DOD labs get Linux clusters

Linux Networx Inc. delivered two more systems to the Defense Department as part of the military's Technology Insertion 2004 initiative to improve defense laboratories' high-performance computing.

The Air Force's Maui High Performance Computing Center in Hawaii and the Aeronautical Systems Center Major Shared Resource Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, each received a 256-processor Evolocity Linux Network cluster computing system, according to an Aug. 15 company statement.

"The Linux cluster from Linux Networx has proven to be a high productivity system and is helping the Defense Department's High Performance Computing Modernization Program achieve our computing objectives," said Air Force Maj. Kevin Benedict, program manager at the Maui High Performance Computing Center, in the company's statement.

For example, the systems can simulate moving 3,000 U.S. troops among 1 million civilian vehicles. Joint Forces Command, the military command in Norfolk, Va., will use the systems to simulate combat operations worldwide, according to the statement.

Later this year, Linux Networx will deliver two more computing systems as part of the DOD initiative. Earlier this year, officials at the Army Research Laboratory purchased a 2,132 Intel Corp. processor Evolocity II cluster from Linux Networx.