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Altix is Silicon Graphics
Silicon Graphics

Silicon Graphics, Inc. is a company manufacturer high-performance computing solutions, including computer hardware and computer software. SGI was founded by James H....
' line of servers and supercomputers based on Intel processors
Central processing unit

A central processing unit is an electronic circuit that can execute computer programs. This broad definition can easily be applied to many early computers that existed long before the term "CPU" ever came into widespread usage....
. The line was first announced in January 2003, with the Altix 3000 offering Intel Itanium 2 running Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a Linux distribution produced by Red Hat and targeted toward the business market, including Mainframe computer. Red Hat commits to supporting each version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux for 7 years after its release....
 or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is a Linux distribution supplied by Novell, targeted at the business market. It is targeted for server , but can be installed on desktop computers for testing as well....
 with SGI ProPack. The systems could originally support up to 64 processors. SGI announced 128-processor systems in February 2004, and delivered 256- and 512-processor systems later in 2004. On 14 November 2005, SGI introduced the Altix 4000 series based on the Itanium 2.






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Altix is Silicon Graphics
Silicon Graphics

Silicon Graphics, Inc. is a company manufacturer high-performance computing solutions, including computer hardware and computer software. SGI was founded by James H....
' line of servers and supercomputers based on Intel processors
Central processing unit

A central processing unit is an electronic circuit that can execute computer programs. This broad definition can easily be applied to many early computers that existed long before the term "CPU" ever came into widespread usage....
. The line was first announced in January 2003, with the Altix 3000 offering Intel Itanium 2 running Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a Linux distribution produced by Red Hat and targeted toward the business market, including Mainframe computer. Red Hat commits to supporting each version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux for 7 years after its release....
 or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is a Linux distribution supplied by Novell, targeted at the business market. It is targeted for server , but can be installed on desktop computers for testing as well....
 with SGI ProPack. The systems could originally support up to 64 processors. SGI announced 128-processor systems in February 2004, and delivered 256- and 512-processor systems later in 2004. On 14 November 2005, SGI introduced the Altix 4000 series based on the Itanium 2. The Altix 3000 and 4000 are distributed shared memory
Distributed shared memory

Distributed Shared Memory , also known as a distributed global address space , is a term in computer science that refers to a wide class of software and hardware implementations, in which each node of a computer cluster has access to a large shared memory in addition to each node's limited non-shared private memory....
 multiprocessor
Multiprocessing

Multiprocessing is the use of two or more CPU within a single computer system. The term also refers to the ability of a system to support more than one processor and/or the ability to allocate tasks between them....
s.

The Altix brand was also used for the Altix XE and Altix ICE series of rackmount and blade server
Blade server

Blade servers are self-contained all-inclusive server with a design optimized to minimize physical space. Whereas a standard 19-inch rack server can exist with a power cord and network cable, blade servers have many components removed for space, power and other considerations while still having all the functional components to be consider...
s, based on dual- and quad-core Intel Xeon
Xeon

The Xeon brand refers to many families of Intel Corporation's x86 architecture multiprocessing Central processing units ? for dual processor and multi-processor configuration on a single motherboard targeted at non-consumer markets of server and workstation computers, and also at blade servers and embedded systems....
 processors.

NASA
NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the Federal government of the United States, responsible for the nation's public list of space agencies....
's Columbia
Columbia (supercomputer)

Named in honor of the crew who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, Columbia is a supercomputer built by Silicon Graphics for NASA. Its main purpose was to simulate the violent collision and merger of spiral galaxies that lead to the formation of elliptical galaxies....
 supercomputer
Supercomputer

A supercomputer is a computer that is at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation. Supercomputers introduced in the 1960s were designed primarily by Seymour Cray at Control Data Corporation , and led the market into the 1970s until Cray left to form his own company, Cray Research....
, installed in 2004, is a 10,240-microprocessor cluster of twenty Altix 3000 systems, each with 512 microprocessors, interconnected with InfiniBand
InfiniBand

InfiniBand is a switched fabric communications link primarily used in high-performance computing. Its features include quality of service and failover, and it is designed to be scalability....
.

Altix 3000


The Altix 3000 was the first generation of Altix systems.

Altix 330


The Altix 330 is an entry-level server. Unlike the high-end models, the Altix 330 is not "brick" based, but are instead based on 1U-high compute modules mounted in a rack and connected with NUMAlink
NUMAlink

NUMAlink is a system interconnect developed by Silicon Graphics for use in its distributed shared memory ccNUMA computer systems. NUMAlink was originally developed by SGI for their SGI Origin 2000 and SGI Onyx2 systems....
. A single system may contain 1 to 16 Itanium 2 processors and 2 to 128 GB of memory.

Altix 350


The Altix 350 is a mid-range model which supports up to 32 Itanium 2 processors.

Altix 1330


The Altix 1330 is a cluster
Cluster (computing)

A computer cluster is a group of linked computers, working together closely so that in many respects they form a single computer. The components of a cluster are commonly, but not always, connected to each other through fast local area networks....
 of Altix 330 systems. The systems are networked with gigabit Ethernet
Gigabit Ethernet

Gigabit Ethernet is a term describing various technologies for transmitting Ethernet frames at a rate of a Data rate units#gigabit_per_second, as defined by the IEEE 802.3-2005 standard....
 or 4X Infiniband
InfiniBand

InfiniBand is a switched fabric communications link primarily used in high-performance computing. Its features include quality of service and failover, and it is designed to be scalability....
.

