Yesterday the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a part of the US Department of Energy, dedicated its new National Security Computing Center (NSCC) at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M.
The NSCC is a Department of Energy user facility for top-secret level applications that require high performance computing. Its unique capabilities will be applied to help solve pressing national security problems such as cyber defense, vulnerability assessments, informatics (network discovery), space systems threats and situational awareness. The system can also be used to provide high-fidelity, physical simulations and advanced imagery processing.
The centerpiece of the new NSCC is the venerable Red Storm system
In January 2008, NNSA asked Sandia to consider turning one of its nuclear weapons resources into the NSCC. In May 2008, Sandia agreed to move forward with the conversion of Red Storm. In July 2009, the facility and associated resources became available for SCI use.
NNSA authorized Sandia to upgrade Red Storm to a 280 teraflop computing capacity and extend its operations for at least four to five more years. The Red Storm platform and facility are extensible, allowing them to accommodate future upgrades and improvements with minimal interruption.