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A new system at the University of Kentucky includes twelve HP machines, each an N-class N-4000. Each node will have eight processors -- the PA-8500 running at 440 MHz -- for a total of 96 processors. The nodes will have 8 GB of main memory for a total of 96 GB with an additional 108 GB of disk. One node will have an additional 72 GB of disk for user space, for a total or 1368 GB (1.3 TB) of disk space.

The twelve machines will be interconnected by a high speed, low latency "hyperfabric." Each will have a 100 Mb/s Ethernet connection to the campus network. Although each node will operate as a fully independent machine running HP-UX, the message passing architecture will allow jobs to use processors on several nodes, up to a total of 96 processors. The complex is expected to be rated at about 96 billion floating point operations per second (GFLOPS).

The staff at the University put together some web pages showing the installation of the new system. Hardware aficionados will want to take a look.

Friendly user allocations are expected to be available some time in June 2000. Researchers interested in working on the new Kentucky system should use the online request form to gain access.