AMD heeft aangekondigd dat bij vijf universiteiten en onderzoeksinstellingen in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Californië en Michigan supercomputers zijn geïnstalleerd die gebruik maken van de Athlon processors. De supercomputers zijn gebaseerd op de Beowulf clustering software en variëren in omvang van 18 tot 80 processors. De clusters draaien op Linux en worden gebruikt voor wetenschappelijk onderzoek. Eerder werden reeds bij de universiteiten van Delaware, Kentucky (zie foto onderaan) en Utah Athlon clusters in gebruik genomen:
AMD today announced that five more academic institutions have each installed new supercomputers using the award-winning AMD Athlon(TM) processor. Cited for their powerful performance, scalability, and flexibility to expand in a cluster environment, a series of AMD Athlon processor-based supercomputers have been employed for research programs at the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, the Tokyo Institute of Technology, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) funded program at the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC), as well as National Science Foundation (NSF) funded programs at Western Michigan University and Calvin College. These wins demonstrate how the AMD Athlon processor is continuing to expand its reputation as a powerful, innovative and reliable solution for supercomputing platforms used for scientific research.
[...] The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, one of the most prestigious higher education institutions in Hong Kong, has developed a supercomputer featuring 80 AMD Athlon processors.
[...] The Tokyo Institute of Technology, one of the most prestigious higher education institutions in Japan, has built the PRESTO III, a 78 AMD Athlon processor-based cluster that will be employed at the Matsuoka Laboratory of the Global Scientific Information and Computing Center & Department of Mathematical and Computing Sciences.
[...] This trend follows AMD Athlon processor-based supercomputers already installed in the University of Delaware, the University of Kentucky, and the University of Utah, and reflects a growing number of universities obtaining and benefiting from the use of powerful supercomputer systems based on AMD processor technology. Each of these systems employ the Beowulf Cluster design architecture, which involves connecting each processor in parallel to maximize speed and processing power while providing inter-communications between the processors and compute nodes, and use a Linux-based operating system.
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Het cluster van de UCSC werd gebouwd door Racksaver Inc., een bedrijf dat is gespecialiseerd in de bouw van 'high density clusters'. Racksaver heeft een 2U 3-in-1 rackmount ontwikkeld waarin drie volwaardige Athlon of (dual) Pentium III systemen ondergebracht kunnen worden. De behuizing werkt met standaard ATX moederplankjes!
