New transtec Cluster Heading for the Top 100 Fastest Super Computers

Application has surpassed the teraflop barrier and will be used by Boehringer Ingelheim for pharmaceutical research

Tuebingen, Germany, 13 November 2003.
transtec, the IT system manufacturer with headquarters in Tuebingen, Germany, is drawing attention to itself once again thanks to its cluster applications. The Swabian company recently installed a Linux cluster at Boehringer Ingelheim, which is going to start operation at the Biberach facility in November and support the company's pharmaceutical research. transtec expects the cluster, with a total of 4 front-end nodes and 163 computing nodes that are connected by Gigabit Ethernet, will be included in the first 100 of the current list of the top 500 super computers worldwide.

With 334 Intel Xeon 2.8 GHz processors, the cluster can reach a peak performance of 1.87 teraflops and is thus the first transtec cluster to surpass the teraflop barrier. Additional novelties include water-cooled cabinets, which ensure the optimum temperature for the computers, and custom-made cluster software from transtec that fulfils all of Boehringer Ingelheim's needs. This software also makes it possible to efficiently partition the cluster into sub-clusters. Various partial tasks can then be computed in the sub-clusters and the smaller sections can even be used to test new software releases.

transtec is now one of the largest built-to-order cluster providers in Europe. Besides universities and research institutes, the automotive industry is another important customer for transtec clusters.