IBM to develop huge computing grid

IBM is to collaborate with the US Department of Energy (DoE) to develop a massive computing grid that will link research supercomputers across the US.

The planned DoE Science Grid aims to massively boost the computing power available to scientists across the US studying complex issues such as global climate change.

The project, which will be one of the largest grid developments so far, is the latest in IBM's high profile commitment to grid computing which the company hopes to sell to corporations around the world.

Based on open source software called Globus, which is still in development, grid computing is an emerging technology. But it is already set to become one of Big Blue's key strategies under new chief executive Sam Palmisano.

By enabling computing resources to be shared across geographies the firm maintains that companies will be able to better use computing resources and substantially cut the cost of carrying out computing tasks.

IBM explained that its work with the DoE's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Centre (NERSC) will develop software to connect the lab's supercomputers and data storage machines to other computers in four different locations and to off-site scientific instruments like telescopes.

Due to be completed by the end of this year, IBM and the DoE said that the grid will create the largest unclassified supercomputer and data-storage system available within the department.

Although it will initially be built around two IBM supercomputers and a huge IBM storage repository, the Science Grid will eventually grow to include NERSC's 3,328-processor IBM supercomputer. This ranks as the third largest computer in the world.

In addition, supercomputers, data storage and experimental facilities at Lawrence Berkeley, Argonne, Oak Ridge and Pacific Northwest national laboratories are expected to be connected to the Science Grid.