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IT News
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| BLAST can take advantage of thousands of processors on the DiaGrid distributed computing system, which is free to Purdue researchers and their students. |
Free, fast BLAST processing now on DiaGrid, Purdue’s distributed computing system
BLAST, the popular bioinformatics software, is now available to Purdue faculty and their students on Purdue’s DiaGrid distributed computing system, which can make thousands of processors available at once for BLAST jobs — at no cost to users.
ITaP also has developed an online application to provide ready access to BLAST on DiaGrid using Purdue’s HUBzero platform, which brings computational research software and access to high-performance and cloud computing resources as close as the Web browser.
Interested faculty, research staff and graduate students are invited to learn about the new availability of BLAST on DiaGrid during a luncheon from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9, in Stewart Center, Room 322.
To register visit:
https://diagrid.hubzero.org/events/details/3
“DiaGrid is particularly suited for research using BLAST because it involves numerous serial computations that can be parceled out to any number of available processors,” says Carol Song of the Rosen Center for Advanced Computing, ITaP’s research computing unit. “Generally, the more processors the better, and DiaGrid can make thousands of processors available at a time.”
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New community cluster supercomputer Carter will be available to faculty in the spring
A new cutting-edge research supercomputing cluster will be available for use by Purdue faculty and their students in the spring of 2012. The new Carter cluster is part of Purdue’s award-winning Community Cluster Program, a cooperative in which faculty members pool research funds to purchase computing resources in partnership with ITaP and its Rosen Center for Advanced Computing. Testing so far shows Carter, which uses next-generation technology from partners Intel, HP and Mellanox, may increase application performance up to 70 percent.
Faculty members interested in the Carter cluster should contact:
rcac-cluster-purchase@purdue.edu
Ongoing data center consolidation project reduces energy costs, cooling problems
Purdue’s ongoing data center consolidation project has improved data security for faculty, reduced power and cooling problems for faculty and administrative staff, and saved the West Lafayette campus more than $186,000. Now, the project’s leaders are encouraging others managing their own data centers to participate; as an incentive, faculty and staff are eligible to receive funding for server and data center consolidation efforts.
SAP hardware replacement keeps business processes running smoothly
The recent replacement of all SAP computer hardware, the system Purdue uses for day-to-day business processes and transactions, has improved ITaP’s ability to meet the University’s needs through increased efficiency and flexibility, while decreasing many project run times and the data center’s energy footprint.
Events
iPad and Tablet group to talk apps for instruction, see JetPack demo
Instructors who use iPads, other tablets and mobile devices in their classes will share applications and other tools they use in instruction at the next iPad and Tablet Users Group meeting. An ITaP educational technologist also will demonstrate ITaP’s newest app JetPack, a tool for creating and delivering rich media and mobile content packages. The meeting will be from 2 to 3 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 8, in the Mechanical Engineering Building, Room 1130. Those interested may attend in person or connect online via Adobe Connect.
Tech Tidbits
Stories of Purdue cybercrime victims, a warning Read more
Minimize your risk of credit card fraud by keeping information secure Read more