Supercomputational Clusters

Primary Contact: Scott Delinger

Traditional supercomputers (e.g., Cray, IBM SP2, SGI Origin) are frightfully expensive, depreciate faster than a Chevy, have expensive maintenance contracts, and require specialized environments. That being said, for fine-grained parallel jobs, nothing beats them. If that's your task, talk to WestGrid.

However, if your computations are either coarse-grained parallel or simply a huge number of computations of the same type with different initial conditions, supercomputation clusters are likely your best choice. The Department is equipped with seven clusters (four currently, three under construction), which taken as a single meta-cluster would rank as 15th in the world, far ahead of anything else in Alberta currently. The High-Performance Computational Chemistry Centre (HPCCC) [web site under development] can help you get the job done. If you've decided to purchase or have us build a cluster, realize that our HPCCC is the ideal hosting location for your cluster, but a portion of your grant is needed to make minor electrical installations so that your cluster is properly supported. It takes dozens of hours to discuss, design, specify, order, assemble, configure, install, and deploy a cluster. Talk to PN Roy about how we are able to assist in the design and installation of clusters, as we've handled all of his clusters, including one initiated before his arrival!

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