Silicon Graphics (SGI) has been chosen by NASA to assemble a 500-terabyte supercomputer based on more than 10,000 Intel Itaniums. The configuration, for applications in space exploration, global warming research and aerospace engineering, will be one of the world's largest Linux OS-based supercomputers.
Called Project Columbia, NASA's Advanced Supercomputing Facility will experience a 10-fold increase through the project. The integrated 512-processor SGI Altix systems -- there will be 20 separate installations -- will be called the Space Exploration Simulator.
In a statement this week, SGI said of the partnership with Intel, "The present collaboration builds upon the highly successful eight-year partnership that last year developed the world's first 512-processor Linux server -- based on standard, "off-the-shelf" microprocessor and open source technology -- the SGI Altix at NASA Ames Research Center named 'Kalpana' after Columbia astronaut and Ames alumna Kalpana Chawla."
SGI said it has delivered the first three Altix installations to NASA Ames. The complete 10,240 Intanium-based array is scheduled to be finished in coming months, the company said. Additional firms participating in the assembly of the configuration include Brocade Communications, Engenio Information Technologies, Micron Technology, and Voltaire.