in early 1991. This computer features the fastest single processor in Australia, reaching peak speeds of over 1 Gigaflop (1 billion arithmetic operations per second). The VP2200 will replace the ANU Supercomputer Facility's Fujitsu VP100 acquired three years ago. The VP100 was the first, and remains the only, supercomputer of its class installed at an Australian university. Dr Bob Gingold, Head of Academic Services of the Supercomputer Facility, said that, because of the rapid advances in computing technology, the upgrade to one of Fujitsu's new generation of supercomputers was essential to ensure researchers had access to a modern vector supercomputer. The new supercomputer is almost four times faster than the machine it replaces and has four times as much memory (256 Mbytes). The VP2200 will be used for research in a very diverse range of areas including molecular dynamics, molecular structure, climate modelling, the design of fusion-based power generators, astrophysics, earth sciences, ecological modelling and mathematics. ANU assembles world-class advanced computing centre By the middle of 1991, the ANU will have three supercomputers, each having peak speeds of over 1 Gigaflop and each based on a fundamentally different architecture. First, the Connection Machine CM-2, recently installed by the ANU's Parallel Computing Research Facility, is a massively parallel supercomputer with over 16,000 processors. Second, a Fujitsu CAP-2 experimental parallel supercomputer with 128 processors is being installed as part of a cooperative research program with Fujitsu Japan. Third, the VP2200 vector processing supercomputer features a single state-of-the-art processing engine to perform numerical calculations at extremely high speeds. The ANU through its Centre for Information Science Research is pursuing a strategy to establish the leading centre in Australia for advanced computing and one that is of world class. The University's advanced computing environment features not only a massive amount of computational power, but also a range of computer architectures. The Executive Director of the Centre, Professor Michael McRobbie, said that this two-fold strategy would provide researchers at the ANU and other Australian universities with a range of advanced computing tools which will enable them to stay at the forefront of fields dependent on large-scale computations. In addition it would provide the opportunity to pioneer the use of the newly emerging types of advanced computers as well as allowing students to familiarize themselves with this technology. The opportunity is available for Australian researchers to enter this increasingly important area of academic and industrial research as pioneers, rather than catching up to our overseas competitors as has happened in the past. ANU-Fujitsu Japan Academic and Industrial Software Program The ANU Supercomputer Facility and Fujitsu Japan are co-operating in a large-scale Joint Software Development Program aimed at extending the software available on the VP range of supercomputers. By early 1991, twelve major software packages of academic and industrial interest in the areas of computational chemistry and mathematics will have been completed. Four scientific programmers are currently engaged on this project. This program will continue on the VP2200 in both a Unix and MSP operating system environment. Access for other universities to ANU advanced computing resources Use of the ANU's advanced computing facilities is not restricted to ANU staff but is available to other Australian universities. Over the last three years, the ANU Supercomputer Facility has made available 10 per cent of the VP100 free of charge to other Australian universities and research groups such as the Victorian Institute of Earth and Planetary Sciences. Under this program, individual universities have obtained computing time which is valued at several hundred thousands of dollars at commercial rates. This program, which will continue during the life of the VP2200, has provided access to a resource which is not possible to install at every university. Furthermore, proposals have recently been made to fully support the demand of several universities by upgrading the ANU's VP2200 under a multi-university partnership. For further information contact: Ms Robin Edwards (06) 2495003 University Public Relations Dr Bob Gingold (06) 2493437 (Head, Academic Services, ANU Supercomputer Facility) Professor Michael McRobbie (06) 2492035 (Exec. Director, Centre for Information Science Research) Dr Robin Erskine (06) 2495037 (Director, Computing Services Centre) Professor Denis Evans (06) 2493767 (Academic Director, ANU Supercomputer Facility) 29 November, 1990. 139/1990