ESnet Receives $62 Million to Develop World’s Fastest Computer Network

As scientists in a wide variety of disciplines increasingly rely on supercomputers and collaboration with colleagues around the world to advance their research, managing and sharing the mountain of data generated by their investigations will soon become a choking point. In order to facilitate such data-intensive research, ESnet is receiving $62 million to develop what will be the world's fastest computer network, designed specifically to support science.

Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Advanced Networking Initiative, will ensure that the United States stays competitive in science and technology. Specifically, ESnet will develop a prototype 100 gigbits per second (Gbps) Ethernet network to connect DOE supercomputer centers at speeds 10 times faster than current technology.
Learn more

Supecomputer Contract Awarded to Cray

NERSC announced that a contract for its next generation supercomputing system will be awarded to Cray Inc. The multi-year supercomputing contract includes delivery of a Cray XT5™ massively parallel processor supercomputer, which will be upgraded to a future-generation Cray supercomputer. When completed, the new system will deliver a peak performance of more than one petaflops per second, equivalent to more than one quadrillion calculations per second.

“As NERSC is the primary supercomputing center for DOE's Office of Science, making Cray's latest technology available to our users will accelerate innovation across a wide range of scientific disciplines, helping scientists tackle problems of vital importance to our nation's future,” said Michael Strayer, Associate Director of DOE's Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research.
Learn more