IU supercomputer to help state’s economy

The power of one of the world’s fastest supercomputers is now being harnessed to aid Indiana’s economy – and it’s taking place at IU.\nThe computer will allow businesses to conduct large-scale simulations quicker and more efficiently than they were previously able to, said Brad Wheeler, vice president and chief information officer for information technology at IU. \nThe computer will also benefit sectors such as life sciences and medicine, said Mitch Frazier, director of public relations of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. \nFor example, multiple images of an organ or body part can be fed into the supercomputer and a 3-D model can be created from that raw data.\n“(These simulations) can take hours or days to run, even on large systems,” Wheeler said. “The scale of and tools available on the IBM BladeCenter bring supercomputer power to commercial firms for meritorious research projects.”\nThe computer, able to complete 20 trillion mathematical operations in one second, was developed by IBM and utilizes IBM BladeCenter technology. It was first used on campus during summer 2007 and has only recently been made available for commercial use. It was brought to the state with the help of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation and is co-managed by both IU and Purdue University.\n“The supercomputer is a power tool for furthering specific areas of the economy, which will in turn benefit the economy as a whole,” Frazier said.\nIU, Purdue and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation will partner to seek out Indiana businesses that could benefit from the technology, and also will evaluate requests from businesses that wish to use it.\nPurdue has already used the computer for research in nano-electronics, molecular dynamics for material science, jet engine models, modeling arterial blood flow in the human body, climate modeling codes and computational chemistry. It will continue to be used for academic purposes by both universities.\nIU is one of the few universities in the nation to have this technology on campus. Most universities are dependent on national computing centers or smaller \ndepartmental equipment, Wheeler said. \nThe fact that the technology is now being used to foster economic growth along with academic research makes the IU supercomputer unique, said Dave Turek, vice president of deep computing for IBM.\n“Indiana is among a leading group of states harnessing the power of these machines, once used solely for academic research, for commercial purposes and development of new industries,” Turek said.\nThe Indiana Economic Development Corporation was created by Gov. Mitch Daniels in 2005 to replace the Department of Commerce. It is overseen by a 12-member board headed by Daniels. Its goal is to attract businesses to Indiana and help foster the growth of businesses already located in the state. Since it was created, the state has had three years of record-breaking job creation.\nThe supercomputer is located at the Wrubel Computing Center adjacent to Big Red, the supercomputer that IU obtained in 2006. The new machine is an expansion of Big Red, and they will be used concurrently for large operations, Wheeler said. The machines will be moved to a new Data Center when it is completed in 2009.\nIU was chosen to be the home of the new supercomputer because of the University’s history with cutting-edge computing technology. In 2001, it received what was at the time the largest university-owned computer in the nation. Big Red has been here since 2006, and uses the same software tools as the new supercomputer. Additionally, IU has a number of specialists who will be able to assist those who wish to make use of the new technology.