Tech Valley News
Powerful Supercomputing Center to Land at RPI
Learn more at New Supercomputing Center To Advance the Science of Nanotechnology
The world’s most powerful university-based supercomputing center is coming to Tech Valley. A partnership of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), New York State and IBM will construct the $100 million Computational Center of Nanotechnology Innovations (CCNI) on the RPI campus in Troy. Work will also be performed at the Rensselaer Technology Park in North Greenbush. CCNI will be a top 10 supercomputing center of any kind in the world.
Operating at a speed of 70 teraflops, the new supercomputer will focus on reducing the time and costs associated with creating nanoscale materials, devices and systems. A teraflop is a trillion arithmetical operations per second.
It will also be used to model biological systems at the cellular and molecular levels and in other computer modeling applications where speed and computational power are critical.
"This will enable the semiconductor industry to bridge the gaps between fundamental device science, design and manufacturing at the nanoscale," Om Nalamasu, vice president of research at RPI told The Business Review.
Over the next five years, RPI will invest $34 million, IBM $33 million and the state $33 million in CCNI.
The center plans to be operational by the end of the year and could create up to 500 new, high-paying jobs in the next three years.
“Establishing this world-class science and technology research center has the power to transform [Tech Valley] into a high-tech destination. This collaboration will attract new business, support existing companies, and generate high-paying jobs in the region,” said Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno.
"I think this is something we could take advantage of," Eric Burnett, president and CEO of Applied NanoWorks, a nanomaterials manufacturer located in Watervliet, told The Business Review. "I think it would be intriguing because modeling nanoparticles is a very complex and mathematical problem and being able to tap into resources like the center could prove to be very valuable for a company like Applied NanoWorks."
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Cadence Design Systems, have already agreed to collaborate on research at CCNI.
“This new supercomputing center dedicated to nanotechnology will have global impact by finding innovative solutions to the challenges facing the continued productivity growth of the semiconductor industry and enabling key nanotechnology innovations in the fields of energy, biotechnology, arts, and medicine,” said RPI President Shirley Ann Jackson.
“Current semiconductor technology is rapidly approaching its practical limits. New, nanotechnology-based technologies will be needed to sustain the productivity growth that the information technology industry provides to the world economy,” said John E. Kelly III, IBM’s senior vice president of technology and intellectual property.
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