Recently Unveiled Stony Brook/Brookhaven Supercomputer Ranks 5th in World

Stony Brook, NY – On June 15th, Stony Brook University (SBU) and the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) unveiled the IBM Blue Gene supercomputer, named New York Blue, which has recently been ranked 5th among the world's top 500 supercomputers. The ranking appears in the 29th edition of the TOP500 list of the world's fastest supercomputers, announced at the International Supercomputing Conference on June 27 in Dresden, Germany.

The semiannual TOP500 project was started in 1993 to provide a reliable basis for tracking and detecting trends in high-performance computing. The Linpack benchmark, a numerically intensive test, was used to measure performance for ranking the computer systems. Following, a list of sites with the most powerful computer systems, containing a variety of information including the system specifications and its major application areas, was assembled and released.

A Blue Gene/L supercomputer at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ranked 1st, followed by Cray supercomputers on the 2nd and 3rd rank, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, respectively. The 4th ranking went to IBM, at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center in New York.

The New York Blue supercomputer is an 18 rack IBM Blue Gene/L massively parallel supercomputer, allowing it to be about 10,000 times as fast as a personal computer. Using only a fraction of the energy required for cooling most computer systems, Blue Gene is also the world’s most energy-efficient computer. Located at the New York Center for Computational Sciences (NYCCS), a collaborative effort between BNL and Stony Brook University, New York Blue is supported by a $26-million allocation from New York State.

“New York State's investment into this elegantly powerful supercomputer will reinforce our region's important place in international scientific research and advance both the academic and economic mission of the SBU/BNL alliance,” said NY Assemblyman Steve Englebright during the unveiling of the supercomputer.

Added Brookhaven Director Sam Aronson, “We expect New York Blue will give us the leading-edge computing power we need to make crucial computations in physics, biology, medicine, materials science, nanoscience, and renewable energy. For example, Brookhaven recently opened our new Center for Functional Nanomaterials. In nanoscale science and technology, the new supercomputer will enable us to carry out the complex calculations required to study the physical and chemical properties of nanoparticles being explored for their potential to increase our nation’s energy independence.”

“New York Blue is a perfect example of how such collaborative efforts can push us ahead of the curve and allow our region to take the lead in the high-tech industry. Stony Brook University, Brookhaven National Lab, and IBM are to be commended for their vision and accomplishments,” said NY Senator Kenneth P. LaValle, chairman of New York State’s Higher Education Committee.

The NYCCS consists of the Stony Brook based Center for Computational Science (SBCCS), in parallel with the Brookhaven Computational Science Center (CSC). Each center has a secondary mission to cooperate with the other and to support the mission of the other, while they jointly share outreach missions to the larger New York state community. The supercomputer will therefore foster research collaborations among universities and companies throughout the state of New York.

Picture above at the ceremony (from left): James Davenport, Technical Director of the New York Center for Computational Sciences at BNL; Sam Aronson, BNL Director, NYS Assemblyman Marc Alessi; NYS Assemblyman Steven Englebright; NYS Senator Kenneth P. LaValle; Emilio Mendez, BNL's Center for Functional Nanomaterials Director; Shirley Strum Kenny, SBU President; Michael Holland, DOE's Brookhaven Site Office Manager; Doon Gibbs, BNL Deputy Director for Science & Technology; and Robert McGrath, SBU Provost and Vice President for Brookhaven Affairs. (Images courtesy of Brookhaven National Laboratory)