Supercomputers: January 2009 Archives
Above, the SiCortex SC5832 High Capability System features 5,832 1.4GFlops 64-bit processors, each drawing 900 milliwatts of electricity.
From ZDNet's GreenTech Pastures blog comes news of Linux-based computers from SiCortex that offer between 72 and 5,832 processors each, with each CPU drawing less than a watt of power.
In other words, it's a green supercomputer. Prices go from $25,000 to $1 million, and according to the ZDNet post, the company has moved 54 boxes to entities that include big research universities and the Department of Defense.
Much intrigues me about SiCortex. The company is based in an old Digital Equipment Corp. building in Maynard, Mass, and its management team — they're not youngsters, in case you were wondering — includes co-founder and chief architect Jud Leonard began his career at DEC working on PDP and Vax architectures, while president and CEO Chris Stone worked on software at Data General and at Novell when the company acquired Suse Linux.
Why so intriguing? Glad you asked. The first book I probably ever read on the business of designing and building computers was Tracy Kidder's 1970s classic "The Soul of a New Machine," a gripping journalistic tale of the race between DEC and Data General to build a better 32-bit minicomputer. It's a tale of technological heroism and folly that gives new depth to the world of computer engineering and the creation of something (that's supposed to be) great.
Who wouldn't want to write a book like this?
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