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IBM plans exascale systems to scan universe

IBM and ASTRON, a Netherlands-based astronomy organisation, plan to develop an exascale computer system that will form the backbone of the largest and most sensitive radio telescope.
Written by Larry Dignan, Contributor

IBM and ASTRON, a Netherlands-based astronomy organisation, plan to develop an exascale computer system that will form the backbone of the largest and most sensitive radio telescope.

This exascale system will be designed for low-power usage and plug into the international Square Kilometre Array (SKA). SKA will be built out with the help of astronomers from more than 20 countries. The telescope will have millions of antennas and have a collection area of about 1 square kilometre. SKA will also be able to scan the width of the continental United States.

Under a five-year, €32.9 million deal, the two groups will build the ASTRON and IBM Center for Exascale Technology. The telescope, due in 2024, will need processing horsepower that will be on par with several million of today's fastest computers. The project is funded by the Province of Drenthe, the Netherlands and from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation (EL&I). ASTRON and IBM have collaborated before on the Blue Gene supercomputer, which analyses data from ASTRON's low-frequency array.

The ASTRON telescope will aim to spot new galaxies, dark matter and the origin of the universe. To accomplish that goal, the telescope will need a high-performance computing architecture and fast data transfer. The five-year collaboration between ASTRON and IBM is dubbed DOME, which will look at emerging technologies for everything from storage to analytics to develop the telescope. Data will be analysed and collected daily.

That daily data stream will be the equivalent to twice the world's internet traffic each day — "a few exabytes a day for a single beam per 1 square kilometre. Like most analytics projects, the trick for ASTRON and IBM will be finding the key signals in that mass of information. IBM also gets to try out its 3D-stacked chips and other technologies. As is the custom with IBM's research efforts, the company is looking to collaborate with outside scientists and then commercialise the findings.

IBM said that the location for SKA has to be finalised, but a decision is expected in 2012. Australia/New Zealand and South Africa are the two leading options to install the millions of antennas required.

A few key figures:

  • SKA will need to store 300 to 1500 petabytes of data per year
  • The CERN hadron collider stores 15 petabytes per year on average
  • 18 exabytes is the limit of what today's 64-bit architectures can address
  • SKA will aim to explore the universe dating back to 13 billion years.

Via ZDNet US

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