PSSC Labs Blog

With Halloween Around the Corner, Super Computers are getting "Brainy"

2012-10-18T07:48:00.000-07:00

Just when you thought supercomputer technology yielded the optimum performance, a new project arises that is literally mind blowing. An article by CNN highlights the Human Brain Project, a billion-dollar plan to replicate the human brain inside a supercomputer.

What sounds like a science-fiction movie coming true, is actually a project geared toward curing conditions like depression, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's. This project may change the methods of medical imaging for those conditions because it attempts to simulate the tangles of neurons and synapses that power high-functioning thoughts, like moving and reasoning.

The Human Brain Project is piggy-backing off a project in Switzerland that studied tiny slivers of rodent gray matter and fed a computer with huge amounts of data and algorithms. Now that breakthroughs have been made in predicting thought, there is a need for more funding and supercomputers to expand the project.

The bold claims of the project have dubbed the scientists as "Team Frankenstein" and their computer as "Skynet," the artificial intelligence that unleashed a robot war upon Earth in the "Terminator" films.

Sean Hill, the neuroscientist on the project laughs at the comparisons and says that the supercomputer will mostly be used for educational purposes and it will allow scientists to conduct experiments without the need of probing in human skulls.

To read more about the project, check out the CNN article here.

Go Pink this October with Cancer-Analyzing Super Computers

2012-10-16T07:34:00.004-07:00

NantHealth, a health IT company has teamed with AT&T, HP Intel and Verizon to create a supercomputer, similar to the Powerserve Quatro, that will reduce the time required to analyze genomic data of a patient with cancer. What would have normally taken eight weeks, now takes a mere 47 seconds.

Doctors have been unable to guide cancer treatment using genomic sequencing in the past because of the amount of time it took. This spurred a need for a solution. Teaming with several organizations, a high-speed, super-computer fiber network was created. This fiber network will provide thousands of oncology practitioners with information to fight cancer in a shorter amount of time.

It was reported that the ultimate storage solution helped the company to collect 96,512GB of data for over 3,000 patients and transfer it in under 70 hours. Mathematically, 5,000 patients could be analyzed per day with the technology.

So be sure to wear your pink with pride this October as it is Breast Cancer Month and spread the hope and the news about this new technological breakthrough in cancer treatment. To read more about NantHealth and the new technology, click here.

Mira, Mira on the Wall, What happened during the Big Bang?

2012-10-16T07:24:00.004-07:00

An article recently appeared regarding a new super computer that will run the most complex universe simulation ever attempted –the epitome of a virtual machine. The supercomputer, Mira, is due to describe the origin, evolution, and structure of the 13-billion-year existence of the universe in about 2 weeks. The computation will begin in October, piggy-backing on other sky-mapping projects that provided a vast amount of knowledge on the structure of the current universe.

The challenge plaguing cosmologists throughout history is figuring out exactly what occurred in the first nascent galaxies. In order to explore the beginning, they have to build a new universe. They have crafted mathematical narratives that explain why some of the galaxies flew apart from one another while others clusters into what we see around us today. Mira's trillions-of-particles simulation will cram over 12 billion years worth of space evolution into just two weeks. Can you imagine the size of that cloud storage data center?

By the end of the two weeks, cosmologists hope that the final product will resemble what we see in the current universe mappings. With the technological advances, the supercomputers in the late 2010s are due to be a thousand times more powerful than Mira. These virtual universes will serve as testing grounds for some of the most sophisticated ideas about the cosmos ever.

To read more of the article on Mira by The Atlantic, click here.

A Supercomputing Revolution may make Star Trek's Warp Drive Possible

2012-09-21T23:14:00.000-07:00

For all you Captain Kirk and supercharged workstation fans out there, moving faster than the speed of light may become a reality. The idea is related to the theory that the fabric of space (called space-time), can be manipulated to permit objects to move faster than photons of light.

Harold White, a NASA scientist believes he has created a feasible model for a warp drive. Piggy-backing off of the original model by Alcubierre, which consisted of a football-shaped craft attached to a ring that would constantly revolve around it. The ring would be made of some kind of exotic matter that would cause space-time to warp into a bubble. This bubble theoretically allows for the spaceship's engine to compress the space ahead of it and expand the space behind it. The ship would essentially move to another place without actually moving, pushing the space behind it. The problem with the old theory is that the mass-energy of Jupiter would be the amount needed to create the bubble.

White has transformed the original theory by suggesting the ring be more of a donut shape than flat. He has additionally suggested that "the intensity of the space warps can be oscillated over time," which would reduce the required energy for the craft. White and his team have been doing "tabletop experiments" using a "laser interferometer," essentially making mini-space-time warps.
If technology runs with this theory, Earthlings could potentially visit other stars on a craft about the size of the Voyager from 1977 and travel at 10 times the speed of light. Can you imagine the speed of the high performance server on that craft?

To read the source for this post click here.

What's Shaking? It is Scientific Computational Modeling of Earthquakes.

2012-09-18T13:36:00.001-07:00

Scientists utilize high-performance servers and high-performance clusters to measure and predict the environment's activity. Earthquakes are an abnormal weather occurrence that certainly plagues the PSSC Labs headquarters in California on a pretty normal basis. While little is known about predicting earthquakes, theorists are beginning to question if oil drilling has had an effect on the increase of earthquake frequency. Oil & Gas computational modeling has been looked at as a tool for future studies. Whatever the reason behind the earthquakes, what is fascinating is how they happen.

An earthquake occurs when two blocks of the earth suddenly slip past one another on a "fault plane." While the edges of the faults are stuck together, and the rest of the block is moving, the energy that would normally cause the blocks to slide past one another is stored. When the force of the movement finally overcomes the friction of the jagged edges, the faults unstick and the stored energy releases causing the vibrations. The location below the ground where the earthquake begins is called the "epicenter," where there are three phases of shocks that occur. There are "foreshocks" which happen before the earthquake in the same location, the "main shock" which is the largest and true core of the earthquake. Depending on the size of the "mainshock," aftershocks continue for weeks, months, or even years. The energy of any shock radiates outward from the epicenter in all directions in seismic waves, much like ripples in a pond. As the waves move, they shake the Earth, and anything on it.

Navigate through our website to learn more about our high-performance servers and high-performance clusters that assist in storing this fascinating information on nature.

