IBM to purchase another super-computer for IU

IBM will install a second supercomputer on the IU campus that will be owned and used by both IU and Purdue University.\nIU is already home to "Big Red," one of the fastest supercomputers owned by a university.\nWhen the state first considered outsourcing services, companies that applied had to say what they would do for the economic development of the state, said Brad Wheeler, IU's chief information officer. When IBM and partners turned in their proposal they said they would help drive Indiana's life-sciences economy with advanced supercomputing, Wheeler said.\n"Once the state made its decision, we worked with Purdue, Eli Lilly and WellPoint," Wheeler said. "The best bet was to double the size of Big Red, which is being used very heavily right now."\nPurdue and IU have been collaborating quite a bit on high-performance computing, said Steve Tally, media-relations manager for information technology at Purdue.\n"We very much value our relationship with IU," Tally said. "Together, the two universities have made quite a mark for the state of Indiana in high-performance computing."\nPurdue is a land-grant university, focused on assisting people of the state, Tally said. One of the ways Purdue does this is through its extension offices, located in every county in the state. The extensions connect Indiana businesses and industries with Purdue researchers and engineers to solve problems, Tally said.\n"The IBM computer will let us do more of that type of economic development and technical assistance," he said.\nOne project directly tied to the new supercomputer that Purdue is interested in involves local weather modeling to help farmers in the state make better decisions about spring planting.\n"People don't think about that as a major economic development role," Tally said, "but if we can improve the information available for agriculture, our researchers estimate an economic benefit of more than $100 million."\nWheeler added the computer will also be available to Indiana companies for meritorious scientific research.\nThe machine is expected to arrive in late February, but won't be commissioned for use until March, Wheeler said. IBM will provide support and maintenance for three years and send three computational scientists to help the state of Indiana's researchers make use of the machine.\n"Many researchers are still learning how to adapt their research to take advantage of the supercomputer power," Wheeler said.\nIBM will also establish a $2 million technology design center on the IU-Purdue University Indianapolis campus. The center will conduct research on advanced uses of cell processors, "the same processor that's used in the Sony PlayStation 3," Wheeler said.\nCell processors have advanced graphics capabilities and are useful in medical imaging and research, he said.\n"One of the key points here is that IU researchers will be rubbing shoulders with IBM's best researchers on the cell processor," Wheeler said.\nThe partnership will help IU and Purdue to jointly pursue more grants, Tally added.\nEven though IU's and Purdue's men's basketball teams face off tonight as rivals, Tally said everyone should know the two universities' various collaborations are actively benefiting Indiana.\n"People should be aware of that and be proud of it," he said.