<s>
SciNet	B-Operating_System
is	O
a	O
consortium	O
of	O
the	O
University	O
of	O
Toronto	O
and	O
affiliated	O
Ontario	O
hospitals	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
one	O
of	O
seven	O
regional	O
High	B-Architecture
Performance	I-Architecture
Computing	I-Architecture
consortia	O
across	O
Canada	O
and	O
is	O
the	O
most	O
powerful	O
university	O
HPC	O
system	O
outside	O
of	O
the	O
US	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
SciNet	B-Operating_System
offices	O
are	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
St.	O
George	O
street	O
campus	O
,	O
however	O
,	O
to	O
accommodate	O
the	O
large	O
floor	O
space	O
and	O
power	O
needs	O
,	O
the	O
datacentre	O
facility	O
is	O
housed	O
in	O
a	O
warehouse	O
about	O
30km	O
north	O
of	O
campus	O
in	O
Vaughan	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
core	O
of	O
SciNet	B-Operating_System
research	O
are	O
six	O
key	O
areas	O
of	O
study	O
:	O
Astronomy	O
and	O
Astrophysics	O
,	O
Aerospace	O
and	O
Biomedical	O
Engineering	O
,	O
High	O
Energy	O
Particle	O
Physics	O
,	O
Integrative	O
Computational	O
Biology	O
,	O
Planetary	O
Physics	O
,	O
and	O
Theoretical	O
Chemical	O
Physics	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SciNet	B-Operating_System
was	O
initially	O
formed	O
in	O
the	O
fall	O
of	O
2004	O
following	O
an	O
agreement	O
between	O
the	O
Canadian	O
high-performance	B-Architecture
computing	I-Architecture
community	O
to	O
develop	O
a	O
response	O
to	O
the	O
newly	O
created	O
National	O
Platform	O
Fund	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Canadian	O
HPC	O
community	O
was	O
successful	O
in	O
its	O
NPF	O
proposal	O
and	O
SciNet	B-Operating_System
was	O
awarded	O
a	O
portion	O
of	O
that	O
funding	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SciNet	B-Operating_System
finalized	O
its	O
contract	O
with	O
IBM	O
to	O
build	O
the	O
system	O
in	O
July	O
2008	O
and	O
the	O
formal	O
announcement	O
was	O
August	O
14	O
,	O
2008	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
Thursday	O
,	O
June	O
18	O
,	O
2009	O
,	O
the	O
most	O
powerful	O
supercomputer	B-Architecture
in	O
Canada	O
went	O
online	O
and	O
would	O
have	O
ranked	O
twelfth	O
most	O
powerful	O
computer	O
worldwide	O
had	O
it	O
been	O
completed	O
six	O
months	O
earlier	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
SciNet	B-Operating_System
has	O
two	O
compute	O
clusters	O
that	O
are	O
optimized	O
for	O
different	O
types	O
of	O
computing	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
is	O
a	O
Tighly-coupled	B-Operating_System
Capability	I-Operating_System
System	I-Operating_System
(	O
TCS	O
)	O
which	O
has	O
104	O
POWER6	B-Device
nodes	O
,	O
wherein	O
each	O
node	O
contains	O
32	O
cores	O
(	O
4.7GHz	O
)	O
and	O
128	O
GiB	O
RAM	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
General	O
Purpose	O
Cluster	O
consists	O
of	O
3,780	O
IBM	B-Operating_System
System	I-Operating_System
x	I-Operating_System
iDataPlex	O
dx360	O
M3	O
nodes	O
,	O
each	O
with	O
2	O
quad-core	O
Intel	B-Device
Nehalem	I-Device
(	O
Xeon	B-Device
5540	O
)	O
processor	O
running	O
at	O
2.53GHz	O
,	O
totaling	O
30,240	O
cores	O
in	O
45	O
racks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
All	O
nodes	O
are	O
connected	O
with	O
Gigabit	O
Ethernet	O
,	O
and	O
DDR	O
InfiniBand	B-Architecture
is	O
used	O
additionally	O
in	O
864	O
nodes	O
to	O
provide	O
high-speed	O
and	O
low-latency	O
communication	O
for	O
message	O
passing	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SciNet	B-Operating_System
,	O
IBM	O
Corp	O
and	O
Compute	O
Canada	O
collaborated	O
on	O
the	O
supercomputer	B-Architecture
venture	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
new	O
computer	O
system	O
at	O
U	O
of	O
T	O
's	O
SciNet	B-Operating_System
is	O
the	O
largest	O
Intel	O
processor	O
based	O
IBM	O
installation	O
globally	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
significant	O
research	O
area	O
that	O
will	O
be	O
addressed	O
using	O
the	O
SciNet	B-Operating_System
machines	O
is	O
that	O
of	O
climate	O
change	O
and	O
global	O
warming	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
why	O
creating	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
greenest	O
datacenters	O
in	O
the	O
world	O
was	O
of	O
key	O
importance	O
in	O
this	O
project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
traditional	O
datacenter	O
generally	O
uses	O
33%	O
of	O
the	O
energy	O
going	O
into	O
its	O
centre	O
for	O
cooling	O
and	O
other	O
non-computing	O
power	O
consumption	O
;	O
however	O
,	O
SciNet	B-Operating_System
and	O
IBM	O
have	O
successfully	O
created	O
a	O
centre	O
that	O
uses	O
less	O
than	O
20%	O
towards	O
these	O
areas	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
U	O
of	O
T	O
supercomputer	B-Architecture
which	O
can	O
perform	O
300	O
trillion	O
calculations	O
per	O
second	O
will	O
be	O
used	O
for	O
highly	O
calculation-intensive	O
tasks	O
such	O
as	O
problems	O
involving	O
quantum	O
mechanical	O
physics	O
,	O
weather	O
forecasting	O
,	O
climate	O
research	O
,	O
climate	O
change	O
models	O
,	O
molecular	O
modeling	O
(	O
computing	O
the	O
structures	O
and	O
properties	O
of	O
chemical	O
compounds	O
,	O
biological	O
macromolecules	O
,	O
polymers	O
,	O
and	O
crystals	O
)	O
,	O
physical	O
simulations	O
(	O
such	O
as	O
simulation	O
of	O
the	O
Big	B-Application
Bang	I-Application
theory	O
in	O
conjunction	O
with	O
the	O
Large	O
Hadron	O
Collider	O
(	O
LHC	O
)	O
in	O
CERN	O
,	O
Geneva	O
which	O
will	O
produce	O
cataclysmic	O
conditions	O
that	O
will	O
mimic	O
the	O
beginning	O
of	O
time	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
U	O
of	O
T	O
supercomputer	B-Architecture
will	O
examine	O
the	O
particle	O
collisions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
international	O
ATLAS	O
project	O
will	O
be	O
explored	O
by	O
the	O
new	O
supercomputer	B-Architecture
to	O
discover	O
forces	O
which	O
govern	O
the	O
universe	O
.	O
</s>