Photo Credit: earthquake.usgs.gov & Science Photo Lab

Raspberry Pi Structure Turns the Heads of Supercharged Workstation Engineers

2012-09-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

Apple, blueberry, lemon meringue? There are so many kinds of pies out there, but the favorite of those working with supercharged workstations is the Raspberry Pi. And no, this isn't surrounded with delicious graham cracker crust – it is a credit-card sized Linux machine that has become an instant hit. For the first time ever, someone has interconnected dozens of these little devices to build a mega super computer. And what did they use for the glue? LEGOs.

Seven computational engineers at the University of Southampton in the UK ordered 64 Raspberry Pis and created a rack for their super computer that would help interconnect their 64 Pis. While the Raspberry Pi certainly does not have the performance of our Powerwulf Clusters, the number of networked devices gives it a pretty good surge of power that was built from the ground up with toys! Although it isn't the strongest, it is certainly the most adorable.

This project was basically a smaller scale of what we, at PSSC Labs, do when we create our high performance servers and ultimate storage solutions. Feel free to navigate through our website and learn more about the process of computer building on a large scale.

High Performance Computing happens more than ‘Once in a Blue Moon.’

2012-09-06T07:29:00.000-07:00

Weather computational modeling and studies in astrophysics computing are progressing with the advent of high-performance computing. PSSC Labs supports research scientists in all varieties of the disciplines they study. Naturally, there was a lot of excitement when word spread about the appearance of a blue moon. The evening of August 31, 2012 brought a site to see.

A "blue moon" is the name given to the second full moon in a single month. It is a somewhat rare occurrence as it only happens once every three years.

Sometimes, however, the moon can appear to be visually blue in color. This hue is possible weather a moon is full or not. The event is caused by materials and particles in the atmosphere such as dust or smoke. The secret to witnessing a literal blue moon is by having the particles slightly wider than the wavelength of red light, with no other sizes present. On rare occurrences, volcanoes produce clouds that emit such particles. Forest fires also have the same effect, spreading a mixture of wide particles that create blue light. Most clouds pushed into the atmosphere contain a wider variety of particles, including many smaller than 1 micrometer. The smaller particles tend to scatter blue light. These clouds cause "red moons," which are much more common than a blue moon.

Navigate through the PSSC Labs website and learn more about the possibilities for high-performance servers and high performance clusters in these fascinating industries.

Photo Credit: Tomasjina/www.Space.com; www.pikespeakphoto.com/images/sunmoon/redmoon2.jpg

What is the Higgs Boson and why is it important to the Life Science Industry?

2012-09-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

Users of PSSC Life Sciences Tools are talking about what could be the next big discovery in their industry. The Large Hadron Collider is a giant science instrument that utilizes some incredible hpc supercomputers, for studying the smallest existing particles. Researchers at the lab say that they are certain about the existence of the Higgs boson, or the "God particle." This is a never-before-seen subatomic particle that is allegedly the fundamental building block of the universe.

The theory of the particle was first proposed by a physicist names Peter Higgs in the 1960s to provide explanation to how particles obtain mass. The theory is that an energy field exists all around in the universe. As particles zoom around the field, they interact and attract Higgs bosons, which cluster in varying numbers. The more Higgs bosons that a particle attracts, the greater the mass will become.

While this discovery won't give human being the entire knowledge about the universe and its operations, it will fill a huge hole in the Standard Model that has been in place for over 50 years.

However, it is going to take some major effort and some intense computing power to track down the Higgs boson. Scientists describe them as elusive, is that they appear and disappear quickly and scientists are only able to study disintegrating remnants.

Finding a missing block in the Standard Model could possibly lead scientists to study dark matter: mysterious, invisible substance that adds up to five times as much mass as the ordinary atoms and particles to which we are accustomed. With the amount of information that can result from this potential discovery, science is going to need ultimate storage solutions for sure!

For more information on life science supplies, explore www.pssclabs.com.

Watson’s Complex Data Center Allows for Human Interaction and an Evolution in the Medical Industry

2012-08-27T09:07:00.000-07:00

What is "a super smart computer?" For those that don’t already know Watson, he is a cognitive system with a high-performance supercomputer that made a television debut on Jeopardy a few years back. Completely outscoring the other contestants on the show, the computer genius put on quite a show. As of the Summer of 2012, specialists are saying that Watson may transform how organizations operate in the future and surge their current high performance servers and supercharged workstations.

The Watson project began in 2006 with a team of researchers from leading universities. The system developed the ability to discern double meaning of words, puns, rhymes, and inferred hints at a rapid pace. Of course, as human beings, people gain these skills from a lifetime of social building. To make Watson able to do the same, developers had to focus on natural language processing, hypothesis generation, and evidence-based learning.

So what is next for Watson? Since June there is discussion on how Watson's artificial intelligence may assist doctors in rustling through medial information and loads of research data to help apply knowledge to treating patients. At this stage, Watson still has a few years of development before reaching that goal. Hospitals will still have to rely on medical imaging tools and archiving solutions. Here at PSSC we are interested in bringing the newest and brightest technologies to market including our cloud storage data center.

High Performance Computer Questions about the Curiosity Rover on Mars

2012-08-10T11:21:00.003-07:00

With the news of Curiosity landing on Mars, the high performance server community is just giddy and those utilizing supercharged workstations are "curious" about what is aboard the Curiosity. The Mars Science Laboratory rover is assessing the planet's environment and if the planet has ever been a habitat for life. Its mission is separated into four parts:

A.    Access the biological potential of at least one target area of the planet.
B.    Characterize the geology of the landing site.
C.    Investigate past planetary processes relevant to being a habitat.
D.    Characterize the surface radiation in the Mars environment.

Curiosity's Earth weight is 165 lbs and its tools are capable of verifying conditions that would be needed for Mars life: liquid water, necessary chemicals, and an energy source. Listed below are eight science instruments aboard Curiosity.

