Monday, January 12, 2004
SGI announces low-cost Linux supercluster machine
SGI today announced a new, low-cost Itanium 2-based Linux server, the Altix 350. The new $12,199 machine will dramatically reduce the cost and complexity of shared-memory superclusters -- supercomputers that run a single Linux system image spanning many processors.
An advantage of the Altix architecture is the single Linux system image -- typically a stock 2.4.x kernel with open source high-performance computing patches applied. Applications can be installed and run as if on an ordinary Linux workstation.
SGI is targeting what it says is a $2.6 billion market for midrange servers for scientists, design engineers, researchers, and other technical computing users, a segment that is currently dominated by mid-range machines from Sun, IBM, and HP running proprietary versions of Unix.
The Altix 350 borrows its design from SGI's high-end Altix 3000 series, a high performance computing architecture used for tasks like planetary weather modelling. Since its January 2003 introduction, SGI says it has shipped 10,000 processors to 150 Altix 3000 customers, including a 512-processor machine used by NASA Ames Research Center. Full Article>>>
An advantage of the Altix architecture is the single Linux system image -- typically a stock 2.4.x kernel with open source high-performance computing patches applied. Applications can be installed and run as if on an ordinary Linux workstation.
SGI is targeting what it says is a $2.6 billion market for midrange servers for scientists, design engineers, researchers, and other technical computing users, a segment that is currently dominated by mid-range machines from Sun, IBM, and HP running proprietary versions of Unix.
The Altix 350 borrows its design from SGI's high-end Altix 3000 series, a high performance computing architecture used for tasks like planetary weather modelling. Since its January 2003 introduction, SGI says it has shipped 10,000 processors to 150 Altix 3000 customers, including a 512-processor machine used by NASA Ames Research Center. Full Article>>>
Space station leak located in lab
A leaky hose in a window of the laboratory module Destiny has been blamed for the International Space Station's three-week drop in air pressure.
The hose, used to equalise pressure and eliminate fog between two of the window's six clear panes, has been capped according to NASA. The hose has yet to be unequivocally confirmed as the source of the leak, but the station's air pressure does seem to have now stabilised.
US astronaut Michael Foale and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri have been searching for the leak since they were told about it on 5 January. On 9 January they ruled out a Russian air purifier, and over the weekend they checked airlocks on the US and Russian station segments, as well as the docked Russian Soyuz lifeboat - all of which appeared airtight. Full Article>>>
The hose, used to equalise pressure and eliminate fog between two of the window's six clear panes, has been capped according to NASA. The hose has yet to be unequivocally confirmed as the source of the leak, but the station's air pressure does seem to have now stabilised.
US astronaut Michael Foale and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri have been searching for the leak since they were told about it on 5 January. On 9 January they ruled out a Russian air purifier, and over the weekend they checked airlocks on the US and Russian station segments, as well as the docked Russian Soyuz lifeboat - all of which appeared airtight. Full Article>>>
