New HPC Cluster - Hive

“The new $5.3 million HPC cluster, Hive, delivers 0.7 Petaflops of performance based on the Linpack benchmark,” said Neil Bright, Associate Director for Research Cyberinfrastructure at PACE. “This innovative HPC cluster will support data-driven research in astrophysics, computational biology, health science, computational chemistry, materials and manufacturing, among other disciplines. It will be used for research that improves energy efficiency and performance for the cluster itself and for other HPC systems.”  The effort to procure the NSF grant was led by Georgia Tech College of Computing Professor, Dr. Srinivas Aluru, co-executive director of the Institute for Data Engineering and Science (IDEaS) and Interim Chair of the School of Computational Science and Engineering (School of CSE). “This project is exciting from many perspectives, but especially how it is pushing forward data and high-performance computing research infrastructure at Georgia Tech,” said Aluru. “It reflects the teamwork of dozens of faculty, and also supports the work of over 50 research scientists and 200 graduate students.” 

Also central to the award are: 

• Dr. Rich Vuduc, associate professor in the School of CSE;
• Dr. Surya Kalidindi, professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering;
• Dr. Charles David Sherrill, professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry
• Dr. Deirdre Shoemaker, professor in the School of Physics;
• Neil Bright, Associate Director for Research Cyberinfrastructure at PACE;  
• Paul Manno, Cyberinfrastructure Lead of PACE; and
• Dr. Mehmet Belgin, Research Facilitation Lead of PACE.

Coda’s 40,000-square-foot high density data center hosts the Hive cluster. Several national big data research initiatives including the National Strategic Computing Initiative and the Materials Genome Initiative, and NSF-supported observatories, such as the South Pole neutrino observatory known as IceCube, will leverage Hive. Georgia Tech’s executive leadership praised the interdisciplinary effort and partnership in fostering this cluster as Executive Vice President for Research Chaouki Abdallah said, “This award is a major boon for interdisciplinary research at Georgia Tech, one that will also be a valuable addition to the HPC-based research community nationally. …   [Hive] will become the premier computing resource at Georgia Tech.” Rafael L. Bras, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs and K Harrison Brown Family Chair, also expressed support for HPC at Georgia Tech: “High-performance computing is a priority for Georgia Tech. Data analysis, simulations, and computational predictive tools are essential elements of modern science, engineering, and design. High-performance computing is the laboratory of the 21st century.” Bras added, “It is extremely satisfying to see a multidisciplinary team successfully work together to make this acquisition a reality. That, after all, is the spirit and culture of Coda.”