International Customers Using MERDI’s IBM 1350 High-Performance Computing System – Montana Leveraging Super Computing to Foster Economic Development

Today, nearly one year after purchasing the IBM 1350 high-performance computing system from the University System, MERDI http://www.merdi.org has three (3) commercial customers purchasing run time on the system here in Butte. The companies currently utilizing run time on the IBM 1350 include the Johnson Research Labs (JRL), the MSE – Mariah Hypersonic Modeling Project, and the National Center for Healthcare Informatics group.

Historically the Montana economy has been driven by its resource extraction and agricultural sectors. While much of the world has been transitioning to an information based new economy, Butte and the State of Montana have been making significant in-roads in strategic investments in high technology to ease its transition to an information based new economy in a sustainable way.

For the last several years now MERDI has been working with its strategic partners to develop an initiative to promote and equip Butte and Montana’s communities with information technology infrastructure, including human capital, which will allow the private and public sectors to compete in the new Global Economy. One component of this initiative is MERDI’s investment in high-performance computing.

The Johnson Research Labs http://www.jrl-labs.com/ is an interdisciplinary research group with a strong theoretical core focused on applying algorithmic methods to problems involving natural language processing, financial market analysis optimization, and applying analytical frameworks to industry specific domains to obtain actionable insights and knowledge. JRL leverages the MERDI IBM 1350 cluster architecture to help develop algorithms and analytical frameworks based on these algorithms. The availability of a single computing architecture on which research scientists can develop ideas into prototype solutions, demonstration products, and then scale these products into production systems is rare and an enabling technology for JRL.

The data center infrastructure, including high-speed network access to the cluster as well as front-end virtual machine systems on which demonstration front-ends can be written and executed is key to JRL’s philosophy of involving project stakeholders in all phases of development. Without the investments made by the State of Montana and MERDI, these facilities would not be available and JRL would find it difficult to proceed with its research activities.

MSE-Technology Applications http://www.mse-ta.com/ research scientists and engineers utilizes the IBM 1350 cluster to support work being performed by the US Army. The availability of the high-performance computing architecture allows MSE and its subcontractors to perform very complex calculations in a matter of hours that would otherwise take up to months to complete with more basic computing facilities. MSE is extremely happy to have this resource available here in the State of Montana, including not only the hardware, but also the support personnel. The availability of these resources further enhances MSE’s existing projects, and allows MSE to more effectively compete for future opportunities.

The National Center for Healthcare Informatics http://www.nchci.org/index.html (NCHCI) is utilizing the IBM 1350 cluster to develop mixed-reality, next-generation simulation training solutions. The NCHCI’s approach is to develop an execution framework, running on the high-performance computing cluster, inside which disparate simulation environments can be embedded and tightly integrated. The NCHCI is integrating medical trauma training utilizing the latest human patient simulators and patient actors. The NCHCI has assembled a team of simulation experts representing several major universities, private sector simulation vendors, medical and technical subject matter experts and end-user clients.

About the Montana Economic Revitalization and Development Institute, Inc.

Headquartered in Butte, Montana, MERDI is one of the region’s leading economic development firms specializing in the application of high technology to foster economic development within the State of Montana and the Intermountain West. MERDI partners with public and private sector entities to develop high technology based projects and incubate these technologies in emerging economic sector businesses as well as within traditional regional industries such as agriculture, mining, and tourism to assist these industries diversify and better compete in a global economy. MERDI and its partners make the larger strategic investments in technological infrastructure helping mitigate the risks associated with early adoption of these technologies within the public and private sector of the region.

MERDI continues to research and identify projects that yield a high return on economic utility for the State of Montana and the region by leveraging high technology investments and exploring partnerships with public and private sector entities.

Contact: Jim Kambich

MERDI, Inc.

Phone: (406) 533-6700

Fax: (406) 533-6830

65 E Broadway

Butte, MT 59701

http://www.merdi.org