Montréal, April 5, 2004 – The Réseau québécois de calcul de haute performance (RQCHP - Quebec High Performance Computing Network) based at Université de Montréal has just acquired a piece of equipment that is without equal in Canada: the most power shared-memory computer in the country. For RQCHP researchers, this new computer will considerably increase the speed of calculations they need to do in such diverse fields as numerical physics, language modeling, nanoscience and ecosystem evolution forecasting.

The supercomputer, a SGI Altix 3700, was acquired together with a storage unit, a NEC SX-5C computer and a few peripherals. The acquisition was made possible by a financial contribution from the Government of Québec, the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), Silicon Graphics (SGI) and a few other industrial partners, who together provided the $33 million needed to install this cutting edge equipment.

“For top level scientists, time is precious,” notes Laurent Lewis, director of the University’s Physics Department at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the RQCHP. “This system, which is unique in Canada, will enable us to complete extremely complex calculations in a fraction of the time it took before. The sixty-odd researchers at the RQCHP and their teams can now continue to perform at the highest international level, and our students will have access to the finest tools available.”

With 128 processors and 512 Gigabytes of RAM, the SGI system currently has a theoretical capacity of 768 Gigaflop, or 768 billion operations per second. In 2005 an upgrade agreement will bring its total computing power to more than 3 Teraflops (3000 billion operations per second) and 2 TeraBytes of fully accessible RAM, about 2000 times the memory of a recent PC. This computer will considerably reduce the calculation time needed for certain problems, while making it possible to deal with larger, more complex problems.

“The association between Silicon Graphics and the RQCHP is highly promising,” says Martin Pinard, President of SGI Canada. “The tools developed by Silicon Graphics are designed to enable their users to reach their full potential. Scientists who chose SGI Altix technology today can count on unequalled performance in terms of calculation speed and power, performance that will help them maintain and extend their leadership in international-level research. We are proud to help the RQCHP achieve its objectives, today, and in the future thanks to our upgrade agreement.”

“Today we pay tribute to the partnerships and everything we can accomplish by working together for assured success in the knowledge-based economy,” added Manon Harvey, Vice-President, Finance and Administration at CFI. “This investment means we can give high calibre researchers access to the facilities they need to carry out projects on the leading edge of research.”

 

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For information:
Sophie Langlois
Press Officer
Université de Montréal
(514) 343-7704