1.    Antennas: There are three Antennas aboard the craft that transmit data to orbiting Mars Satellites that relay information directly to Earth.
2.    Nuclear Battery: The battery on the rear of the craft is quite powerful, providing up to 14 years of electric power.
3.    Mobility System: Curiosity is about the size of a Mini Cooper, but the mobility system is quite different to cater to the distant terrain. There are six wheels that drive the rover at a top speed of 1.5 inches per second, and can cover at least 12 miles of Martian terrain.
4.    Jointed Robotic Arm with Instrument Turret: This arm spans to seven feet and carries a rock drill, soil sampling scoop, radiation-emitting experiment and a camera equipped with a magnifying lens.
5.    Mast: This tool carries wide-angle and telephoto digital cameras as well as a powerful infared laser for analyzing rock compositions.
6-7.    2-Megapixel Mastcams: These cameras tower 6.5 feet above the Martian surface, capturing 360-degree panorama, stills, and HD video.
8.    Hardware: Curiosity is powered by a RAD750, a single-board computer. It is currently one of the most popular computers for space crafts, being hundreds of times faster than the Apollo Guidance Computer in the Moon landings. It can withstand high levels of radiation and temperatures between 55 degrees below and 70 degrees above freezing. In case something happens to this computer despite preparations, there is a second RAD750 that will take over if anything happens to the first computer.

So are they going to find life on Mars? Not on this trip. The rover does not have the ability to detect present-day life or fossilized microorganisms. Only time and experience can answer those questions bordering imagination. Like PSSC's Computational Chemistry workstation, Earthlings can gain superior knowledge through greater experiences spurred by curiosity.

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For more details about PSSC Labs' high performance servers, supercharged workstations and industry leading clusters and clouds, visit us online at http://pssclabs.com.

Massive Memory for High-Performance Servers

2012-08-03T12:45:00.000-07:00

August 3, 2012 | PSSC Labs is releasing massive memory systems for high-performance servers and computers. These systems are the PowerServe Quattro Servers. To put their memory power into perspective, a standard Windows HP computer has around 150 megabytes of memory storage. These devices contain 512 gigabytes, which translates to almost 3500 times the amount of memory storage as a standard computer, pretty impressive. The servers support up to 64 processor cores and up to 40 terabytes of redundant storage space – which is ideal when saving expensive data. No one wants to lose expensive research to a technical glitch

These PowerServe Quattro Servers are even more impressive in that they are flexible. They can be custom configured to meet any budget or specification; they can also be shipped and supported anywhere in the world. You may be wondering, who needs this much storage? Well PSSC Labs are actively listening to their clients. They attended a Genomics conference where concerns were frequently expressed about the need for large memory systems. PSSC answered the call by releasing these powerful memory devices. With that amount of memory, it is tough to forget about PSSC Labs. Be sure to explore the options for Ultimate Storage Solutions in your industry.

Description: Catered massive memories for high-performance computers or servers with 512 gigabytes of powerful memory storage.

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For more details about PSSC Labs' high performance servers, supercharged workstations and industry leading clusters and clouds, visit us online at http://pssclabs.com.

PSSC Labs Expands the Computing Capabilities of CIW's PowerWulf Cluster

2012-07-27T15:24:00.000-07:00

July 27, 2012 | Flashback to November of 2010 and PSSC Labs are ahead of the game. Computer clusters need more processing power over time in order to remain updated for scientific discoveries. When budget became available to the Carnegie Institute of Washington's (CIW) Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, they contacted PSSC Labs to expand the computing capability of their existing PowerWulf Cluster. At the time, there were over 1,000 PowerWulf Clusters operational.

In 2009, CIW purchased a 96 processor core, 192 GB memory PowerWulf Cluster. The primary, research use for the cluster is "adaptive mesh refinement hydrodynamics code for studying mixing and transport processors in the presolar cloud and solar nebula." Sounds pretty smart, doesn’t it? That’s because it is. The cluster is used for the ability to help understand the formation of the nebulas. In case you don’t know, nebulas are regions or clouds of intersteller dust and gas. In order to study and create scientific breakthroughs about the universe and the environment, scientists need computing power to make calculations that normally would take a regular computer system years to process. When companies use clusters, such as Powerwulf, these calculations can be done in days or even hours

With such a huge project, a primary concern is the time requirements to manage, monitor and maintain the computer cluster. PSSC Labs understands the need to deliver a stable solution requiring as little updates as possible. Just when you thought technology was getting better, faster, and more reliable, PSSC came out with the more advanced, PowerWulf Cluster that has rolled with technological advancements for the past two years. Think about how much your cell phone has changed in the past two years – pretty dramatically. Yet the advancement of the PowerWulf has maintained its state-of-the-art quality, giving scientists a cosmic bang for their buck.

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For more details about PSSC Labs' high performance servers, supercharged workstations and industry leading clusters and clouds, visit us online at http://pssclabs.com.

Weather Solutions

2012-07-10T12:33:00.000-07:00

July 10, 2012 | In case you haven’t noticed, weather conversations are everywhere - from the segments on the news, to global-warming panic, to the go-to conversation with a stranger on the bus. But many have never thought about the tools used to gain the knowledge in the first place. Like most fields of study, weather research is rapidly advancing with the technological evolution of high-performance servers and computers.

PSSC Labs has developed models that specialize in varying weather investigations including the MesoScale Modeler, the StormScale Modeler and the Vortex Cluster. These are relied on for dependable information in forecasting and air-quality assessments for environmental analysts. Why is this advanced information important? Why can’t we just look outside for the weather? Because with improved technology comes better extreme weather forecasts for the people that can be effected. On May 22, 2011 in Joplin, Mo., a tornado with 200-plus miles per hour winds claimed the lives of 160 people that only received a 20-minute tornado warning. 20-minutes is not enough time for anyone to grab a family and save themselves. By continuing the improvement of weather-forecast systems, these casualties can be prevented.

Remember hurricane Katrina? It would be nice if future generations knew that a storm the size of Texas was going to hit them earlier than later. Depending on what your opinion is on global warming’s existence; the weather may or may not become more extreme with time. Advanced notice in weather preparation can correlate with technological advancement for weather forecasting, modeling and research. For more information on PSSC weather related products, be sure to view the Weather Computation Modeling page in our website.

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For more details about PSSC Labs' high performance servers, supercharged workstations and industry leading clusters and clouds, visit us online at http://pssclabs.com.

Ingram Micro Offers Up Turnkey Servers and Clusters

2012-07-02T15:21:00.000-07:00

July 2, 2012 | Leveraging its alliance with System ArchiTECHS member PSSC Labs and synergies across multiple divisions, Ingram Micro Inc. today announced a new portfolio of customizable, enterprise-grade high performance computing solutions and services.

