“Continuing a string of announcements related to the development
of high-performance Linux systems, IBM today said it’s building a
server cluster that will combine the open-source operating system
with Unix for use by a Canadian firm doing advanced medical
research work.”
“The deal between IBM and Toronto-based MDS Proteomics Inc. is
aimed at developing a supercomputer that can handle 700 billion
floating-point operations per second and that will let scientists
at the research firm conduct complex analyses of proteomics – the
study of proteins and how they function. The two companies said
they also plan to create a free online protein analysis database
that will be accessible to scientists and other users from outside
of MDS Proteomics.”
“Interestingly, the supercomputer will run Linux under the
direction of a Unix server that will control the operations of the
cluster, said Dave Gelardi, director of IBM’s Deep Computing
division. The cluster will be built using 300 of IBM’s Linux-based
xSeries 330 servers, assembled in three separate 100-unit nodes.
Each server will contain dual 1-GhZ Pentium III processors and
2.2GB of memory, according to Gelardi.”