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Supercomputer Repossessed By State, May Be Sold In Pieces
1sockchuck writes "A supercomputer that was the third-fastest machine in the world in 2008 has been repossessed by the state of New Mexico and will likely be sold in pieces to three universities in the state. The state has been unable to find a buyer for the Encanto supercomputer, which was built and maintained with $20 million in state funding. The supercomputer had the enthusiastic backing of Gov. Bill Richardson, who saw the project as an economic development tool for New Mexico. But the commercial projects did not materialize, and Richardson's successor, Susana Martinez, says the supercomputer is a 'symbol of excess.'"
A Beowolf clusted of these! :)
Paul B.
Susana Martinez, does not understand computer science or what it takes to solve real problems. Just by her very statement she shows her ignorance and can therefore eat a big huge bag of dicks before she talks about what "excess" is.
A supercomputer that was the third-fastest machine in the world in 2008 has been repossessed by the state of New Mexico
Those Mexicans are cunning.
2008 technology. Seems more like three universities are getting stuck with it than anything else. The parts will be 5 years old by the time everything is divided up and distributed. That's fine if you're redistributing old desktops to set up a lab for kids to type up term papers or something but supercomputers are supposed to be cutting edge. Maybe they can use it for a computer history class. "This is how we built supercomputers back in the day."
As a citizen of New Mexico, Susana Martinez is probably the dumbest and most shortsighted politician I've ever seen in office. She makes George W. Bush look like Albert W. Einstein.
I know that's off-topic, but Goddamn is that woman stupid. I just had to say something.
Susana uses an iPhone.
The outdated ram will be removed and sent to one university...
Whether you're liberal or conservative, does anyone really believe that the government spending tax dollars on expensive speculative investments makes sense?
Think of how many Bitcoins this thing could make. Someone should tell New Mexico.
* Carthago Delenda Est *
I guess she didn't get the PC industries secret yet no ?
When you buy a computer it is more or less worthless , go check ebay and see perfectly good working order 3 year old (and less) branded equipment that cost someone originally millions going for fractions of a penny on the dollar.
What type of business would need the use of a supercomputer but not often enough to buy/build their own? And what happens when the state decides to modify/sell/deny access to the thing and your company is left with code which is heavily optimized for this particular machine which won't run on anything else?
How did this ever make sense to anyone?
Supercomputer is a tool.
Like any other kind of tool, if used correctly, a supercomputer can be very beneficial, and can generate a lot of profit and/or prestige for its owner.
But of course, like any other kind of tool, if a supercomputer is ***NOT*** used correctly, it'll become a burden, a waste of money, an eyesore.
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Um.. it worked in Wyoming, millions into a supercomputer to attract more tech companies.
Not a symbol of excess. It's a symbol of how the government cannot and should not try to identify (and fund) particular technologies (see: Solyndra). Let the market determine the market. Central planning hasn't worked for anyone. Jeeeez.
Monsanto Cucumbers Cause Genital Baldness -- Immediately Banned in Nova Scotia
A six-month study by AgriSearch, an on-campus research arm of Dalhousie University, has shown that genetically modified (GM) cucumbers grown under license to Monsanto Inc. result in serious side effects including total groin hair loss and chafing in "sensitive areas", leading to the immediate and total ban of sales of all that company's crop and subsequent dill pickles.
The tracking study of 643 men and women in Nova Scotia came about after reports began to surface about bald field mice and the bald feral cats that ate them being discovered by farmers on acreages growing the new crop.
"The bald wild animals raised a huge flag and we immediately obtained subpoenas for the medical records of all 600 plus adults who took part in focus groups and taste tests of the cucumbers by Monsanto in Canada," said Dr. Nancy Walker, Director of Public Health Research at Dalhousie. "Fully 3/4 of the people who ate these cukes had their crotch area hair fall out. This is not a joking matter at all...these people now have hairless heinies."
Nova Scotia became the first province or state in North America to ban a Monsanto GM food product, although GM corn and other food crops are currently outlawed in Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Greece and Hungary. Governments in Australia, Spain, UK, France, Turkey, India and Mexico have public petitions or legislative bills under consideration. Californians recently voted down a bill that would have required all GM foods to be clearly labeled. Monsanto cucumbers have been ordered removed from all food stores in Nova Scotia, while Quebec stores have begun a voluntary removal, partially because the UPC code stickers contain some English.
"I pulled down my boxer shorts to get ready for bed one night and there it was...a pile of hair that looked like a chihuahua puppy," said Eric LaMaze, who was paid $50 by Monsanto to compare the tastes of natural cucumbers to Monsanto GM cucumbers in March of this year in Halifax. "Then I saw my bits and whoa they were like all shiny skin. Bald."
Mr. LaMaze and other taste test participants said the GM cucumbers tasted the same as the naturally grown cucumbers but made a slight "fizzing noise" when swallowed. The participants also complained of raw skin in their genital area and some bed wetting.
Monsanto Inc., a self-described Sustainable Agriculture Company based in Creve Coeur, Missouri, where they share offices with major shareholder Bain Capital, issued a statement saying, "Next generation fruits and vegetables, including VO5 cucumbers, are safe for human consumption with some potential minor side effects. Some fine-tuning is underway."