Available now to channel partners in the U.S., the distributor's new and exclusive line of Artizen High Performance Computing (HPC) offerings include turnkey high performance servers, ultimate workstations, and customizable supercomputing clusters, as well as computing integration and software installation services.

Designed exclusively for Ingram Micro by PSSC Labs, the new HPC solutions and complementary services will help channel partners more effectively identify, compete and win additional business when it comes to big data, datacenter and private cloud opportunities.

"Ingram Micro's new Artizen HPC offerings enable our channel partners to meet the advanced computing needs of the marketplace without having to invest in the added infrastructure, certifications and personnel to support these higher-end technology solutions services," says Paul Bay, executive vice president, Ingram Micro North America. "The investments we've made and continue to make in advanced computing, cloud and enterprise services, combined with our new alliance with PSSC Labs, are simplifying success for our channel partners competing in this space, and will ultimately open up additional higher-margin opportunities for Ingram Micro, our vendors and solution providers throughout the U.S."

"As technology advances and the need for greater usage capacity grows, demand for high performance computing is rising -- presenting a multimillion dollar opportunity for system builders and VARs, but also a new set of business challenges around organizational scale and working capital," says Alex Lesser, vice president, sales and marketing, PSSC Labs, a well-established and highly regarded national service provider of HPC solutions located in Lake Forest, Calif. "Having the support of Ingram Micro and PSSC Labs will give channel partners the backing and go-to-market strength they need to compete head-to-head in this market and provide clients greater business value and more personalized service."

For more information about Ingram Micro's new portfolio of Artizen High Performance Computing offerings, solution providers and manufacturers should contact their Ingram Micro sales representative or email HPC@ingrammicro.com.

Additional insight on the Ingram Micro System ArchiTECHS community is available online at www.facebook.com/IMSystemArchiTECHS.

More information about Ingram Micro is available at www.ingrammicro.com and http://ingrammicroinc.wordpress.com.

To learn, see and hear more about Ingram Micro online, follow the distributor on Facebook page at www.facebook.com/IngramMicro ; Twitter at www.twitter.com/IngramMicroInc ; and YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/ingrammicroinc.

About Ingram Micro Inc.
As a vital link in the technology value chain, Ingram Micro creates sales and profitability opportunities for vendors and resellers through unique marketing programs, outsourced logistics, technical and financial support, managed and cloud-based services, and product aggregation and distribution. The company is the only global broad-based IT distributor, serving more than 145 countries on six continents with the world's most comprehensive portfolio of IT products and services. Visit www.ingrammicro.com.

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For more details about PSSC Labs' high performance servers, supercharged workstations and industry leading clusters and clouds, visit us online at http://pssclabs.com.

PSSC Labs Revolutionary PowerServe DUO T2000 Server Featured on Processor.com

2012-01-17T15:17:00.000-08:00

January 17, 2012 | Processor.com published an excellent review of our new server along with OCZ Technology SSD's for the cloud computing market.

Read the full article here.

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For more details about PSSC Labs' high performance servers, supercharged workstations and industry leading clusters and clouds, visit us online at http://pssclabs.com.

LSI 3ware RAID Controller Cards Selected by PSSC Labs to Power High-Performance Computing Cluster Solutions

2011-11-09T16:04:00.000-08:00

November 9, 2011 | LSI Corporation (NYSE: LSI) today announced that PSSC Labs has selected LSI™ 3ware® 6Gb/s SATA+SAS RAID controller cards for integration with its PowerWulf Cluster high-performance computing (HPC) solutions. The combination of LSI 3ware 9750 series controllers and PowerWulf Clusters is designed to provide researchers in the life sciences community with a high-performance, turnkey solution capable of addressing both the computational and data capacity requirements of genome sequencing applications.

"Genome sequencing research can produce terabytes of data in a single run, putting immense pressure on computer processing power and data storage capacity," said Alex Lesser, vice president, PSSC Labs. "LSI’s products are extremely reliable, easy to configure and cost effective. They are a perfect match for our specifications and the laborious requirements of our end customers."

PSSC Labs PowerWulf Clusters are high-performance computing systems, which include the Raid Station VPR-NXXL, the storage solution within the system. Raid Station VPR series solutions are powered by 3ware RAID technologies, which help optimize and increase system performance, allowing researchers to conduct more sequencing runs and focus on experiments and analysis rather than management of the cluster.

PSSC Labs selected LSI 3ware RAID controllers over competitive solutions based on the high performance and proven reliability they achieved in PSSC Labs' rigorous testing processes. Internal tests conducted for Raid Station products, even when using lower-performance 3Gb/s SATA drives, yielded sequential throughput performance exceeding 1TB per second, with reads of up to 1,100MB/sec and writes of up to 946MB/sec. (1)

PowerWulf Clusters also provide massive amounts of available RAID storage space. Each PowerWulf Cluster includes a minimum of 10TB of available storage, which can be easily expanded to several hundred terabytes. Utilizing LSI 600 series JBOD storage enclosures, which are fully compatible with LSI 3ware RAID controllers, users can cost-effectively expand and scale storage capacity to meet rapidly escalating data volumes.

"In genome sequencing labs, scientists are undertaking potentially life-changing research, and it is essential that their efforts are not hindered by the limitations of information technology," said Brent Blanchard, worldwide channel sales and marketing director, LSI. "LSI has a long and successful history of delivering high-performance storage solutions to government and university-based labs and private research institutions. We're excited that PSSC Labs has selected LSI 3ware RAID technologies to boost the storage capabilities of their HPC systems for life sciences research."

LSI 3ware SATA+SAS RAID controllers and LSI 600 series JBODs are available through a worldwide network of distributors, integrators and VARs. Additional product information is available at the LSI Channel Gateway (www.lsi.com/channel).

About LSI
LSI Corporation (NYSE: LSI) is a leading provider of innovative silicon, systems and software technologies that enable products, which seamlessly bring people, information and digital content together. The company offers a broad portfolio of capabilities and services including custom and standard product ICs, adapters, systems and software that are trusted by the world's best known brands to power leading solutions in the Storage and Networking markets. More information is available at www.lsi.com.

