High-performance computing (HPC)
users are looking for platforms
that deliver performance at a reasonable cost and within the confines of
space and cooling available to them. A
consistent software platform helps too.
Silicon Graphics targets these users with its InfiniBand-based SGI Altix ICE (integrated compute environment).
The SGI Alitx ICE packs up to four individual rack units (IRUs) in a standard
rack to deliver up to 6 TFLOPS of performance via 512 cores using Intel's
quad-core Xeon 5000 processors (see the figure). This blade-based system
weighs only 2050 lb/rack (246 lb/ft2). It's available with liquid cooling, so
designers can use it in environments
other than environmentally controlled
computer rooms. Fans within the system
blow across the boars and through
chilled water-cooled doors. The system
can handle 15 kW.
The IRUs house up to 16 compute only blades. Each blade contains a pair
of processors and up to 32 Gbytes of
memory with a pair of 4x double-data-rate (DDR) InfiniBand links. The blades
plug into an InfiniBand backplane hosted by a 24-port InfiniBand switch. Eight
external ports can be used to link IRUs
together or to other InfiniBand-based
racks, systems, or storage facilities.
Moving storage off the blade has benefits in cooling as well as in configuration
and reliability. Hard drives tend to be an
Achilles heel in other systems. InfiniBand
lets designers move them out of the computing platform. Additionally, it moves system storage configuration into the software realm. The SGI Alitx ICE is typically
paired with an InifiniBand-based RAID system, improving cooling requirements by
20% while providing higher throughput
and flexibility.
Silicon Graphics
www.sgi.com