National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center
Encyclopedia
The National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, or NERSC for short, is a designated user facility operated by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
and the Department of Energy
. It contains several cluster
supercomputer
s, the largest of which is
Hopper, which is ranked 5th on the TOP500
list of world's fastest supercomputers as of November 2010. It is located in Oakland, California
.
, then called the Controlled Thermonuclear Research Computer Center or CTRCC and consisting of a Control Data Corporation
6600 computer. Over time, it expanded to contain a CDC 7600, then a Cray-1
(SN-6) which was called the "c" machine, and in 1985 the world's first Cray-2
(SN-1) which was the "b" machine, nicknamed bubbles because of the bubbles visible in the fluid of its unique direct liquid cooling system. In the early eighties, CTRCC's name was changed to the National Magnetic Fusion Energy Computer Center or NMFECC. The name was again changed in the early nineties to National Energy Research Supercomputer Center. In 1996 NERSC moved from LLNL to LBNL. In 2000, it was moved to its current location in Oakland.
Other systems at NERSC are named Franklin, Carver, Magellan, Dirac, Euclid, Tesla, Turing, and PDSF, the longest continually operating Linux cluster in the world. The facility also contains a 8.8 petabyte
High Performance Storage System
(HPSS) installation.
NERSC facilities are accessible through the Energy Sciences Network
or ESnet, which was created and is managed by NERSC.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory conducting unclassified scientific research. It is located on the grounds of the University of California, Berkeley, in the Berkeley Hills above the central campus...
and the Department of Energy
United States Department of Energy
The United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...
. It contains several cluster
Cluster (computing)
A computer cluster is a group of linked computers, working together closely thus in many respects forming a single computer. The components of a cluster are commonly, but not always, connected to each other through fast local area networks...
supercomputer
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...
s, the largest of which is
Hopper, which is ranked 5th on the TOP500
TOP500
The TOP500 project ranks and details the 500 most powerful known computer systems in the world. The project was started in 1993 and publishes an updated list of the supercomputers twice a year...
list of world's fastest supercomputers as of November 2010. It is located in Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
.
History
NERSC was founded in 1974 at Lawrence Livermore National LaboratoryLawrence Livermore National Laboratory
The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory , just outside Livermore, California, is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center founded by the University of California in 1952...
, then called the Controlled Thermonuclear Research Computer Center or CTRCC and consisting of a Control Data Corporation
Control Data Corporation
Control Data Corporation was a supercomputer firm. For most of the 1960s, it built the fastest computers in the world by far, only losing that crown in the 1970s after Seymour Cray left the company to found Cray Research, Inc....
6600 computer. Over time, it expanded to contain a CDC 7600, then a Cray-1
Cray-1
The Cray-1 was a supercomputer designed, manufactured, and marketed by Cray Research. The first Cray-1 system was installed at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1976, and it went on to become one of the best known and most successful supercomputers in history...
(SN-6) which was called the "c" machine, and in 1985 the world's first Cray-2
Cray-2
The Cray-2 was a four-processor ECL vector supercomputer made by Cray Research starting in 1985. It was the fastest machine in the world when it was released, replacing the Cray Research X-MP designed by Steve Chen in that spot...
(SN-1) which was the "b" machine, nicknamed bubbles because of the bubbles visible in the fluid of its unique direct liquid cooling system. In the early eighties, CTRCC's name was changed to the National Magnetic Fusion Energy Computer Center or NMFECC. The name was again changed in the early nineties to National Energy Research Supercomputer Center. In 1996 NERSC moved from LLNL to LBNL. In 2000, it was moved to its current location in Oakland.
Computers and projects
NERSC's fastest computer, Hopper, a Cray XE6 named in honor of Grace Hopper, a pioneer in the field of software development and programming languages and the creator of the first compiler. It has 153,308 Opteron processor cores and runs the Suse Linux operating system.Other systems at NERSC are named Franklin, Carver, Magellan, Dirac, Euclid, Tesla, Turing, and PDSF, the longest continually operating Linux cluster in the world. The facility also contains a 8.8 petabyte
Petabyte
A petabyte is a unit of information equal to one quadrillion bytes, or 1000 terabytes. The unit symbol for the petabyte is PB...
High Performance Storage System
High Performance Storage System
High Performance Storage System is a flexible, scalable policy-based Hierarchical Storage Management product developed by IBM in collaboration with five DOE National Labs...
(HPSS) installation.
NERSC facilities are accessible through the Energy Sciences Network
Energy Sciences Network
The Energy Sciences Network is a high-speed computer network serving United States Department of Energy scientists and their collaborators worldwide. It is managed by staff at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory....
or ESnet, which was created and is managed by NERSC.