NEC Strikes Back With SX-8 Supercomputer

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NEC Strikes Back With SX-8 Supercomputer

Posted by timothy on Wednesday October 20, 2004 @05:51AM from the my-honor-student-can-beat-up-your-dad dept.

News for nerds writes "It was just 3 weeks ago that we learned IBM's BlueGene/L with 36.01 TFlops edged out NEC's Earth Simulator, but today NEC announces a new SX-8 supercomputer with a peak processing performance of 65 TFlops (press release). It may be available in the U.S. as Cray's OEM like SX-6."

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Runs Linux? by mukund · 2004-10-20 05:59 · Score: 3, Interesting

It seems like it runs Linux as they are claiming that it will use the Global File System for clustered FS operations.. unless their Global File System is different.

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Banu
NEC SX-8: Predecessor of M-5 by reporter · 2004-10-20 06:08 · Score: 2, Interesting

IBM has already proved that American technology is, at least, as good as Japanese technology despite all the moans and groans about how we have fallen behind Japan upon the introduction of the Earth Simulator. The good news is that the West (which includes the USA and Japan) have a lock on the most advanced computing technologies.
Right now, this SX-8 announcement is just a publicity stunt to generate some "shock and awe" in the small supercomputing community of national and commercial research labs.
Perhaps, the management of NEC should consider generating some "shock and awe" among the greater engineering community. I suggest that NEC donate computing time on an SX-8 to all the startups designing spaceships (e.g. SpaceShipOne). These startups are short on cash and cannot afford the kind of supercomputer that is needed for modeling the spaceships. Free time on a supercomputer would greatly assist these startups and would generate considerable shock and awe among engineers who daydream about what the predecessor of the M-5 computer could have been.
Apparently, we are gradually building all the technologies needed to accomplish intergalactic space travel. The short list is matter-antimatter energy (which is undergoing top secret research in the American government) and high-performance computers (like the SX-8, which will model the spacecraft and possibly serve as the on-board computer).
"Space...the final frontier. These are the voyages of the startship ..."
Re:NEC SX-8: Predecessor of M-5 by thesilverbail · 2004-10-20 06:12 · Score: 3, Interesting

The good news is that the West (which includes the USA and Japan) have a lock on the most advanced computing technologies.
And why is this good news exactly?

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I have found a truly wonderful proof of Fermat's Last Theorem, but unfortunately this sig is too small to contain it.
Re:BGL will be back on top in short order by HavokDevNull · 2004-10-20 06:24 · Score: 2, Interesting

You forgot to mention IBM is developing for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (same system). Which is expected to be delivered in early 2005 and will have an estimated peak performance of 360 teraflops, according to IBM.

Now that slams NEC to the ground...

360 Teraflops (drool)

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Sig
Re:Real-world applications? by Marxist+Hacker+42 · 2004-10-20 06:37 · Score: 4, Interesting

At a rental of only $17,000/month, it's far more affordable than a Cray for small quick projects.

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SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
Re:I'd stick with IBM by sexylicious · 2004-10-20 06:40 · Score: 3, Interesting

LLNL does nuclear research (basically simulating nuclear weapon detonations). We spend $400 Billion on defense per year, what is $200 - $300 million for the latest and greatest super-computer?

Also, since the US agreed to stop testing nuclear weapons, they've moved on to totally simulating them. Most often the research is done under the guise of astrophysics because the physical processes are almost identical. The US has to stay on top of things, and simulation is the only option to do so.
Re:Yes, but... by Anonymous Coward · 2004-10-20 08:54 · Score: 1, Interesting

They decided on "how many roads must a man walk down."
Nothing to see here
Re:It's like by Jungle+guy · 2004-10-20 08:56 · Score: 2, Interesting

The rules to have a job running on the Earth Simulator are very strict. All the results must be made available to the scientific community, under the public domain.
It leaves almost all research projects with military or commercial purposes out of the Earth Simulator. Most of the data processed there help understand the global weather or the seismic movements. As Japan is a country that has to deal with typhoons and earthquakes, and the Japanese government is ultimately the owner of the Earth Simulator, it serves them well.
It is very different from the fastest supercomputers on the United States, that are operated by the military. They have "white" and "black" nodes - the white nodes are used for scientific and public research, while the black nodes are used for classified research.