The 'hybrid' supercomputer, codenamed Roadrunner, will be installed at DOEs Los Alamos National Laboratory. Cell B.E. chips originally designed for video game platforms - will work in conjunction with systems based on x86 processors from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
 
Bevan Lock, IBM SA technical evangelist, explains that the cell processor is the most sophisticated chip ever created. Effectively a supercomputer on a chip, it is expected to dramatically improve the use of visual graphics in the entertainment, medical imaging, aerospace and defence industries, he says.
 
Designed specifically to handle a broad spectrum of scientific and commercial applications, the supercomputer design will include sophisticated software designed to orchestrate over 16 000 AMD Opteron processor cores and more than 16 000 Cell B.E. processors in tackling some of the most challenging problems in computing today. The supercomputer will be capable of a peak performance of over 1,6 petaflops (1,6 thousand trillion calculations per second).

The machine is to be built entirely from commercially available hardware and based on the Linux operating system. IBM System xTM 3755 servers based on AMD Opteron technology will be deployed in conjunction with IBM BladeCenter H systems with Cell B.E. technology. Each system used is designed specifically for high-performance implementations.
 
Designed also with space and power consumption issues in mind, the system will employ advanced cooling and power management technologies and will occupy only 1115 square metres of floor space, or approximately the size of three basketball courts, Lock adds.
 
Roadrunners construction will involve the creation of 'hybrid programming' software which will orchestrate the Cell B.E.-based system and AMD system and is expected to inaugurate an era of heterogeneous technology designs in supercomputing. This aims to allow IBM to deploy mixed-technology systems to companies of all sizes, spanning industries such as life sciences, financial services, automotive and aerospace design.
 
Roadrunners hybrid design will allow the system to segment complex mathematical equations, routing each segment to the part of the system that can most efficiently handle it. Typical compute processes, file IO, and communication activity will be handled by AMD Opteron processors while more complex and repetitive elements that traditionally consume the majority of supercomputer resources - will be directed to more than 16 000 Cell B.E. processors.
 
This supercomputer demonstrates a commitment to achieve a major advance in technological capability that will help scientists and businesses solve the most challenging problems, Lock says.