Altix 1350


The Altix 1350 is a cluster of Altix 350 systems.

Altix 3300


The Altix 3300 is a mid-range model supporting 4 to 12 processors and 2 to 48 GB of memory. It is packaged in a short (17U) rack.

Altix 3700


The Altix 3700 is a high-end model supporting 16 to 512 processors and 8 GB to 2 TB of memory. It requires one or multiple tall (39U) rack(s).

It is based on the third generation NUMAflex distributed shared memory
Distributed shared memory

Distributed Shared Memory , also known as a distributed global address space , is a term in computer science that refers to a wide class of software and hardware implementations, in which each node of a computer cluster has access to a large shared memory in addition to each node's limited non-shared private memory....
 architecture and it uses the NUMAlink 4
NUMAlink

NUMAlink is a system interconnect developed by Silicon Graphics for use in its distributed shared memory ccNUMA computer systems. NUMAlink was originally developed by SGI for their SGI Origin 2000 and SGI Onyx2 systems....
 interconnection fabric. The Altix 3000 supports a single system image of 64 processors. If there are more than 64 processors in a system, then the system must be partitioned.

The basic building block is the C-brick. Each C-brick contains two nodes. A C-brick is a 4U high rackmount unit. Each node contains two Intel Itanium 2
Itanium

Itanium is the brand name for 64-bit Intel microprocessors that implement the Intel Itanium architecture . Intel has released two processor families using the brand: the original Itanium and the Itanium 2....
 processors which connects to the Super-Bedrock ASIC through a single front side bus
Front side bus

In personal computers, the Front Side Bus is the bus that carries data between the central processing unit and the Northbridge .Depending on the processor used, some computers may also have a back side bus that connects the CPU to the CPU cache....
. The Super-Bedrock ASIC is a crossbar
Crossbar

Crossbar can refer to:Structural usage:* A structural member that crosses any two other elements* A primitive Latch consisting of a post barring a door...
 for the processors, the local RAM, the network interface and the I/O interface. The two Super-Bedrock ASICs in each brick are connected internally by a single 6.4 GB/s NUMAlink 4 channel. A processor node also contains 16 DIMM
DIMM

A DIMM, or dual in-line memory module, comprises a series of dynamic random access memory integrated circuits. These modules are mounted on a printed circuit board and designed for use in personal computers, workstations and Server s....
 slots that accept standard DDR1
DDR1

For the older type of computer memory, see DDR SDRAM.Discoidin domain receptor family, member 1, also known as DDR1 or CD167a , is a human gene....
 DIMMs with capacities of 4 to 16 GB.

Altix 3700 Bx2


The Altix 3700 Bx2 is a high-end model supporting 16 to 2,048 Itanium 2 processors and 12 GB to 24 TB of memory. It requires one or multiple tall (40U) rack(s).

Altix 4000


The Altix 4000 is Silicon Graphic's current Itanium-based product line. It is comprised of two models, the Altix 450, a mid-range server, and the Altix 4700, a high-end server.

An Altix 4700 system can contain up to 512 dual-core Itanium 2 and Itanium ("Montvale" revision) microprocessors, which are connected by the NUMAlink 4
NUMAlink

NUMAlink is a system interconnect developed by Silicon Graphics for use in its distributed shared memory ccNUMA computer systems. NUMAlink was originally developed by SGI for their SGI Origin 2000 and SGI Onyx2 systems....
 interconnect in a hypercube network topology. The microprocessors are accompanied by up to 128 TB of memory.

These systems are based on nodes contained within a blade that plugs into an enclosure, the individual rack unit (IRU). The IRU is a 10U enclosure that contains the necessary components to support the blades such as the power supplies, two router boards (one for every five blades) and a L1 controller. Each IRU can support ten single-wide blades or two double-wide blades and eight single-width blades. The IRUs are mounted in 42U-high rack, and each rack supports up to four IRUs.

There are two types of node, processor and memory, which are contained within a blade. Compute blades contain a processor node and consist of two PAC611 sockets for Itanium 2 and Itanium microprocessors, a Super-Hub (SHub) application-specific integrated circuit
Application-specific integrated circuit

An application-specific integrated circuit is an integrated circuit customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use....
 (ASIC) (chipset
Chipset

A chipset or chip set refers to a group of integrated circuits, or chips, that are designed to work together. They are usually marketed as a single product....
) and eight dual in-line memory module (DIMM) slots for memory. The number of microprocessors in a compute blade is one or two. One-processor configurations provide more bandwidth as only one microprocessor is using the front side bus and local memory. Memory blades are used to expand the amount of memory without increasing the number of processors. They contain a SHub ASIC and 12 DIMM slots. Both compute and memory blades support 1, 2 and 4 GB DIMMs.

Altix XE


The Altix XE servers are based on Intel Xeon x86-64
X86-64

x86-64 is a superset of the x86. x86-64 Central processing units can run existing 32-bit or 16-bit x86 programs at full speed, but also support new programs written with a 64-bit address space and other additional capabilities....
-architecture processors. Models include the:

  • Altix XE210 server
  • Altix XE240 server
  • Altix XE310 server
  • Altix XE1200 cluster
  • Altix XE1300 cluster


Altix ICE


The Altix ICE blade platform is an Intel Xeon-based system utilizing a similar proprietary packaging as the Altix 4700. There is only one model of the Altix ICE, the Altix ICE 8200.

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