Tyan Computer, a specialist high-end motherboard and system maker, has introduced the Typhoon PSC personal supercomputer range, delivering supercomputer power in a mobile, desk-side unit.
Typhoon models can accommodate up to eight processors and 64GB of memory, delivering up to 70 Gigaflops performance in a unit no bigger than two desktop PCs, according to the company.
The Typhoon PSC will appeal to users of compute-intensive applications in graphics rendering, data warehousing, financial and statistical analysis, scientific research, and the oil and gas industries, Tyan said.
With a mobile system like the Typhoon PSC, the supercomputer can be deployed easily in departments, on demand, the company said, adding that unlike the supercomputers of the past, the Typhoon PSC is quiet (<45dB) and plugs into a standard 13A power socket.
"With the introduction of the Typhoon PSC, Tyan is delivering a new kind of product that brings supercomputing into the office," commented Jeff Smith, UK manager of Tyan Computer. "The PSC will enable scientists, researchers, and developers to process simulations and visualizations faster, finish research experiments quicker, and provide them with an alternative to higher-priced, expansive server rooms that require huge amounts of resources and extensive infrastructure to support. We believe that the Typhoon PSC will create a new personal supercomputing market."
The company said two models are available immediately, based on AMD Opteron 200 series processors or Pentium D processors. Each is configured as four cluster nodes with two processors each. The AMD model accommodates up to 64GB of DDR400/333 registered memory, with the Intel model taking up to 32GB of DDR2-667/533 unbuffered memory. There are eight Gigabit Ethernet ports and capacity for four Serial ATA HDD devices.
Tyan is developing further Typhoon PSC models based on the Pentium 4 and the recently-announced Intel Xeon 5100 series processors (Woodcrest), with high performance FBD registered memory. Availability is expected at the end of the third quarter of 2006.
The Typhoon PSC supports Linux and Microsoft's Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003. In addition, multiple Typhoon PSC systems can be daisy-chained to form a super cluster.
sa: http://www.digitimes.com/systems/a20060629PR205.html