My new computer! :-)

[Jared]

Allright, perhaps not since it is a little overpriced, but could you imagine the framerates??? :-) there would be no need to worry about performance me thinks...

http://www.aviationnow.com/awin/awin_awst/awin_awst_story.jsp?issueDate=2004-10-11&story=xml/awst_xml/2004/10/11/AW_10_11_2004_p76-77-01.xml

[Saitek]

You need to subscribe to get in. I'm sure it's  good computer though.
Enjoy!

Ben

[Jared]

Cray says its new off-the-shelf machine will be affordable down to the department level  


Low-Cost Supercomputing

Cray Inc. is aiming to make supercomputers more accessible for aerospace and automotive design projects by offering a new machine at a fraction of the cost of its traditional customized systems.

The Cray XD1, just completing beta testing at six sites, will provide the type of supercomputing performance needed for computer-aided engineering (CAE) at price points starting at $100,000 versus the $2 million plus typical of Cray's traditional supercomputers. These are more often found at universities and in national laboratories where they meet unique requirements.

The XD1 is suitable for applications such as computational fluid dynamics, structural analysis and the study of transient conditions, and is designed to be something aerospace companies could afford at the department level. Adam Lorant, Cray vice president for marketing, says the XD1 will analyze nonlinear mechanics such as the use of composite materials in structures as well as everything from bird strikes to loss of a fan blade in a jet engine.

The XD1 is following a trend in computing by using off-the-shelf processors for high-performance applications such as aerospace and automotive design and the modeling of weather and climate.

Daratech Inc., an information technology market research company in Cambridge, Mass., notes that investment in computer-aided engineering tools in manufacturing industries is growing at 12% per year, outpacing the growth of the much-touted product lifecycle management tools designed to support systems such as an aircraft from design through maintenance.

Advances in high-performance computing and a growing recognition of the role of digital simulation in creating higher quality products faster is driving CAE growth, according to Daratech. CAE software is also becoming easier to use in association with physical tests to increase confidence in digital simulation.

Richard Partridge, a high-technology analyst with D.H. Brown Associates in Port Chester, N.Y., says competitors such as IBM and Hewlett-Packard are already adopting off-the-shelf processors for a variety of applications, including high-performance ones. But Cray is aiming to make its offering more specialized for the high-performance jobs. He thinks Cray's narrow market focus will bring it some success depending on how the XD1 delivers on various price and performance benchmarks.

Lorant says Cray acquired OctigaBay Systems Corp. in April 2004, and renamed its high-performance product the Cray XD1. But in addition to using industry-standard off-the-shelf Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Opteron processors favored by competitors who offer computers for general and high-performance applications, Cray has focused on improving the XD1's interconnection capability. The interconnect is provided by multiple copper wires to provide multiple paths so the system is 30 times faster than a 1-gigabit Ethernet, Lorant says. At 1 terrabit per sec. the XD1 interconnect could handle all the Internet traffic for the city of Chicago, he notes. The system also has 30 times lower latency (delay time on a network waiting for data) than a 1-gigabit Ethernet.

Partridge says the high-speed interconnect is suitable for high-performance computing tasks where there is a lot of computing by multiple processors and a need to interchange results often. For example, the analysis of a wing structure might have a different processor handling different areas of the wing. The XD1 has 12 Opteron processors and 12 communications processors.

Another way Cray is achieving a low cost on this system is by using the Linux open operating system.


This Livermore Software Technology Corp. simulation shows how Cray's XD1 could be used with LS Dyna software. The software is used in aerospace to simulate bird strikes, jet engine blade containment and structural failure.

Lorant says there are now 23 CAE applications qualified to run on the system with more being added weekly. The product is available for shipment for the first time.

Cray's leading CAE customers are Boeing and the U.S. Army, and it has worked closely with Boeing to develop the company's computer codes used to analyze aircraft designs. Bombardier is a customer as well, but Cray is not selling yet to Airbus or Embraer.

An XD1 will also be installed this month at the U.S. Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Research Station in Missoula, Mont. It will be used to model wildfire behavior so that wildfire paths can be forecast with greater confidence. The system will give a 48-hr. forecast with 12-km. (7-mi.) resolution for the entire U.S. after a computer run time of 2 hr.

Lorant said by making supercomputing accessible down to the level of a department in an aerospace company, design time could be reduced, a critical factor for potential users of the XD1.