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Details of The more powerful computer of the world

APENext is born from the collaboration between INFN (National Institute for Nuclear Physics), the Eurotech Italian and prestigious European agencies of search.

Exadron, division HPC (High Computing Performance, supercalculation) of Eurotech joint-stock corporation, and INFN (National Institute for Nuclear Physics) have announced today the production of the first exemplary of the supercomputer "APENext".

The APENext plan, been born under the aegis of the INFN, previews the realization of a supercalculating between most powerful to the world. It is currently in phase of preparation an installation from 12TFlops, that it enters of right in classifies of first blots of it of calculation the world. With the exception of other supercomputers of the same class, that they quite occupy hundred and migliaia of square meters of surface, APENext has reduced dimensions and is lodged in some "rack" modular. Moreover its total consumption of energy (to parity of calculation power) is much inferior to that one of the other known plans. Its reliability allows to execute complex elaborations, that some weeks last also, without interruption.

"They are less than a ten, all over the world, the plans of supercomputers with analogous power to that one of our APENext" comment Giampietro Tecchiolli, production manager of Exadron and councilman of the Eurotech group. "But the calculation power is only one of the parameters of which account must be held. After all it can always be increased, within sure limits, putting more and more blots some in parallel. He is fundamental instead to hold account of the combination of four factors: power of calculation, consumption of energy, occupied space and cost of the system. APENext is sure to the top world-wide, for the optimization of these parameters ".

It blots of it APENext produced from Exadron will come installed in several laboratories advances you of search in all Europe, than already they use the previous family of systems BEE: Rome, Milan, Trento, Zeuthen (Berlin, Germany), Orsay (Paris, France), Swansea (Great Britain). The first installations will happen in Italy and are previewed within the first six months of 2005 and will put to disposition of our scientists of the powerful supercomputers in a position to satisfying their more complex requirements than calculation.

"the collaboration between the INFN and Eurotech has been fundamental for the realization of the plan" asserts Roberto Petronzio, president of the INFN, "and is an example of like the search and the Italian industry, when they collaborate actively, can compete in order to gain in Europe and the world, being favored the innovation ability, with fallen back important industrial."

The APENext plan has saldamente Italian roots and is the result of a development and one complex work of optimization and ingegnerizzazione that has seen the involvement of the INFN and Eurotech. The investigators of the centers of Rome, Ferrara, Pisa and Milan of the INFN, with the support of the German institute for the search on the elementary physics to high energy and particles Desy (Berlin and Bielefeld) and of the University of Paris, have defined the architetturali concepts of base and realized the elements circuita main them who compose the supercomputer APENext.

They have been develops you of the integrated circuits ad hoc, for the calculation parallel, with extremely innovative solutions defined and realized from investigators INFN. The putting to point, the total conception of the system, the mechanisms of communication between subassiemi and the ingegnerizzazione of system are the result of a combined activity INFN-Exadron. To Eurotech it has been then entrusted also the industrial production. The job to tightened contact between coming from technicians from the industry and scientists of public agencies and academics, has allowed to create a vituous circle of innovation. In the within of the APENext plan, Eurotech has developed, as an example, of the products for the ultrafast communication between blots some of calculation, that they could be employs in many other applications to you.

The supercomputers are one of the instruments of base that serve the scientists in order to explore the disciplines to the frontier of science, with the greater possibility of innovative impact on the industry.