IBM has launched its first certified open source software package for supercomputers based on Linux.

The new package is designed to ease the burden of deploying supercomputing clusters.

The computing giant unveiled its High Performance Computing (HPC) Open Software Stack at this week's Linux World/Next Generation DataCentre tradeshow in San Francisco.

The new open stack features the Extreme Cluster Administration Toolkit (xCAT), which is currently used to manage the world's most powerful computer – a hybrid cluster built for the National Nuclear Security Administration's Roadrunner project at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, according to IBM.

The Roadrunner cluster has taken first place in the Top500 list as the fastest supercomputer in the world.

Initially the stack will support only systems built on IBM Power6 processors, with support for Power 575 supercomputing servers and x86 platforms to follow, said the firm.

"As more and more computing tasks migrate to supercomputer style clusters, there is a need for software that can effectively utilise and manage the large number of processors found in these systems," said Dave Turek, vice president of Deep Computing for IBM.