Nuts & Volts - January 2005

TechKnowledgey 2005

NEC’s SX- 8 is rated at up to 65 TFLOPS when configured with 512 nodes. Courtesy of NEC Corp.

dog on the block by achieving 36.01 TFLOPS performance, based on the Linpack benchmark.

However, NEC Corporation ( www.nec.com) has announced the worldwide launch of its model SX- 8, claiming that it can deliver 65 TFLOPS.

Using the same vector architecture as NEC’s Earth Simulator, the new product combines enhanced CPUs with improved memory and I/O processing performance.

An enhanced, single-chip vector processor — also used by the SX- 6 — contributes to the improved price performance and space savings offered by the SX- 8. The machine is intended for use in fields that require large scale and ultra high speed computing of massive data, such as meteorological forecasting, environmental simulations, and automotive crash analysis.

The single-node model (which can include up to eight CPUs) will give you only 128 GFLOPS, so you’ll need to order a multiple-node to achieve peak performance. Monthly rental charges are reported to start at about $11,000.00.

Keep in mind, however, that the “fastest supercomputer” crown is still being passed around and IBM plans to get it back by delivering a 360 TFLOP machine to the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory later this year.

JANUARY 2005

New Portable USB Hard Drives

Western Digital’s Passport drives are compact and require no separate

power supply. Courtesy of Western Digital Corporation.

Late in 2004, Western Digital Corporation (www.western digital.com) unveiled the Passport line of portable USB hard drives offering a choice of 40 or 80 GB capacities and (in most cases) no need for a separate power supply. The drives are based on the 2.5 inch Scorpio mechanism, include the company’s Data Lifeguard data protection, and are packaged in a rugged case.

According to the vendor, WD

Passport Portable Drives are able to withstand the rigors of mobile professionals and other users who need to carry substantial amounts of data with them. A detailed product spec sheet and photos of the drives are available on the company’s website. The list price is $199.00 for the 40 GB version and $249.00 for the 80 GB one.

Playing With Disaster

Disaster Dave helps kids learn disaster readiness skills in “Disaster Dave’s Misadventures,” a new educational computer game developed by Purdue Extension and the Federal Emergency

Management Agency.

For those who want to teach children in the community about

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