Upgrades to ERDC computers will triple memory
Published 11:11 pm Saturday, May 26, 2012
Computer systems at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center will be combined by year’s end as part of a $105 million upgrade at five Department of Defense supercomputing resource centers.
Memory in three high-performance Cray XE6 systems used in research will be tripled, to 305 terabytes, and double the processor count.
The new capacity will equal more than 313,000 gigabytes, the unit of digital information common in most home computers and mobile devices.
The upgrade is part of DOD’s High Performance Computing Modernization Program, which ERDC manages on the department’s behalf.
“This latest acquisition will provide significant capability for DOD scientists and engineers to stretch the boundaries of scientific discovery, expand engineering capabilities and accelerate the delivery of new technologies to the defense communities,” said John West, director of the HPCMP in a release.
Supercomputers also will be installed at the Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, as well as bases in Ohio and Hawaii, and a research lab in Maryland.
Upgrades are to double the program’s current computing capability and conform to the petaFLOP computing standard set in 2008. A petaFLOP is a measure of a computer’s processing speed.
High-performance computing enables research capabilities in fluid dynamics structural mechanics, materials design, space situational awareness, climate and ocean modeling, and environmental quality, the release said.