I thought there was supposed to be a new listing or report on the XServe at the college last month. No press releases or info on their website. I guess they haven't finished assembly/testing?
They did get the thing done. Last I heard was they were testing and running some test benches. We'll probably see them when the top 500 supercomputer list is refreshed.
Thanks for the info! Now see the following stupid (at least to me) article on the subject. Why didn't the author call and get info before writing about it? (Answer: Beats me!)
Sounds like he didn't even talk to the people at Virginia Tech. I'm sure they would have told him what they accomplished with the supercomputer and why it was down. I'm sure they ran something on it while it was up.
The ZDNet article has a point. They built it, did no real work, took it apart, and rebuilt it. Why did they even buy the desktop G5s in the first place? Why not wait for the XServes? It looks like a publicity stunt.
WMF-I'm going to guess an answer: They had the money/grant to build it, which means they need to spend it. Once you get money like this, you don't just toss it in a bank account and say your waiting. They did some research and figgured that the G5 was the best procesor for the job & money, it just didn't come in the ideal package. They made a deal with Apple to get a proof of concept machine assembled ASAP to use the money burning a hole in their pocket, worked on getting the setup and software right, got on near the top of the 500 list, got famous, and then sold it off at a small loss (I don't know the details) and then got the XServes, which is what they wanted to begin with. Glory for VT, glory for Apple and soon the real work begins.
Yes, he has a point, and I agree that the computer was buillt partly for bragging rights, but the problem is it's all his opinion. He has no facts to back up his story, a big problem lately with Internet news. If he had quotes from the Virginia Tech University people that said they didn't run anything useful on it, I would have more respect for the author and the article. For all I know Virginia TEch actually ran something useful on the computer.
"Meanwhile, Virginia Tech is dreaming of still bigger Roman-numeral systems. First will be System L, offering 50 teraflops or more. Then comes System C, with 100 teraflops or 100 trillion calculations every second. Varadarajan and his collaborators might just become modern-day digital Johnny Appleseeds."
Comments
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107_2-5295239.html
http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/35566.html
With this quote at the end:
"Meanwhile, Virginia Tech is dreaming of still bigger Roman-numeral systems. First will be System L, offering 50 teraflops or more. Then comes System C, with 100 teraflops or 100 trillion calculations every second. Varadarajan and his collaborators might just become modern-day digital Johnny Appleseeds."