NCSA Origin2000 Upgrade

NCSA's recent upgrade of its SGI Origin2000 supercomputer array to 1,548 processors increases the center's SGI computing capacity by 50 percent. The center's system is the largest at an unclassified site. According to NCSA Director Larry Smarr, the upgrade provides faster turn-around for the center's daily computing jobs as well as an unprecedented ability to support capability computing.

The 1,548 processor Origin array consists of nine 128-processor machines, a 256-processor machine, a 64-processor machine, and a 56-processor machine. Another 20 processors are reserved for support of the Origin system. Currently, the 256-processor Origin is used for capability computing when needed and for other jobs when dedicated use is not required. The center plans to create a 512-processor cluster by using Gigabyte System Networking (GSN) to interconnect the 256-processor machine and two of the 128-processor machines.

For more information about Origin systems check these resources.

• NCSA technical summary
• NCSA user documentation
• NCSA press release, 08/24/99
• SGI's Technical Publications Library
• SGI tech focus
• Boston University's Origin Repository