(1) Actual test included two LSI 3ware 9650SE-12 port 3Gb/s SATA controllers running RAID 5, LVM striped into one volume under XFS.

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Editor's Notes:
All LSI news releases (financial, acquisitions, manufacturing, products, technology, etc.) are issued exclusively by PR Newswire and are immediately thereafter posted on the company's external web site, http://www.lsi.com.

LSI, the LSI & Design logo and 3ware are trademarks or registered trademarks of LSI Corporation.

All other brands or product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

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For more details about PSSC Labs' high performance servers, supercharged workstations and industry leading clusters and clouds, visit us online at http://pssclabs.com.

OCZ Deneva 2 Solid State Drives Deployed in PSSC Labs HPC Systems and Servers

2011-11-02T15:36:00.000-07:00

November 2, 2011 | OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:OCZ - News), a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced that the OCZ Deneva 2 SSD Series was qualified by PSSC Labs for integration into workstations, HPC servers, and datacenter appliances. The Deneva 2 Series offers superior performance, power efficiency, and a robust enterprise feature-set, enabling PSSC Labs to support clients contending with ever-increasing amounts of data while lowering costs associated with maintenance, operating footprint, and energy consumption.

PSSC Labs is a Southern California-based manufacturer with an extensive product lineup of turn-key solutions built in-house, including high performance servers, supercomputers, clusters, workstations, and RAID storage systems. These solutions are deployed to a diverse customer base such as entertainment content creators, government and military, scientific research, private clouds, and developers. Overcoming the obstacles inherent to traditional mechanical HDD storage, OCZ Deneva 2 SSDs feature superior performance and endurance for throughput-intensive applications, meeting today's demanding CAD and datacenter workloads.

"PSSC Labs is a leader in the high performance computing arena and we are pleased that they have selected our enterprise class Deneva 2 solid state drives for use within their workstation and server solutions," said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ Technology Group. "PSSC Labs truly understands the unique challenges that customers address with the processing of ever increasing amounts of data and the integration of solid state drives within PSSC's best of breed solutions only further increases productivity and total cost of ownership for clients."

"Our computing solutions undergo an extensive and rigorous burn-in processes, to ensure that our customers receive the most reliable, highest performing systems in the industry," said Lawrence Lesser, CEO of PSSC Labs. "Our products experience field failure rate less than 0.01%. Qualification of Solid State Drives in our servers is no easy task, and PSSC Labs is proud to commercialize our products with the Deneva 2 enterprise class SSD."

OCZ's Deneva 2 SSDs feature a flexible design with a wide range of configurations and maximizes application performance with up to 550MB/s and 85,000 IOPS (4K random write) making them the ideal storage option for cutting-edge solution providers.

About OCZ Technology Group, Inc.
Founded in 2002, San Jose, CA-based OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (OCZ), is a leader in the design, manufacturing, and distribution of high performance and reliable Solid-State Drives (SSDs) and premium computer components. OCZ has built on its expertise in high-speed memory to become a leader in the enterprise and consumer SSD markets, a technology that competes with traditional rotating magnetic hard disk drives (HDDs). SSDs are faster, more reliable, generate less heat and use significantly less power than the HDDs used in the majority of computers today. In addition to SSD technology, OCZ also offers high performance components for computing devices and systems, including enterprise-class power management products as well as leading-edge computer gaming solutions. For more information, please visit: www.ocztechnology.com.

The OCZ Technology Group, Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=7439

About PSSC Labs
PSSC Labs was founded in 1989, focused on providing high performance computing solutions for massively parallelized applications. PSSC Labs commercialized the first Beowulf computing cluster in 1996, and today ships and supports its products into datacenters in 36 countries. These solutions are available in many configurations, including Web 2.0 servers, Cloud Computing servers, and Hadoop clusters. For more information, please visit: www.pssclabs.com.

Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements in this release relate to future events and expectations and as such constitute forward-looking statements involving known and unknown factors that may cause actual results of OCZ Technology Group, Inc. to be different from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. In this context, words such as "will," "would," "expect," "anticipate," "should" or other similar words and phrases often identify forward-looking statements made on behalf of OCZ. It is important to note that actual results of OCZ may differ materially from those described or implied in such forward-looking statements based on a number of factors and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, market acceptance of OCZ's products and OCZ's ability to continually develop enhanced products; adverse changes both in the general macro-economic environment as well as in the industries OCZ serves, including computer manufacturing, traditional and online retailers, information storage, internet search and content providers and computer system integrators; OCZ's ability to efficiently manage material and inventory, including integrated circuit chip costs and freight costs; and OCZ's ability to generate cash from operations, secure external funding for its operations and manage its liquidity needs. Other general economic, business and financing conditions and factors are described in more detail in "Item 1A -- Risk Factors" in Part I in OCZ's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on May 17, 2011, and amended on May 31, 2011, and statements made in other subsequent filings. The filing is available both at www.sec.gov as well as via OCZ's website at www.ocztechnology.com. OCZ does not undertake to update its forward-looking statements.

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For more details about PSSC Labs' high performance servers, supercharged workstations and industry leading clusters and clouds, visit us online at http://pssclabs.com.

Is Open Compute for Everyone?

2011-05-13T11:11:00.000-07:00

May 13, 2011 | I guess the cloud is no longer technology's darling. All the IT buzz now surrounds the Open Compute Project. If you are not familiar with the Open Compute Project take a quick look at http://opencompute.org/. You will see that this is really the brainchild of some bright engineers at Facebook, and the results are impressive.

Facebook makes it claim as running, "the most efficient (data center) in the world". This revolutionary design not only saves massive amounts of energy but costs as well by removing centralized chillers and inline UPS systems. The Open Compute Project could very well transform how all new Data centers are built. I believe, it is only a matter of time before we hear captains of the industry trump energy and cost savings resulting from their organizations Open Compute architecture.

But is the Open Compute architecture really for everyone? The only way to properly answer this question is to closely examine the Open Compute Project. Let's start with a review of the servers themselves. This is really easy considering Facebook provides the model number, technical specifications and detailed engineering drawings for each component (http://opencompute.org/servers/). For the most part the server components are straightforward. There is a chassis, motherboard, processor, memory, hard drive and power supply. All of these items are currently available commodities. Only the chassis, motherboard and power supply are not considered "off the shelf" components.

