SiCortex Operates Thousand-Processor Data Center at ISC’08
SiCortex, the emerging leader in compact, low-power Linux clusters, is demonstrating the advantages of dense, low-power supercomputing by installing and operating its 1,458-processor SC1458 right within the conference’s exhibit hall. “It used to be that systems with this many processors required their own building, and took months to install,” said John Goodhue, Vice-President of Marketing at SiCortex. “We will roll the SC1458 into our booth and operate it throughout the conference.” The SC1458 provides more than twice the performance of the SC648 that the company operated at ISC’07, with no increase in footprint.
SiCortex has introduced a new concept in high performance computing, reducing power consumption and physical size to gain performance. The company has implemented a complete multicore cluster node on a chip, including six 64-bit processors, multiple memory controllers, a high performance cluster interconnect and a PCIexpress connection to storage and internetworking. A SiCortex multicore node consumes 15 watts of power, an order of magnitude less than the 250 watts used in a conventional cluster node. SiCortex’s product line ranges from the SC072 deskside supercomputer to the SC5832, which can perform six trillion operations per second in a cabinet that is less than one-third the size of conventional clusters.
