 |
 |
Apple sells 1566 Xserves for US Army Research
|
|
|
|
|
Mac Elite
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: columbus, oh
Status:
Offline
|
|
http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/...=1087831468000
Apple Computer Inc. will announce on Monday the sale of 1566 dual processor 1U rack-mount 64-bit Xserve G5 servers to COLSA Corp., which will be used to build what is expected to be one of the fastest supercomputers in the world. The US$5.8 million cluster will be used to model the complex aero-thermodynamics of hypersonic flight for the U.S. Army.
"We did about a year and a half of research on a variety of processors before making our decision," Dr Anthony DiRienzo, executive vice president at COLSA Corp., told MacCentral. "We did a best value competition and Apple won that competition. It was based on performance; the facility (power requirements, floor space etc.); cost; and an assessment of vendor stability. We solicited to six companies and they won."
The supercomputer, named MACH 5, is expected to deliver peak performance capability of more than 25 TFlops/second. In comparison, the Virginia Tech supercomputer announced last year attained sustained performance of approximately 10 TFlops/second, according to Apple director of product management, server hardware Alex Grossman.
With those numbers, the MACH 5 would rank second only to Japan's $350 million Earth Simulator computer.
"We evaluated PC-based proposals from other vendors but none came close to delivering either the price, performance or manageability of the AppleXserve G5," said DiRienzo.
The Xserve G5 supercluster system is expected to be online and working for the Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC) division of the US Army Research and Development Command by late Fall.
Shortly, DiRienzo said they would take delivery of 300 Xserves a day, set them up in the racks and the next day begin the process again until all of the Xserves are installed and working.
|
|
"Another classic science-fiction show cancelled before its time" ~ Bender
15.2" PowerBook 1.25GHz, 80GB HD, 768MB RAM, SuperDrive
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Retired.
Status:
Offline
|
|
I hope they find what they are looking for while doing their "research"...
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Clinically Insane
Join Date: Dec 1999
Status:
Offline
|
|
Originally posted by gorickey:
I hope they find what they are looking for while doing their "research"...
They need the horse power for calculating trajectories for alien UFOs. That's why the others crashed, they had to wait for the technology to be up to snuff. 
|
|
"…I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than
you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods,
you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F. Roberts
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Banned
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: -
Status:
Offline
|
|
Originally posted by gorickey:
I hope they find what they are looking for while doing their "research"...
Like how to kill more people for less money.
What a total waste of resource.
It could be put to much better use. Like folding. Etc. 
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Professional Poster
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Status:
Offline
|
|
Yes and no - military spending usually does have lots of spin offs that benefits everyday people (CDs, for example). And it does come down to this - do we spend the money, or do we let someone else? Military spending shouldn't be allowed to grow out of hand, but I'd rather our (being US centric being an American) military be pioneering military technology than someone else's.
Matt Fahrenbacher
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Baninated
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Capital of the World
Status:
Offline
|
|
Originally posted by ambush:
Like how to kill more people for less money.
What a total waste of resource.
It could be put to much better use. Like folding. Etc.
Haha, this is great news.
Two thumbs up to the US army for choosing the best.
(
Last edited by PacHead; Jun 21, 2004 at 09:32 PM.
)
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 
|
|
|
Forum Rules
|
|
|
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
|
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Top