The 'best of the best' scientific projects will get access to a new Irish supercomputer, which is being installed this week. It will give the country a major boost on the world stage, writes Dick Ahlstrom
Ireland will soon have one of the most powerful computers available anywhere in Europe. It will give researchers here access to an astounding device that will allow our scientists to model protein structure, nanomaterials and even the birth of stars.
Installation of the new IBM Blue Gene/P is currently underway in Blanchardstown, Dublin at the "national hosting facility" of HEAnet, Ireland's national education and research network, says Prof Luke Drury of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
The deal that brings the machine here was announced just a few days ago and represents a remarkable collaborative venture, says Prof Drury. "We are leading the project but are collaborating with all the universities. This is the first time that all the higher education sector has come together in this way."
Support for the multimillion euro project comes via the Higher Education Authority's Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions funding cycle three and four.
It is also being supported by the institute, the Republic's seven universities, Dublin Institute for Technology, the Tyndall National Institute and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. All institutes of technology and research centres here will be allowed to bid for projects to run on Blue Gene/P. "It puts the institute in a totally new position vis a vis the universities - where it should be really," says Prof Drury.
The new machine is based in the hosting facility and access to it is over the HEAnet network, making it remotely accessible from anywhere there are HEAnet links. It is due to come on stream next month.
"We provide specialist computer services for all seven universities and a number of research institutes including DIAS, the ITs and RCSI," explains Dr JC Desplat, director of the Irish Centre for High-End Computing (ICHEC) which will manage the new Big Blue.
The power of the new system will be exceptional, he says. "We are looking at something that is four times more powerful than what we have at the moment. The scale of the problems you can address is much, much larger."
The new Blue Gene/P is "massively parallel" says Prof Drury. "It is equivalent to 4,000 individual computers. It does 13.9 teraflops, 13,9 million million calculations per second. It is kind of frightening."
The new system will support advanced modelling, the use of computers to simulate something in the real world, "anything that requires high resolution and complex physics", says Prof Drury.
For example supercomputers are used to model the complexities of climate, but can also be used to predict how a complex protein molecule will fold itself up, how a new semiconductor or nanotech material will perform and how new stars form. "It allows you to do more realistic simulations. So much of modern science now depends on this," says Prof Drury.
The research groups attempting to get time on the new system will have to be exceptional, Dr Desplat suggests. "The science must be of the highest order, the best of the best."
He also believes that access to such a powerful system will provide a boost for Irish scientists generally. "This allows Ireland as a country to have a much more visible role in world science."
The real challenge is getting the most from the new computer, being able to make the most of what it has to offer, he adds. "The payoff is substantial if you manage to use the power. But it doesn't come free, there is a lot of time and skill needed to use the architecture."
For this reason the project includes positions for two new staff at ICHEC to help research groups integrate their models with the Blue Gene/P platform, says Dr Desplat. ICHEC expects to have 18 staff soon, with the centre receiving funding from Science Foundation Ireland.
The annual invitation-only ICHEC seminar runs on Dec 13 and 14 at the Royal Irish Academy in Dawson Street. Its themes are: "capability computing" as epitomised by the new Blue Gene/P, "e-infrastructure" (on the need for high speed remote access to computing resources), and the use of powerful new systems to run the next generation of environmental models for whole planet modelling. See www.ichec.ie/seminar2007