Supercomputing Center Deploys Force10

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Force10 Networks, the pioneer in building and securing reliable networks, today announced that the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI), Korea’s national supercomputing center, has deployed the TeraScale E-Series® family of switch/routers and the S2410 data center switch to build a massively parallel processing (MPP) supercomputer with a peak performance of 250 Teraflops or 250 trillion calculations per second.

“KISTI is focused on becoming a world leader in science and technology by building a next generation supercomputing platform capable of exploring the new frontiers of technology, discovery and international cooperation,” said Ki-Seong Yu, director of the Network Infrastructure Group at the KISTI Supercomputing Center. “To be a recognized leader in supercomputing science, we require a networking architecture built for uncompromised high performance and reliability, and Force10 provides us with that.”

With four Force10 TeraScale E1200s at the core of its supercomputer, KISTI is supporting 240 Ten Gigabit Ethernet ports to interconnect more than 3,000 nodes and provide scientists across the country with the computing resources they require to advance research on a diverse range of topics. As the core of the network, the TeraScale E1200 delivers the reliability, network control and scalability that allow KISTI to fully leverage its newest supercomputer.

Additionally, the Force10 S2410 provides the high 10 Gigabit Ethernet density KISTI needs to interconnect servers in its visualization system. Supporting 24 line-rate 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports in a compact form factor, the S2410 allows KISTI to cost effectively optimize the performance of its servers and ensure maximum network throughput. With switching latency of 300 nanoseconds, the S2410 also ensures that the network does not impact the performance of the supercomputer.

In 2005, KISTI deployed the Force10 TeraScale E600 and TeraScale E300 in an international grid network to connect the country with scientists and researchers worldwide via the Global Ring Network for Advanced Applications Development (GLORIAD). Leveraging Force10’s 10 Gigabit Ethernet wide area network (WAN) physical interface, KISTI connected its headquarters in Daejon to Seattle, replacing an expensive legacy link with a more cost-effective Ethernet link. The combination of local area network (LAN) and WAN physical interfaces on a single line card allows KISTI to optimize their network while maximizing system capacity. KISTI also deployed the TeraScale E300 to connect to the GLORIAD network through Hong Kong.“KISTI is pioneering science and technology research through high performance computing, providing Korea with valuable R&D resources and tools for increasing productivity,” said Stephen Garrison, vice president of marketing for Force10 Networks. “The diversity of products in the Force10 Reliable Networking portfolio provides both the availability and scalability that enable KISTI to continue building on the high performance foundation it established in 2005 with its first deployment of TeraScale E-Series switch/routers.”

Force10 Networks Inc.