U. of I. getting latest in cool from Big Blue (IBM)

Supercomputer to use water to dissipate heat

IBM has unveiled a new supercomputer that is the precursor to a $208 million system the University of Illinois will switch on in 2011, hoping that the machine’s massive brainpower will enable research in disciplines ranging from energy to astronomy to logistics.

IBM said the technological breakthrough is not only in its speed, but in its use of water, rather than air, to cool the system. At the end of this year, U. of I. will break ground on a $72.5 million building on its Urbana-Champaign campus. The facility will be home to the "Blue Waters" supercomputer, which will come online in 2011 and be available to university researchers.

According to the National Science Foundation, which is providing the $208 million for the system, Blue Waters will be 500 times more powerful than typical supercomputers currently in use. The system will be capable of more than a quadrillion calculations per second, said Bill Bell, a spokesman for the U. of I.’s National Center for Supercomputing Applications.

By Wailin Wong | Tribune reporter

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