McDonald's Corp. issued a statement following the Nova Scotia ban announcing that they will replace dill and sweet cucumber pickles on their burgers with non-GM pickled zucchini as a precaution until it is proven that no Monsanto pickles were sold into the North American market. McDonald's website contains a bulletin to that effect and includes a revised hip-hop Big Mac jingle that now sings, "Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickled zuke, onions on a sesame seed bun."
Federal Minister of Health Leona Aglukkaq said a Canada-wide recall and ban will be issued within 24 hours. "The Government of Canada takes this very, very seriously," said the Minister. "Being hairless down there should be a matter of personal choice for Canadian men and women and not one taken away by a cucumber."
"They used to have the real cucumber slices in those salad things at the City Hall Dining Club," sighed Former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford on the courthouse steps after being impeached by a Provincial Judge. "Those were good times..."
Robin Steel
...how quickly iTunes would load on this sucker!!
errp...
waiting...
still waiting...
Private "sapce flight" is all wonderful and very important for the species?
So I guess that makes it almost as powerful as my iPad mini.... lol
The Buffalo Bills http://www.buffalobills.com/ should buy the remaining racks and use it. Ideal location for reduced cooling costs. http://science.slashdot.org/story/13/01/02/2120217/buffalo-bills-going-the-moneyball-route-with-analytics?utm_source=slashdot&utm_medium=twitter
Like NASA or DARPA?
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
There are not many problems these days that cannot be parallelized and split up to be run on a large number of off the shelf hardware. It is much easier to grow a Beowulf Cluster to add performance than redesigning to eke out every bit of capability of top-of-the-line hardware. Much easier also, to redesign your problem so that it can take advantage of parallelism. I agree that this was probably a boondoggle by a politician wanting to get some publicity for himself.
Alright so this thing won't place on the Top 500 list but that's not the point. Its a real supercomputer and an ideal learning environment for distributed computing. No a room full of desktops and gigabit ethernet is not the same thing.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Yes. The government is the perfect candidate for extremely high risk, high reward investments. No other organization has enough capital to diversify that kind of risk away and reap the rewards.
I hate grammar Nazi's.
I think they should set up a not-for-profit foundation, like sdf to maintain and administer the box, and open it up to public access via ssh like SDF.
Whether you're liberal or conservative, does anyone really believe that the government spending tax dollars on expensive speculative investments makes sense?
You mean like basic research on things that may not be realizable for a decade or two? What's your feeling on the internet which grew out of research on networking in the 70s and 80s. What about the funding for ultrafast networking that's happening now? What about things like the tevatron and LHC which resulted in things like MRIs being made feasible?
Personally, I'm all for it.
"When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, it seems like two minutes. When you sit on a hot stove for two minutes, it
Where science and engineering is considered as excess,but litigation/lawsuit are considered as normal.
Face it you got a bunch of dopey Republicans who would rather take a political shot at the previous Democrats rather than do anything useful with the supercomputer. Anyone with half a brain would simply rent out access at negotiated rates to those three university rather put it out of commission. Of course the whole scam will be to sell it as cheap as possible, spend as much as possible on breaking it up and then blame everything on democrats in the next election cycle.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Why sell it for parts when the universities can pool their resources and share it between them where it stands?
ovo -hoot
This is a very old machine. It was a piece of crap the day it was turned on and never got better. It isn't worth the electricity and cooling even when broken up. For the money it will take to dismantle, move, re-install, power, and cool individual racks you could get something smaller, less power hungry, brand new and in support for half the money.
The whole thing needs to get scrapped. What the state has actually done here is find a way to avoid paying to have it scrapped by "gifting" it to the universities who will discover the above facts after much time and money are already spent and end up having to pay to scrap it themselves.
It's actually clever (or sneaky/slimy) way to unload a lemon. "Hey here's a car I don't use anymore. Practically new. You tow it and do the 12k in repairs and it's all yours for *free*!"
It was a non-profit organization that was running this and they owed money to sgi for maintenance.
I drank what? -- Socrates
Yet another boondoggle debunking government "investment" (i.e. spending).
Rich !
$20 million of NM State Funds .... Gone.
Fmr. Gov. Bill Richardson ... off with his homosexual friend Eric Schmidt to ... NORTH KOREA.
Mr. President. Issue a KILL order on Misters Richardson and Schmidt, please.
Well, get some priest admins, then. Exorcise the demons!!
Whether you're liberal or conservative, does anyone really believe that the government spending tax dollars on expensive speculative investments makes sense?
Considering the long term scientific, economic and social payoff we Aussies get from an organization such as CSIRO, I'd say it makes a huge amount of sense. Such organisations exist in the US, NOAA and NASA come to mind, and then there are the international organizations funded by taxpayers such as the LHC. As for it being speculative, scientists have a saying; "If I knew what I was doing, it wouldn't be called research".
What makes no sense to me is short changing science in a technological world and expecting a government to have the motivations and goals of a large corporation.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
That would be a testament to government. One cent on the dollar, or less.
I am sure when she was 15yo she played sim city a lot and got all her knowledge from that.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
Or dopey democrats who will find I way to spend as much as possible to operate it, then blame the republicans....
your partisan schill weasel words annoy me. get out