Los Alamos National Laboratory Selects The AMD Opteron Processor to Enable National Defense Modeling and Simulation
Thursday August 14, 9:59 am ET
"Lightning" and "Orange" clusters expected to include more than 3,300 AMD Opteron processors
SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 14, 2003-- AMD (NYSE:AMD - News) today announced that Los Alamos National Laboratory has selected the AMD Opteron(tm) processor for two separate large-scale Linux clusters. Combined, the two clusters are planned to include more than 3,300 AMD Opteron processors and will be used for numerous computing activities in support of medical, environmental and national defense modeling and simulation.
Following its planned installation in October, the "Lightning" cluster is expected to rank among the top supercomputers in the world. The cluster will support the National Nuclear Security Administration's Advanced Simulation and Computing program, or ASCI, which helps ensure the safety and reliability of the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile. Lightning is expected to include more than 2,800 AMD Opteron processors and is designed to run at a theoretical peak of 11.2 teraFLOPS.
"Our nation's defense relies on the scientific expertise of Los Alamos National Laboratory just as the top engineering talent there relies on industry standards to meet its high-performance 64-bit computing needs," said Marty Seyer, vice president and general manager of the Microprocessor Business Unit at AMD. "The flexibility of being able to run our customers' 32-bit and future 64-bit applications at a high performing level helps reduce the high disruption costs associated with proprietary server solutions, enabling us to bring large scale cluster deployments to a mass market."
The "Orange" cluster will be part of Los Alamos' Institutional Computing project that supports scientific, medical and environmental research such as the design of antibiotics and simulations of wildfires and water resources. Orange, a 256-node dual-processor cluster, is expected to be the first large-scale AMD Opteron processor-based cluster using InfiniBand technology for greater interconnect bandwidth and scalability.
"The AMD Opteron processor provides a cost-effective way for us to run our nuclear weapon ASCI codes initially in a mature, 32-bit environment and then, as the 64-bit software environment matures, easily transition to 64-bit operations later on. Los Alamos' customized Linux software will be a key part of the overall system environment," said John Morrison, leader of Los Alamos' Computing, Communications and Networking Division.
Both the Lightning and Orange clusters are being designed, built and integrated for Los Alamos National Laboratory by LinuxNetworx and will be powered by the AMD Opteron processor Model 244. Both clusters will utilize the Arima HDAMA motherboard.
About AMD
Founded in 1969 and based in Sunnyvale, Calif., AMD (NYSE:AMD - News) is a global supplier of integrated circuits for the personal and networked computer and communications markets with manufacturing facilities in the United States, Europe, Japan, and Asia. AMD, a Standard & Poor's 500 company, produces microprocessors, Flash memory devices, and silicon-based solutions for communications and networking applications.
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