What is not so straightforward is the designed for failure mentality of these servers. Web 2.0 companies, such as Facebook, Amazon, and OpenX, are unique in their attitude towards reliability. These companies are looking to save costs by not requiring 99.999% reliability and can manage with 98% (or lower) reliability, think about this. These servers are designed to fail. Would you accept this failure level at your doctor's office, or law firm or even your own place of business? The Answer is probably not, so why can Facebook and similar companies accept this lower reliability standard? Easy, they have all the money in the world to simply throw more hardware at the problem. If a machine fails, no problem there are racks and racks and racks of servers available. Most companies we work with do require 99.999% reliability or as close to it as possible. And certainly budget constraints are taken into consideration for every purchase.

Next let's look beyond the server to the computing environment. For the Open Compute architecture to work you need to build a data center from scratch. Facebook kindly provides details for designing your own Open Compute data center http://opencompute.org/datacenters/). Just last week I was in Equinix's Class A Virginia data center. This place was amazing, probably the best overall computing environment I have ever seen. But the Open Compute server architecture would simply not work here.

Why you ask? The answer is quite simple, the Open Compute server design relies on the outside air and an intricate misting system for cooling. Equinix does not provide this capability. If you put these Open Compute servers into Equinix they would burn up in about 1-2 days maximum. Because the outside air temperature is so critical for Open Compute to work, this will limit possible physical location of Open Compute data centers. Based on the information presented, I am not certain data centers in hot and humid environments will work. Facebook's data center is in Oregon. I'm willing to bet the Facebook engineers immediately ruled out Arizona as a possible location.

Please don't misinterpret the above as discrediting the Open Compute Project. I fully believe that this type of innovation is absolutely necessary. Our thirst for computing power is having a very real and negative effect on energy consumption and the environment. My organization (www.pssclabs.com) recently released our own revolutionary server design that promises to reduce carbon emissions by offering 55% recyclable metals (http://www.pssclabs.com/servers/1u-rack-mount/powerserve-duo-t2000/dual-server-technology). In addition, PSSC Labs (www.pssclabs.com) is working with component manufacturers to develop our own Open Compute server solution. I simply want to offering alternative discussion points before the marketing departments get wind of Open Compute and anoint it the next Information Technology catch phrase.
For me, this is the most interest discussion point not addressed by Facebook. Yes their data center may be the world's most energy efficient but how does the higher server failure rate affect this measurement.

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For more details about PSSC Labs' high performance servers, supercharged workstations and industry leading clusters and clouds, visit us online at http://pssclabs.com.

PSSC Labs Looks to Expand its Reach in the Life Sciences Market with New Hardware Release

2011-04-12T15:33:00.000-07:00

April 12, 2011 | At the annual Bio-IT World conference slated to begin next week in Boston, hardware firm PSSC Labs plans to present the Powerserve Quattro I/A 4000, a supercomputer designed for life sciences researchers.

The Lake Forest, Calif.-based company said it designed its new application server to meet the demands of genome sequencing.

Priced at $14,995, the computer can be configured with up to 48 processor cores, 1 terabyte of memory, and 30 TB of storage space.

Earlier this year, PSSC Labs announced that it had in stock two new computing platforms, the PowerServe Quattro I4800 and the PowerServe Quattro A41200, both of which support up to 512 gigabytes of high performance system memory.

To meet the needs of its life sciences customers, the company is ensuring that both platforms will be able to run a variety of genome sequencing programs such as Casava and Bioscope. Both systems provide large quantities of memory in a single system as well as "turnkey solutions, including application installation and management tools," freeing researchers to focus on their work and not systems management, Alex Lesser, PSSC Labs' vice president of sales and marketing, said in a statement.

The PowerServe Quattro I4800 is based on the Intel Xeon architecture and contains 32 processor cores that can support up to 40 terabytes of redundant storage space. Based on AMD Opteron architecture, the PowerServe Quattro I41200 contains 48 processor cores providing up to 40 TB of redundant storage space.

Starting prices for the new systems are below $15,000 and the systems can be customized to meet budget restrictions and client specifications, the company said.

Lesser told BioInform that the company primarily targets researchers in facilities with limited budgets who need a turnkey solution to handle their data needs. He added that PSSC is the only hardware company that offers a "completely preconfigured compute and storage solution that has multiple bioinformatics applications preinstalled and ready to run out of the box."

One customer, Kevin Thornton, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Irvine, told BioInform via e-mail that he has used a 40-node cluster from PSSC for some simulation projects. Thornton said his lab will soon upgrade to a 96-node cluster from the company.

His lab also has an 8-core server from PSSC that provides 128 gigabytes of RAM and 20 TB of storage, which he uses for analyzing Illumina data. Thornton uses Illumina whole-genome sequencing to study the evolution of genome structure in the genus Drosophila. "Basically, we are using paired-end sequencing to look for genome rearrangements within populations of different fruit fly species," he explained.

Christian Gilissen, a bioinformatician at the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, told BioInform that his institution increased its compute power from one to two PowerWulf clusters — also from PSSC — about the same time it increased its sequencing capacity from one to three SOLiD sequencing instruments.

Gilissen said his lab needed the compute power and sequencers to support its exome sequencing research efforts. Specifically, he said the researchers use Life Technologies' preinstalled BioScope software for sequence mapping and variant calling. They also use the cluster to run a Java-based custom software package for variant annotation.

Currently, he said, the researchers churn out about 400 GB of genomic data per week.

He said the university initially purchased PSSC's seven-node cluster, with 24 GB per node, to handle data from its Roche 454 platform. With the addition of the new SOLiD sequencers, the university purchased a second 10-node cluster. PSSC counts SeqWright among its commercial clients. Earlier this year, the company said it had acquired a PowerWulf Grande Compute Engine as part of a broader effort to expand its next-generation sequencing and sequence data analysis capabilities (BI 01/14/2011).

Last summer, the firm partnered with CLC Bio to launch CLC Genomics Factory, a full genome analysis platform that includes hardware and software for assembly, read mapping, and downstream analysis of large quantities of high-throughput DNA and RNA sequence data (BI 08/13/2010).

By Uduak Grace Thomas

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For more details about PSSC Labs' high performance servers, supercharged workstations and industry leading clusters and clouds, visit us online at http://pssclabs.com.

