ARGONNE, Ill., July 5, 2017 Theta, a new production supercomputer located at the U.S. Department of Energys Argonnne National Laboratory is officially open to the research community. The new machines massively parallel, many-core architecture continues Argonnes leadership computing program towards its future Aurora system.

Theta was built onsite at the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF), a DOE Office of Science User Facility, where it will operate alongside Mira, an IBM Blue Gene/Q supercomputer. Both machines are fully dedicated to supporting a wide range of scientific and engineering research campaigns. Theta, an Intel-Cray system, entered production on July 1.

The new supercomputer will immediately begin supporting several 2017-2018 DOE Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) Leadership Computing Challenge (ALCC) projects. The ALCC is a major allocation program that supports scientists from industry, academia, and national laboratories working on advancements in targeted DOE mission areas. Theta will also support projects from the ALCF Data Science Program, ALCFs discretionary award program, and, eventually, the DOEs Innovative and Novel Computing Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment (INCITE) programthe major means by which the scientific community gains access to the DOEs fastest supercomputers dedicated to open science.

Designed in collaboration with Intel and Cray, Theta is a 9.65-petaflops system based on the second-generation Intel Xeon Phi processor and Crays high-performance computing software stack. Capable of nearly 10 quadrillion calculations per second, Theta will enable researchers to break new ground in scientific investigations that range from modeling the inner workings of the brain to developing new materials for renewable energy applications.

Thetas unique architectural features represent a new and exciting era in simulation science capabilities, said ALCF Director of Science Katherine Riley. These same capabilities will also support data-driven and machine-learning problems, which are increasingly becoming significant drivers of large-scale scientific computing.

Now that Theta is available as a production resource, researchers can apply for computing time through the facilitys variousallocation programs. Although the INCITE and ALCC calls for proposals recently closed, researchers can apply for Directors Discretionary awards at any time.

Argonne National Laboratoryseeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nations first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance Americas scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed byUChicago Argonne, LLCfor theU.S. Department of Energys Office of Science.

The U.S. Department of Energys Office of Scienceis the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit theOffice of Science website.

Argonne National Laboratoryseeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nations first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance Americas scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed byUChicago Argonne, LLCfor theU.S. Department of Energys Office of Science.

The U.S. Department of Energys Office of Scienceis the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit theOffice of Science website.

Argonne National Laboratoryseeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nations first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance Americas scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed byUChicago Argonne, LLCfor theU.S. Department of Energys Office of Science.

The U.S. Department of Energys Office of Scienceis the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit theOffice of Science website.

Source: ANL

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Argonne's Theta Supercomputer Goes Online - HPCwire (blog)