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The “X” stands for the original goal of 10 teraflops of operating speed — a goal System X surpassed.

Soon after Virginia Tech’s System X supercomputer was created, it attracted worldwide attention — as the world’s third-fastest computer, the fastest at an academic institution, the leading price-performer among supercomputing systems, and the first constructed with Apple computers.

Srinidhi Varadarajan stands in
front of the supercomputer that
was, in large part, his brainchild.
Varadarajan also created "Déjà
vu," software that gives large-
scale computer systems stability
and reliability. For that invention,
Varadarajan was named to the
2004 list of the world's Top 100
Young Innovators by Technology
Review, the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology's
Magazine of Innovation.

System X is more than three years old now and no longer ranks as the third fastest in the world, but the most recent Top 500 ranking released at the International Supercomputer Conference shows the Virginia Tech invention continues to hold a place of distinction.

Running at an achieved 12.25 teraflops — or 12.25 trillion floating point operations per second — and at a theoretical 20.24 teraflops, System X now ranks 28th among the world’s fastest supercomputers.  System X also is the third-fastest system at an academic institution, ranking just a few steps behind new supercomputers at Indiana University and the University of Southern California (USC).

However, IBM built Indiana’s supercomputer and Sun Microsystems built the system at USC.  In fact, Virginia Tech is the only academic institution that constructed its own supercomputer — and the only institution with an Apple-based system.

The idea for System X originated during a conversation in early 2003 between Srinidhi Varadarajan and Jason Lockhart about the need for increased computer power for research at the university. Varadarajan, currently an associate professor of computer science in the College of Engineering, and Lockhart, director of high performance computing and technology innovation for the college, consulted with colleagues in engineering and the university’s Information Technology group to come up with a solution.

After scouting out Dell, Intel, IBM and other computer systems companies, the Virginia Tech team decided to try something revolutionary.  With the support of the College of Engineering, Information Technology and the university’s administration, they bought 1,100 Apple Power Mac G5 desktop computers. During the summer of 2003, with round-the-clock help from facilities contractors and more than 150 students and other volunteers, Virginia Tech constructed the world’s first Apple-based supercomputer. 

Virginia Tech's System X terascale
supercomputer

Of course, building System X wasn’t as simple as stacking up Power Mac computers in a big room and connecting them with cable. Apple, Mellanox Technologies, Emerson Network Power, and Cisco Systems provided resources to help Virginia Tech engineers and computer scientists develop the system.

In November 2003, System X tested as the world’s third fastest terascale system, at 10.28 teraflops, and as the least expensive per teraflop, at $5.2 million total and roughly $500,000 per teraflop. The number one system at the time, Japan’s Earth Simulator, tested at 35.86 teraflops, but cost at least $400 million — more than $11 million per teraflop.

In 2004, System X was rebuilt. The 1,100 Power Mac G5s desktops were replaced with an equal number of Apple Xserve G5s custom-built for Virginia Tech with 2.3 GHz processors, which were unavailable to the public at the time. 

Accounts for using System X are available to Virginia Tech faculty and graduate students and their colleagues from other institutions.  Corporate researchers also can apply for accounts.

Today, the supercomputer has more than 180 user accounts and total allocated time on System X is near the 20 million CPU-hour mark.

System X is housed in the Andrews Information Systems Building in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center and is managed by Information Technology.  For more information, visit http://www.arc.vt.edu.

By the way, the “X” stands for the original goal of 10 teraflops of operating speed — a goal that System X achieved and surpassed.