Press Release 05-124
Pittsburgh Center Unveils a Bigger, Faster Supercomputer Called "Big Ben"

NSF's Bement says the machine is "a significant leap" in research and education capacity

Big Ben is Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center's new high-performance computer. Credit and Larger Version

July 20, 2005

Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC) now has it own "Big Ben" -- only this technological bellwether rings out in teraflops. PSC acquired Big Ben, the first XT3 system to be shipped from Cray, Inc., with a $9.7 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Big Ben can perform 10 teraflops, or 10 trillion calculations, per second, making it 2.4 times faster than PSC's former high-performance computing leader, LeMieux. But like LeMieux, Big Ben will serve as an integral component in the NSF-supported TeraGrid, the world's largest, most comprehensive cyberinfrastructure for open scientific research.

A host of dignitaries attended the July 20 ceremony, including NSF Director Arden L. Bement, Jr. and the foundation's assistant director for Computer and Information Science and Engineering, Peter A. Freeman.

For more information about Big Ben and the ceremony see the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center site or read director Bement's remarks as prepared.

-NSF-

Media Contacts
Richard (Randy) Vines, NSF (703) 292-7963 rvines@nsf.gov
Michael Schneider, Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (412) 268-5869 schneider@psc.edu

Program Contacts
Jose Munoz, NSF (703) 292-8970 jmunoz@nsf.gov

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2009, its budget is $9.5 billion, which includes $3.0 billion provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to over 1,900 universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 44,400 competitive requests for funding, and makes over 11,500 new funding awards. NSF also awards over $400 million in professional and service contracts yearly.

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