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Sun Releases Starcat

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the latest-and-greatest dept.

SilentChris writes: "Sun has released the Starcat server, a beast with up to 106 processors running Unix. Anyone have an extra couple [million] bucks lying around?" They're not cheap.

1 of 305 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Scheduling airplanes? by Derkec · · Score: 5, Interesting
    "those conducting computationally intense tasks such as scheduling airplanes"

    "Huh? I understand that the nation's air traffic controllers may need updated equipment in light of the existing crisis, but how hard can scheduling be? I could see a use for a massively parallel monster like this in, say, flow-through or structural analysis or something, but scheduling? "


    What your missing is that this isn't a matter of airtraffic control. This is a matter of determining which planes and crews to fly to which locations at what times to maximize revenue. This is a classic, big, nasty travelling salesman problem. The bigger of a beast of a machine you get, the closer you get to an optimized solution. I.E. Most passengers willing to pay this most money with the least use of resources. It's a huge problem that needs massive computational power.