Contact:
Prof. Michel Vetterli
Simon Fraser University and TRIUMF
778-782-5488
vetm@triumf.ca
Mike Boden
IBM Media Relations
416-478-7117
mboden@ca.ibm.com
Canada Contributes Computer Horsepower Supplied by IBM
to Global Project That Aims to Discover the Origin of Mass
(VANCOUVER) - October 19, 2007 - TRIUMF, Canada's national laboratory for
particle and nuclear physics, announced today that the ATLAS Tier-1 Data
Analysis Centre is ready for production after a significant hardware upgrade.
The upgrade increases the computing power and the disk storage by a factor of
about seven and adds a tape silo to store the raw data from ATLAS. The Tier-1
centre is now one of the most powerful computing facilities in Canada.
The new supercomputer built by IBM incorporates IBM's newly announced DCS9550
Disk Storage System. After passing extensive acceptance tests, the system has
been integrated into an international "grid" of high-performance computing
centres that will analyze data from the global ATLAS project, commencing in
the summer of 2008.
A team of researchers from a consortium of 10 Canadian universities (see
below) and TRIUMF are participating in the ATLAS experiment in Geneva. ATLAS
will study proton-proton collisions at the highest energy ever achieved in the
laboratory and will search for the elusive Higgs particle. The Higgs boson is
an essential ingredient in the theory of how the mass of subatomic particles
is generated.
The conditions created in the high-energy collisions will be similar to those
that existed during the Big Bang. To accomplish this, the European Center for
Nuclear Research (CERN) is building the world's largest particle collider, the
LHC, which has a circumference of 27 kilometers.
The Canadian team will use the IBM System Cluster 1350 supercomputer, located
at TRIUMF in Vancouver, to analyze information churned out by the ATLAS
experiment, estimated to be equivalent to half a million DVDs worth of data
every year for as long as the experiment will run. TRIUMF's IBM System Cluster
1350 was specially designed to handle the large amounts of data processing
required by the CERN experiments.
The Tier-1 data centre was funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the
British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund, and a contribution by IBM.
"We are extremely pleased to have the first phase of the data analysis centre
complete," said Michel Vetterli, a professor of physics at Simon Fraser
University and TRIUMF, who is the leader of the Tier-1 project. "The system
has performed very well during full-scale tests where it was incorporated into
the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid. The ground-breaking discoveries enabled by
the Tier 1 will revolutionize the way we describe the universe at the most
fundamental scale."
"The CERN ATLAS experiment will push the boundaries of computational
processing and data storage beyond anything the world has seen before," said
Chris Pratt, Strategic Initiatives Executive, IBM Canada. "IBM's technology
and expertise is an integral part of enabling the next generation of global
scientific exploration right here in Canada."
# # #
ATLAS-CANADA
The ATLAS-Canada Collaboration consists of: University of Alberta, University
of British Columbia, Carleton University, McGill University, Universite de
Montreal, University of Regina, Simon Fraser University, University of
Toronto, University of Victoria, York University, and TRIUMF. For more
information, visit http://www.atlas-canada.ca
TRIUMF
TRIUMF, Canada's national laboratory for subatomic physics, is a
multi-disciplinary particle accelerator facility that conducts cutting-edge
research in particle and nuclear physics, as well as in advanced materials.
The laboratory is also a leader in the production of isotopes for medical
applications. TRIUMF is operated by a consortium of Canadian universities,
under a contribution from the National Research Council of Canada. The member
universities are: University of Alberta, University of British Columbia,
Carleton University, Universite de Montreal, Simon Fraser University,
University of Toronto, and University of Victoria. For more information, visit
http://www.triumf.ca
CERN
CERN is building the world's biggest and most powerful particle accelerator -
the 27-km Large Hadron Collider. The experiments are designed to provide a
deeper understanding of the universe. For more information, visit
http://www.cern.ch
IBM Deep Computing
IBM collaborates with innovators and decision makers whose core business or
research demands intense computation to advance technology to solve real
business and industry problems. Together we're accelerating new uses of
technology into areas previously limited by cost, knowledge or imagination.
IBM delivers innovative, powerful, open High Performance Computing (HPC)
solutions to address your demands for intense computation, visualization, or
manipulation and management of massive amounts of data. For more information,
visit http://www-03.ibm.com/servers/deepcomputing/
IBM System Cluster 1350
The IBM System Cluster 1350 is designed for a broad
range of supercomputer application environments, including industrial design
and manufacturing, financial services, life sciences, government and
education. The IBM System Cluster 1350 leverages IBM's extensive
supercomputing experience to help minimize complexity and risk. Using advanced
Intel Xeon, AMD Opteron, and IBM PowerPC processor-based server nodes,
proven cluster management software and optional high-speed interconnects, the
Cluster 1350 offers the best of IBM and third-party technology. For more
information visit http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/clusters/hardware/1350.html