PathScale InfiniPath Powers One of the World's Largest Dual-Core AMD Opteron(TM) Processor-Based InfiniBand Clusters

PathScale, the developer of innovative software and hardware solutions to accelerate high performance computing, today announced that its InfiniPath(TM) HTX(TM) InfiniBand(TM) Adapters have been deployed by AMD in its Developer Center to maximize application scaling on the newly installed Dual-Core AMD Opteron(TM) processor-based 'Emerald' cluster. The combination of Dual-Core AMD Opteron processors and the InfiniPath interconnect is already demonstrating unprecedented performance, enabling Emerald to outperform traditional supercomputers in several critical benchmarks in the latest High Performance Computing (HPC) Challenge. The HPC Challenge, sponsored by DARPA, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), consists of nine benchmarks that evaluate how HPC systems handle real-world applications. Based on the most recent benchmarks, the AMD Emerald cluster with the InfiniPath InfiniBand interconnect outperformed much larger supercomputer systems. For instance, the 512-core AMD Opteron processor-based Emerald cluster configuration outperformed the highest-end systems from the three leading supercomputing suppliers in the Random Access (GUPs), Random Ring Latency, and Natural Ring Latency benchmarks. These benchmarks are highly sensitive to memory update performance and the speed of network communications, and showcase the clear performance advantages of the InfiniPath interconnect and Dual-Core AMD Opteron processors with Direct Connect Architecture. The AMD Emerald cluster, supplied by Rackable Systems, is comprised of 144 nodes, each with two 2.2 GHz Dual-Core AMD Opteron processors, for a total of 576 processing cores. Each node is equipped with a single PathScale InfiniPath HTX InfiniBand Adapter connected to a SilverStorm 9120 144-port InfiniBand switch. The AMD Emerald system, which achieved 2.1 TFLOPs on the Linpack benchmark, has been submitted to the Top500(R) supercomputing list, which ranks the 500 largest supercomputers in the world. The AMD Emerald system is one of the largest publicly accessible Dual-Core AMD Opteron processor-based InfiniBand clusters in the world. "When matching up the low-latency PathScale InfiniPath interconnect with the low-latency Direct Connect Architecture of AMD Opteron processors, the Emerald cluster produces phenomenal results," said Pat Patla, director, server/workstation marketing, Microprocessor Solutions Sector, AMD (NYSE: AMD). "We have worked with PathScale to showcase this incredible performance through Emerald -- the most powerful cluster ever implemented at the AMD Developer Center." Located at the AMD Developer Center in Sunnyvale, Calif., Emerald is designed to provide AMD's development collaborators and customers a way to benchmark and test performance-sensitive computing applications using the company's Dual-Core AMD Opteron processor technology. PathScale's InfiniPath is a cluster-interconnect that plugs directly into the HyperTransport interface on AMD Opteron processor-based servers, and designed to dramatically improve communications within the cluster. "The HPC Challenge benchmark results prove that InfiniPath can scale AMD Opteron processor-based clusters to performance levels that exceed systems from some of today's supercomputing giants," said Scott Metcalf, CEO of PathScale. "These benchmarks further validate the performance advantages of InfiniBand, and should demonstrate to the scientific and engineering communities that they no longer have to rely on proprietary technologies from the traditional, high priced supercomputing suppliers. They can now have an advantage by leveraging AMD Opteron processor-based Linux clusters and the InfiniPath interconnect to build cost-effective systems for their most demanding applications." The PathScale InfiniPath interconnect helps deliver on the promise of Linux cluster computing by significantly lowering communications latency, helping to improve the performance of complex applications. The technology is enabling scientists, engineers and researchers to more effectively solve a whole new class of computational challenges, from weather modeling and aerospace design to drug discovery and oil and gas research. Today, the InfiniPath interconnect is used by leading scientific and engineering organizations in both the private and government sectors. The AMD Developer Center has helped hundreds of innovators test and optimize their products, enterprise configurations and HPC clusters for AMD64 technology. Located in Sunnyvale, Calif., the AMD Developer Center provides on-site technical support and global virtual access to the AMD64 environment -- enabling secure, scheduled sessions onsite or remotely at http://developer.amd.com . About PathScale PathScale Inc. develops technologies that enable breakthroughs in high performance computing, science and engineering. The PathScale InfiniPath(TM) HTX(TM) Adapter and EKOPath Compiler Suite drive Linux(R) clusters to performance benchmarks that exceed the world's most powerful supercomputers. Today, PathScale technologies are the choice of leading scientific and engineering organizations to more effectively solve complex computational challenges, from weather modeling and aerospace design to drug discovery. PathScale is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif. For more information, visit http://www.pathscale.com. NOTE: Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. HyperTransport and HTX are licensed trademarks of the HyperTransport Technology Consortium. AMD, AMD Opteron and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. InfiniBand is a registered trademark of the InfiniBand Trade Association. Pathscale, the Pathscale logo and InfiniPath are trademarks of Pathscale, Inc. All other product names mentioned are trademarks of their respective owners.

Author:  

Email:    

Topic:    

Content:

Related Computer Hardware Articles

• Sandia National Labs Visualizes Some of the World's Largest Simulations Using NVIDIA(R) Technology
  16 November 2005



• PCMCIA Hosts Largest ExpressCard Interoperability Event Ever
  15 November 2005



• SGI Unveils Industry's First Native Server-to-Storage InfiniBand Solution
  15 November 2005



• LSI Logic Leads With Engenio InfiniBand Storage System
  15 November 2005



• Sidney Sheldon Joins Cynthia Brian and Larita Arnold on World Talk Radio, November 23, 2005
  13 November 2005



• Computer Hardware Deals:Dell Coupon Codes November 9 To November 17
  12 November 2005



• DataDirect Networks Demonstrates World's Fastest InfiniBand Solution
  11 November 2005



• PolyServe Announces Support for the AMD Opteron(TM) Processor with 32- and 64- Bit Backward Compatibility
  8 November 2005



• Computer Hardware Deals:New Coupons from Dell Home November 2005
  8 November 2005



• World Data Products Outlines Four Strategies For Lowering Hardware Costs and Raising Return on Investment
  31 October 2005