The Met Office, a UK weather forecasting body, is spending some cash with IBM.
The Met Office has signed a contract with IBM for its next-generation supercomputer that will underpin its weather forecast and climate research programmes until 2013.
Other reports value the deal at £33m; that’s about 65M USD.
John Hirst, Met Office Chief Executive said: “In a world where the effect of extreme weather events is becoming more severe and the potential impact of global warming is becoming ever more apparent, the Met Office plays an increasingly vital role in researching and forecasting these events. The new supercomputer is an important step in delivering our strategic targets.”
The system will be built in two lifts. The initial build will have the system at 125 TFLOPS, and by 2011 the system is projected to reach over 1 peak PFLOPS.
I believe, from a passing comment in the Met Office release, that this is a POWER system. If you know, leave a comment please.
Not confirmed, but the rumor I have heard is a power6 upgrading to a power7.
Keep it simple, nothing wacky, just run and turn out models. That’s what they wanted. Stable platform with decent power.
Rich