The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) is installing a new computing resource for use by the industry leaders participating in NCSA's Private Sector Partner Program. The 512-node Dell cluster has been dubbed T2 because of its similarity to the center's 15-teraflop Tungsten cluster.

"We're very excited to be able to make this resource available to the companies partnered with NCSA," said Thom Dunning, the incoming director of NCSA. "Now our industrial partners can tap directly into NCSA's expertise in the deployment and maintenance of cutting-edge advanced computing systems, providing these partners with a competitive edge."

T2 will add 7 teraflops to NCSA's machine room, bringing the center's total computing capacity to approximately 43 teraflops.

T2 employs 512 PowerEdge 1850 servers equipped with Intel EM64T 3.6 GHz dual processors. Each node will provide 146 gigabytes of local disk capacity. The Infiniband interconnect linking the nodes can transfer 800 gigabits of data per second (Gbs), with only a 6 microsecond delay in the point-to-point transmission of data. This high-speed data transfer will enable users to run tightly coupled applications that achieve higher levels of performance.

NCSA's Private Sector Partner Program puts the center's expertise and technological innovation to work on the real-world challenges faced by industry, while enabling companies to reap the benefits of early access to breakthroughs. Current NCSA industrial partners include Allstate, Boeing Phantom Works, Caterpillar, IBM, and Motorola Labs.

Collaborations between NCSA and its industrial partners are typically confidential and proprietary, but past projects have included the development of a distributed task manager for Boeing Phantom Works, assisting Caterpillar with virtual reality and computer engineering simulations, data mining, and knowledge management, and working with Motorola to improve cellular phone service.