A new high-performance computing Linux cluster, which will significantly enhance the high-speed computing capabilities of Temple researchers, has been installed on main campus.

Nicknamed the Owls’ Nest, the new cluster will provide much needed computing power to researchers across Temple’s campuses, including computer and information sciences, chemistry, electrical and computer engineering, mathematics, physics, pulmonary and critical care medicine and physical therapy.

Funded primarily through a major research instrumentation grant from NSF, this state-of-the-art computing system will allow researchers to crunch massive amounts of data and do high-speed computation. It will also be instrumental in faculty recruiting, as many researchers need high-performance computing resources for their work.

Axel Kohlmeyer, associate director of Temple’s Institute for Computational Molecular Science in the College of Science and Technology, has been leading the installation and said there is hope that the new system will help stimulate collaborations with other Philadelphia universities and serve as a connection to national supercomputing resource providers.

Kohlmeyer said the system, which has more than 100 compute nodes in a variety of configurations, has been installed with the basic operating system and is ready for High Performance Computing use. The system will be gradually made available to users for testing and feedback. Kohlmeyer said he hopes the system will be fully functional and accessible by mid-June, coinciding with a TeraGrid/ICMS high performance computing programming workshop to be held at Temple in collaboration with the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center.