RENCI’S IBM Blue Gene/L computing system will double its size and power in February with the addition of another 1,024 compute nodes. The upgraded system, named Ocracoke after the oldest active lighthouse in North Carolina, will consist of 2,048 compute nodes and will have a peak performance of 11.4 teraflops, meaning it will be capable of more than 11 trillion calculations per second.

Ocracoke runs the Linux operating system, and each node consists of two 700 MHz PowerPC 440 processors with 1 gigabyte (GB) of memory. The system also includes 11 terabytes of disk storage.

One of the first jobs for the new and improved Ocracoke will be running daily models of RENCI’s HydroMet, a comprehensive forecasting system that combines atmospheric, hydrological and coastal storm surge data. Ocracoke will compute HydroMet models with nine times the resolution of the National Weather Service’s production models. The high resolution models will be used to produce more accurate flood and landslide predictions in North Carolina.

"Resources of this scale make breakthrough discoveries possible," said RENCI Director Dan Reed. "Ocracoke is part of our ongoing effort to bring world-class computing resources to North Carolina, in support of statewide problems. We hope it becomes the foundation of a comprehensive set of tools provided by RENCI that will help North Carolina become a powerhouse of research and competitiveness."

The additional nodes will make Ocracoke the most powerful supercomputer in North Carolina and among the top 60 machines in the world, based on the current Top 500 supercomputers list.

RENCI…Catalyst for Innovation

The Renaissance Computing Institute brings together computer and discipline scientists, artists, humanists, industry leaders, entrepreneurs, state leaders and educators for collaborations designed to reshape science, the economy, the state of North Carolina and the world. RENCI leverages its expertise and resources in leading edge computing, networking and data technologies to ignite innovation and find solutions to previously intractable problems. Founded in 2004 as a major collaborative venture of Duke University, North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the state of North Carolina, RENCI is a statewide virtual organization. For more, see http://www.renci.org