From left, Victor Perez and Barbara Carlson of Panasas Inc.
present a check to Dick Holland, lead donor to the Holland Computing Center,
Walter Scott Jr. and University of Nebraska President J.B. Milliken to initiate
"The Panasas Scholarship Fund in Memory of Mary Holland."
Holland Computing Center opens to global audience
Touted as key elements in the search for
knowledge and answers that could have a tremendous and positive impact on the
world, the Holland Computing Center and its supercomputing tenant, named
Firefly, were unveiled to considerable acclaim Dec.7. Nearly 150 corporate
leaders, scientists, academics, and local, state and national government,
military, civic and philanthropic leaders attended a daytime reception and tour
of the facility before gathering at a formal dinner.
Lt. Gen. Robert J. Elder, Joint Functional
Component commander for Global Strike and Integration with the U.S. Strategic
Command (USSTRATCOM) at Offutt Air Force Base, called Firefly "an impressive
system."
"I have toured other supercomputer facilities
and, architecturally, I can assure you the Holland Center is cutting edge,"
Elder said in an interview. "In terms of application, so much of what we do
right now, in particular regarding numerical analysis, our modeling data to
date has been rough. There are a lot of things that precise modeling can
support. This Center is capable of improving that modeling.
"It's almost endless, the things we can use it
for. It's definitely a step forward. Its connectivity, in terms of bandwidth,
is really impressive," he continued. "Other centers might have the computing
power, but the Holland Center has the bandwidth to match."
Elder said the Global Innovation and Strategy
Center (GISC), within walking distance of The Peter Kiewit Institute (PKI),
"will definitely" put Firefly to good use. "A lot of modeling there has
typically been outsourced," he said. "Going forward, there won't be any reason
to look outside. It's right here."
The Holland Computing Center is named for
Richard and Mary Holland, the principal donors. The name Firefly indicates that
the nodes and machines in a supercomputing cluster have distinct features but
work together to converse with the whole, much the same as the rhythmic bursts
of light from fireflies allow them to communicate with and within a larger
group.
Attendees received a brief glimpse of
Firefly's hardware and capability from David Pratt, Ph.D., chief scientist,
fellow and vice president for technology at Science Applications International
Corporation (SAIC), a PKI partner. The supercomputer has 150 terabytes of
storage "enough to hold a novel 750 billion pages long," Dr. Pratt said. In
terms of memory, Firefly has 8 gigabytes of memory per node and 1,151 nodes,
for a total of 9 terabytes of memory. "Those are amazing numbers," he said.
"Firefly puts PKI in the top eight academic supercomputing centers in the
country."
Dr. Pratt (pictured, left) referred to Nebraska as the new Silicon
Prairie, thanks to the Holland Center. He reminded the audience that in order
to thrive, a prairie requires people to care for it and water to grow.
"Information is the water of the future," he said. "Firefly is the well."
U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson toured the supercomputer
and talked about its potential to bring new industry to the area. "With the
Holland Center recognized as one of the top supercomputers in the nation, more
and more people will look at Omaha as an opportunity," he said in an interview.
"The educational aspect of the Holland Center is extremely important because it
sets the university apart from so many other schools."
Neb. Gov. Dave Heineman agreed. "It shows we
continue to be at the forefront technologically and academically, and that we
are determined to stay there. PKI is an exceptional facility, and the Holland
Computing Center will continue to move our state forward."
University of Nebraska President James B.
Milliken called the Holland Center "a great example of the tremendous momentum
the university is enjoying today. The growing number of partnerships (at PKI)
are an indication of this momentum."
Richard Bell, chairman of the Holland Center
Board of Directors, said the computing center has the power "to position our
university, the city and the state to join an elite group of prestigious
entities."
The dinner opened with the performance of a
lively, original Chip Davis composition titled "Firefly." Corporate executives from around the globe
representing the many business partners of PKI and the Holland Center lauded
the supercomputer for its potential.
Victor M. Perez, president and CEO of Panasas
Inc., and Barbara Carlson, vice president of international sales at Panasas,
announced the company's $20,000 donation to a scholarship fund in memory of
Dick Holland's wife, Mary. "What has been done here is very impressive,"
Carlson told the audience. "The caliber of students and the contributions by
the industry are unparalleled."
Anthony Salcito, general manager for U.S.
enterprise education business at Microsoft Corp., stated that the Holland
Center "provides the leverage to drive some real-world change." He noted that
the Holland Center is the largest deployment of Microsoft cluster technology in
the world. "Every citizen in the state should be proud of what you have here,"
Salcito told the dinner guests. "(Microsoft is) honored to be a partner here
and to help continue the journey."
The Holland Center also will be the first
Microsoft partner to run the new Windows HPC Server 2008. By this
affiliation,
the Center will be able to offer unsurpassed
educational and research opportunities to Nebraska students and attract
multinational industries ranging from medicine and defense to geospatial research
and advanced data mining.
Walter Scott Jr., chairman of Level 3
Communications and chairman of the PKI Board of Policy Advisors, congratulated
Dick Holland on his vision. "I think you believe in progress," Scott said, "and
you're starting to get others to believe it, too."
Dr. Pratt put the incredible power of Firefly
in perspective for those who are more accustomed to working with a laptop or
PC. "What takes three months on a Mac," he said, "might take 30 seconds on
Firefly."
That impressive computing prowess did not go
unnoticed. In a conversation with Dick Holland, Dr. Lee Simmons, director of
Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo, related a problem the Zoo's genetic researchers had
been working on for several weeks using their own computing system. "This beast,"
Simmons said, referencing Firefly, "I've been told will do that in just a few
minutes."
In closing, PKI Executive Director Winnie
Callahan recognized the many contributors who pulled together to build the
massive supercomputer in less than six months and obtain an initial ranking of
43rd in the world before completion. She acknowledged Gallup for selecting the
Holland Center to house their "World Poll" to reach more than a billion people
by 2010, and once again thanked Dick Holland for his lead gift and desire to
help provide Nebraska youth with the power to change the world.
***
More can be learned about the Holland
Computing Center and Firefly by contacting The Peter Kiewit Institute at (402)
554-3333.
Firefly to the rescue
According to Henry
Doorly Zoo Director Dr. Lee Simmons and his research team, the first test on
the project he mentioned during the Grand Opening has been completed using
Firefly¸ and the results are amazing. The genetic testing done on the Zoo's
in-house equipment previously took nearly two months ... Firefly's time (using
only four of the 1,151 nodes), took 3 minutes and 15 seconds. Additional Zoo
projects with Firefly already are underway.