PSSC Labs to Showcase Life Science Compute & Storage Solutions at BIO IT World

2011-04-04T15:37:00.000-07:00

April 4, 2011 | PSSC Labs, based out of Southern California, will be unveiling a new bioinformatics supercomputer for genome sequencing at the upcoming Bio IT World Conference & Expo 2011 in Boston, MA. The POWERSERVE Quattro I/A 4000 can be configured up to 48 processor cores, 1TB of system memory and 30 TB of storage. This high performance computing solution was designed from the ground up specifically for Life Science applications. Priced at $14,995.00, the POWERSERVE Quattro I/A 4000 delivers both power and ROI making it the perfect fit for whole genome de novo assembly, genome mapping and transcriptome analysis.

Life Science Computing - With over 1000 PowerWulf solutions delivered to 35+ countries, PSSC Labs (http://www.pssclabs.com) is the world's leader in turn-key high performance clusters for Life Sciences, specifically genome sequencing. PSSC Labs was tasked to develop an affordable supercomputer to handle the computational needs of some of the most demanding Life Science applications. A significant amount of time was dedicated to the research process by interviewing top professionals in the industry such as Core Sequencing facility managers and research scientists. It was clear that there was a void to be filled and a demand for cluster type resources in a stand-alone supercomputer.

"In conversations with lab managers and biologists, the common complaint was the need for an affordable system with large memory capacity", explains Alex Lesser, PSSC Labs Vice President. "Our POWERSERVE QUATTRO I/A 4000 Bioinformatics server is the answer to those needs. It is the complete package with all necessary application tools preinstalled and configured."

PSSC Labs built the application server from the ground up to meet the expert's genome sequencing needs and demands. The Life Science supercomputer can be configured with 48 processor cores, 1TB of memory and 30TB of storage space. PSSC Labs tested and certified the POWESERVE QUATTRO with leading next generation sequencing applications at each step of the development cycle.

PSSC Labs includes their CBeSTTM Supercomputer Management Toolkit to help manage, monitor and maintain the system. PSSC Labs can install, configure, optimize and test many bioinformatics applications prior to shipping. As with all of PSSC Labs product line, the company's goal is to deliver turn-key solutions allowing researchers to focus more on their work and not the intricacies of system configuration, management, application installation and performance tuning. The Quattro Bioinformatics server is no exception. It's development process makes it the logical solution for all Life Science application needs.

According to PSSC Labs the product is available today for worldwide distribution. For more information visit booth #202 at Bio IT World Conference & Expo 2011, April 12-14 (http://www.bio-itworldexpo.com/) . Booth visitors can play to win a free iPAD.

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For more details about PSSC Labs' high performance servers, supercharged workstations and industry leading clusters and clouds, visit us online at http://pssclabs.com.

PSSC Labs Engineers a Small Footprint Supercomputer Ideal for Cloud Computing and Other Hosted Solutions

2011-03-19T15:35:00.000-07:00

March 19, 2011 | PSSC Labs, based out of Southern California, introduces the POWERSERVE DUO T2000. The server design offers two complete and independent servers in just 1U of rack space. There is no backplane or shared power supply that is typically found in other blade server offerings. Made from recyclable materials and a focus on low power consumption makes this green computing solution ideal for any data center infrastructure and company looking to maximize their ROI.

High Performance Cluster Computing - With over 1000 PowerWulf Cluster configurations delivered to 35+ countries, PSSC Labs is the world's leader in turn-key high performance clusters. The POWERSERVE DUO TI2000 high density servers can be configured as a supercomputer application cluster. PSSC Labs has configured Government and University supercomputer clusters to run applications for Life Science (Bioinformatics and Computational Chemistry), Weather Modeling (MM5 and WRF), Design and Engineering (CFD) and Oil and Gas Reservoir Modeling.

Cloud Computing - High density, scalability, reliability and virtualization are core characteristics in building a cloud computing server environment. The Powerserve Duo TI2000 offers a unique 1U side by side server design combined with eco-friendly and power saving features. This unique server architecture focuses on conserving energy and reducing the overall datacenter footprint to produce the lowest total cost of ownership.

High Density Server Environment - Computing facilities are requiring ultra dense configurations due to limited datacenter space. The POWERSERVE DUO TI2000 offers two complete high performance servers in just 1U of rack space. Each server is totally independent allowing you the greatest flexibility. One server can be configured with AMD® Opteron® processors and the other with Intel® Xeon® processors. Flexibility and performance in such a small form factor is unprecedented.

Green Computing Environment - With 55% recyclable metal and power saving features, the POWERSERVE DUO TI2000 is the World's eco-friendliest server. Never before has a server offered the ability to reuse 55% of the metal for upgrades and modifications. Reducing carbon emissions, limiting power usage and saving costs are core features found only in the POWERSERVE DUO TI2000.

Fail Over / Redundancy Ccomputing - The Powerserve Duo TI2000 is ideal for mission critical environments. With two completely independent servers you can create a totally redundant server in just 1U of rack space. No other server offers this capability.

Virtualization Software - PSSC Labs has certified both VMWare and Xen virtualization software products to run on the POWERSERVE DUO TI2000. In 1U of rack space you can pack 48 processor cores and 192GB of memory. This server is ideal for virtualization environments involved in data center consolidation, disaster recovery, server hosting or for your testing & development stage computing.

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For more details about PSSC Labs' high performance servers, supercharged workstations and industry leading clusters and clouds, visit us online at http://pssclabs.com.

PSSC Labs Releasing Massive Memory Systems for High Performance Computing

2011-02-15T15:34:00.000-08:00

February 15, 2011 | Memory bottlenecks have always been a concern when dealing with large data sets. With the advent of multi-core processors, memory access is the obvious concern for application developers and their end users. PSSC Labs latest servers and workstations directly address this issue by providing platforms which can now support massive amounts of memory in a single system.

The Company is now shipping two new cost-effective computing platforms supporting up to 512 GB of high performance system memory; the PowerServe Quattro I4800 and the PowerServe Quattro A41200. Each of these platforms leverages different processor architectures to achieve this massive memory capability. The PowerServe Quattro I4800 is based on Intel® Xeon® architecture and contains 32 processors cores and can support up to 40TB of redundant storage space. The PowerServe Quattro I41200 is based on AMD® Opteron® architecture and contains 48 processor cores and can also support up to 40TB of redundant storage space. Both systems support Microsoft Windows® operating system as well as a variety of Linux operating systems including Red Hat, CentOS & Ubuntu.

