IBM supercomputer dual-boots Windows and Linux

Swedes get to eat chip smorgasbord.

By Matthew Broersma, Techworld | Techworld
Published: 11:27 GMT, 17 June 08

IBM has demonstrated one of the highest profile supercomputers yet to run Windows as well as Linux - the Akka system, installed at the High Performance Computing Center North (HPC2N) in northern Sweden.

Akka is partly a result of a Microsoft strategy to make more of an impact on the high performance computing (HPC) field, where Linux runs about 85 percent of the systems and Windows is relegated to less than five percent, according to industry estimates.

IBM and the HPC2N said the system would be one of the most efficient in the world, and would rank as the most energy-efficient Windows cluster on the current Green500 list, partly due to the use of low-power Intel Xeon quad-core L5420 CPUs.

"The choice of low-power processors and the highly energy-efficient design of our new machine room shows our commitment to become a green data centre," said HPC2N director Bo Kagstrom, in a statement.

The system is built in a new machine room designed for high density computing clusters, and is relatively compact, comprising 12 racks and 48 BladeCenters with 14 blades in each BladeCenter, the centre said.

The system is built of a total of 672 nodes, each equipped with two CPUs and 16GB of RAM for a total of 5,376 cores and 10.7 TB of RAM.

Adding to the heterogeneity, a small part of the cluster will use IBM Power chips and Cell Broadband Engines. These chips will mainly be used for the development of new parallel algorithms, the centre said.

"This is the first supercomputer in Sweden with both Linux and Windows operating systems," Kagstrom stated. "It will be very exciting to see how new results can be achieved by combining and utilising these different hardware and operating systems."

Users will get access to Akka's Linux capabilities on 25 June, with Windows functions coming online in the autumn.

What are your views on this subject? Use the form below to post a comment on this article up to 500 characters.

Characters remaining: 500

Add your commentComments

MS | Published: 18:44 GMT, 18 June 2008

HEADLINE NEWS: Big Blue does Blue Screen!

John | Published: 20:06 GMT, 17 June 2008

So - they finally found a computer capable of runing Vista? Great!

John Abbott | Published: 18:55 GMT, 17 June 2008

So Windoze finally joins the IBM super computer as a dual boot and immediately you list them first! Will you lose your free laptop is you say Linux and Windoze?

SM | Published: 17:38 GMT, 17 June 2008

Cluserted BSOD?

werner | Published: 16:29 GMT, 17 June 2008

Nice, that will be the biggest computer with virus

Related Operating Systems news

Microsoft, Linux rivals mock Google Chrome OS

Operating system crippled by reliance on web access

20 November 2009

Google releases Chrome OS to waiting world

Stresses speed and security of operating system.

NSA helped with work on Windows 7 security

Privacy organisations concerned about spooks' involvement.

Microsoft previews Office 2010 beta to developers

But pirated copies of the software are already leaked online

Related Operating Systems reviews

Jolicloud OS

Moblin 2.0 review

Ubuntu Netbook Remix

Email this article to a friend or colleague:

PLEASE NOTE: Your name is used only to let the recipient know who sent the story, and in case of transmission error. Both your name and the recipient's name and address will not be used for any other purpose.

Techworld White Papers

Database security: Preventing enterprise data leaks at the source

IDC discusses the growing internal threats to business information, the impact of government regulations on the protection of data, and how enterprises must adopt database security best practices...

Download Whitepaper

Service-oriented security

SOA has become an integral part of enterprise software by providing a framework to efficiently develop software as services that is easily sharable, reusable, and integrated. No where is the need more apparent than in the Identity Management space. Welcome to the age of Service-Oriented Security (SOS).

Download Whitepaper

Data protection prospective vendor checklist

Organisations need a way to map business needs against all these challenges in procuring a technical solution. To help, SANS has developed the following Prospective Vendor Checklist.

Download Whitepaper

Unlock the power of the mainframe

This whitepaper presents the notion of CICS as an integration hub based on a component-based, service-oriented architecture supporting Web services. Highlights will review the challenges and contrasted support for Web services natively in CICS.

Download Whitepaper

Techworld UK - Technology - Business

COLT White Paper

Are all VoIP services the same?

Questions to ask your service provider to ensure you get the VoIP service you need
With careful choice of partner, your business can have all the advantages of VoIP access - reduced costs, flexibility and simplicity - without the drawbacks.
This white paper is your guide to ensure you get right the VoIP service and details the pitfalls which businesses would do well to avoid.

Download white paper
BMC

Ride the express lane in the journey to speed ITIL adoption

Explore the challenges in making the journey to ITIL and the criteria for selecting consulting services
By following ITIL practices, your IT organisation will become more closely integrated with the business. We recommend making the journey to ITIL in a sequence of six incremental steps, the phases of which are driven through execution of a strategic transformational roadmap.

Download white paper

Webcast: IT Financial Management: Cost Optimisation for Efficiency and Agility.
On Demand Webcast
Join this webcast to learn about the techniques and technologies that can help you prove the value of IT to the business by understanding the true cost of today's IT services and those that will be necessary to deliver future success.

Register Today

Site Map

IDG Network

* *