Supercomputer Center Dedicates New
Campus Building, Announces ‘Triton Resource’ Project
80,000 Square-Foot “Green” Expansion
Marks New Era in Cyberinfrastructure Partnerships
Jan Zverina | October 20, 2008
UCSD officials dedicated an extension of the San Diego Supercomputer Center last week .
With the press of an oversized green ‘I/O’ button, officials of the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) and UC San Diego “powered up” a new era in data-intensive computing by dedicating a new energy-efficient building extension that will serve as key resource for the university and beyond.
SDSC also used the occasion to announce plans for a major new computing initiative called the “Triton Resource,” a massive data analysis, compute and storage system that will accelerate research through the use of leading-edge research cyberinfrastructure at SDSC, UC San Diego and the University of California system.
“This dedication is about much more than an exciting new building,” SDSC Director Fran Berman told a capacity crowd before formally opening the modern structure, which adjoins the existing supercomputer center on the northwest end of campus. “It’s about an exciting new world and SDSC’s potential to advance the communities of research, education, and practice.”
With five levels and two wings creating a V-shaped floor plan, the addition doubles the size of the current center to 160,000 square feet, while increasing total machine room space to 18,000 square feet. The new building incorporates numerous “green” innovations, making it one of the most energy-efficient structures on campus.
SDSC’s mission is to develop and promote cyberinfrastructure — an open but organized aggregate of computers, data archives, networks, software, digital instruments, and other technologies.
“The 21st century calls for that kind of collaboration,” said Chancellor Marye Anne Fox, who joined Berman and other campus leaders, including UC Presidents Emeritus Robert Dynes and Richard Atkinson; Vice Chancellor of Research Arthur Ellis; and Jacobs School of Engineering Dean Frieder Seible in the ceremonies. “Cyberinfrastructure has to encompass expertise, capability, and cooperation.”
Officials pressed a giant power button during the dedication ceremony.
Both Dynes and Atkinson cited SDSC as one of the key strengths of UC San Diego and the UC system, while Vice Chancellor Ellis called SDSC “an essential resource” that will help the university achieve its research goals through interdisciplinary collaboration. “SDSC gives us a level of cyber-expertise found on very few campuses anywhere in the world.”
“SDSC is truly a jewel in UC San Diego’s crown,” said Seible, noting that a properly functioning cyberinfrastructure, like a network of bridges or a water supply grid, not only is essential but also should be transparent to the user.
In announcing the Triton Resource, Berman said SDSC will be leading efforts to build the system, which will be focused primarily for UC and UC San Diego researchers. The program is envisioned as having three key areas:
- The Data Oasis high-performance storage system, to assist in the practical manipulation of data across high-bandwidth paths to researchers throughout UC San Diego and the UC system.
- The Petascale Data Analysis Facility, capable of analyzing data from the new generation of petascale computers, where one ‘petaflop’ of compute power equals one quadrillion calculations per second. This facility will address the critical need to make sense of massive amounts of data generated by today’s researchers.
- A scalable, shared resource “condo” cluster, or group of linked computers, equipped with standard compute nodes but enhanced memory capability.
The SDSC extension will serve as a key resource on campus and beyond .
Details of the Triton Resource are still being defined by a committee of UC San Diego/UC users and SDSC specialists to achieve the best balance of storage, computing power, and memory to meet a number of cyberinfrastructure needs for world-class research. Another goal is to integrate major elements of the program into campus laboratories by taking advantage of the university’s leading multiple 10 Gigabit research network.
Full details of SDSC’s Triton Resource will be released in coming months. First runs are scheduled for early 2009.
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