Alex Lesser, PSSC Labs VP of Sales & Marketing, explains the advantages of these new computing platforms. "Recently we attended a Genomics conference where we heard repeatedly the need for scientist to run their applications on large memory systems," begins Mr. Lesser. "When you combine these awesome performance systems with PSSC Labs expertise in delivering turn key solutions including application installation and management tools, the scientific community is free to focus on their work and not managing a complex computer system." According to Mr. Lesser PSSC Labs plans to certify both platforms to run a variety of applications including genome sequencing programs such as Casava™ and Bioscope™.

Starting price for the PowerServe Quattro I4800 and PowerServe Quattro A41200 systems is below $15,000 USD and can be shipped / supported world wide. The systems can be custom configured to meet any budget or specifications. PSSC Labs will soon be releasing new versions of the PowerServe platform that will support up to 1.0TB of system memory.

About PSSC Labs
PSSC Labs is not just another computer company. Instead PSSC Labs is a solution focused provide of high performance computing equipment bundled with application software and management tools. This approach allows PSSC Labs to offer the most turn-key computing solutions possible allowing end users to focus on their work and not managing complex computer systems. For more information please visit www.pssclabs.com.

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For more details about PSSC Labs' high performance servers, supercharged workstations and industry leading clusters and clouds, visit us online at http://pssclabs.com.

Carnegie Institute of Washington Upgrades Supercomputer With Just One Call

2010-11-03T16:06:00.000-07:00

November 3, 2010 | Computer clusters commonly need more processing power over time in order to remain viable as tools for scientific research and discovery. Many research scientists begin small and then add horsepower as budgets become available. When budget became available to the Carnegie Institute of Washington's (CIW) Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, they contacted PSSC Labs to expand the computing capability of their existing PowerWulf Cluster. With over 1,000 PowerWulf Clusters operational today, PSSC Labs understands that end users are looking for a simple, cost effective and easy method to add computing power.

In 2009, CIW purchased a 96 processor core, 192 GB memory PowerWulf Cluster. The primary research use for the cluster is "adaptive mesh refinement hydrodynamics code for studying mixing and transport processors in the presolar cloud and solar nebula." According to Michael Acierno (IT Manager / Department of Terrestrial Magnetims), the PowerWulf Cluster continues to exceed expectations. "Our experience to date has been completely satisfactory," explains Mr. Acierno. "The installation of our PowerWulf Cluster was literally plug and play. PSSC Labs had all our requirements and configured the cluster prior to shipping. Except for adding user accounts, the cluster was ready to begin computations as we powered up." Like most system administrators, Mr. Acierno's time is limited. A primary concern is the ongoing time requirements to manage, monitor and maintain the compute cluster. PSSC Labs understands the need to deliver a stable solution requiring as little user input possible. "Management has been simple and has required far less of my time than I anticipated," explains Mr. Acierno.

When the time came to upgrade the processing power of the cluster, Mr. Acierno turned to PSSC Labs for help. PSSC Labs recommended migrating to their revolutionary new server platform; the PowerServe DUO TI2400. This unique design offers two complete and independent servers in just 1U of rack space. Unlike other blade servers, the PowerServe DUO TI2400 has no shared backplane or shared power supply. A key feature of this new platform is the "tool-free" design which allows for the easiest system upgrades and maintenance possible. In addition, the PowerServe DUO TI2400 offers industry leading "green features" including 90%+ efficient power supplies, power reduction management features and 55% recyclable metal. "We are pleased with the continuing improvements in cluster technology that PSSC Labs is making," asserts Mr. Aceirno. "Notably, the shrinking physical size of the server package while simultaneously increasing the number of cores. This trend is what makes in-house resources so attractive since a very powerful cluster does not require excessive and cooling demands."

Integrating these new server nodes into the PowerWulf Cluster required very little effort from Mr. Acierno. Each PowerWulf Cluster includes CBeST, the Complete Beowulf Software Toolkit developed and supported by PSSC Labs. CBeST includes an imaging utility allowing new nodes to be connected to the cluster switch and automatically receive the latest compute node image via PXE network. Very little input is required from the user and PSSC Labs Cluster Technicians are available to assist. With the addition of the new nodes, CIW's cluster performance increased by 50%. "Thanks to the excellent work of (PSSC Labs) the upgrade was simple and fast. Even the nodes were labeled properly. That attention to detail does not go unnoticed."

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For more details about PSSC Labs' high performance servers, supercharged workstations and industry leading clusters and clouds, visit us online at http://pssclabs.com.

PSSC Labs To Supply new supercomputer for HPCC at WKU

2010-03-09T16:12:00.000-08:00

March 9, 2010 | PSSC Labs announced that it has received the contract to supply a new multi-technology supercomputer for the High Performance Computing Center (HPCC) at WKU. Western Kentucky University's Ogden College of Science and Engineering with the help of Senator Mitch McConnell secured $2.5 million funding from the U.S. Department of Education on October 1, 2009.

The PSSC Labs supercomputer will be an ultra high performance system with over 7500 CPU cores, 4100 GPU cores, high volume data storage, and high speed network connectivity. The HPCC will provide cyber infrastructure required to support research across academic disciplines at WKU, and will expand capacity to create strategic partnerships between university faculty and global business industry.

Almost forty suppliers competed for this contract, including Dell, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Cisco. PSSC Labs was chosen to provide the supercomputer because of its outstanding reputation in the High Performance Computing (HPC) industry for building highly reliable systems for computationally intensive applications. The PSSC Labs supercomputer will use a newly released twin blade form factor that creates higher computing density while using 30% less energy and can be easily maintained, upgraded, and recycled.

"We are honored and excited to provide the HPCC a world class super computer," said Janice Lesser, company President. "PSSC Labs builds, validates, and extensively tests all systems in a network environment to greatly increase reliability. We have documented a 0.001% in the field failure rate of our products. This allows our customers to focus their time on their work, and not expend resources on trouble-shooting computer component failures."

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For more details about PSSC Labs' high performance servers, supercharged workstations and industry leading clusters and clouds, visit us online at http://pssclabs.com.