Fred Hutchinson

Cancer Research Center Success Story

Getting the Drop on Avian Flu
With the Help of a Powerful Computing Cluster
When an elite team of researchers needed a high-performance
computing cluster for combating one of todays most critical
public health threats, they turned to Silicon Mechanics to help
them maximize the value of their HPC budget and speed their
time to results.
The world may be on the brink of a major fu pandemic that would
sweep the globe with unprecedented speed on the wings of todays
international air fights. For now, bird fu is not transmitted
easily from person to person, but that could change quickly, and
communities and healthcare organizations around the world need
to be prepared.
Saving Lives through Fundamental Research
An effective response to this threat requires a deeper understanding
of how fu viruses spread in complex societies. To provide that
understanding, biostatistician Dr. Betz Halloran, systems analyst
Shufu Xu, and their colleagues at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer
Research Center have created software that can accurately model
the process.
According to Dr. Halloran, Once an outbreak occurs, there are
many ways to contain it and limit its impact, and they all have
different costs and practical limitations. Our research focuses on
understanding the effects of targeted interventions, in order to
determine the best strategies in particular scenarios. The results
are helping public health offcials prepare more effectively, so they
can make the best use of available resourcesand possibly save
millions of lives.
Customer Profle
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center plays a global role in combating cancer and related
diseases through fundamental research into mechanisms, clinical methods, and public health
strategies.
Challenge
Build a high-performance computing cluster capable of simulating large-scale fu pandemics
in complex, real-world populations.
How Silicon Mechanics Helps
Delivering cost-effective, best-ft server confgurations that help maximize total computing
performance per dollar spent.
Benefts
Researchers have the computing power they need to model massive fu pandemicsand to
determine the best ways to mitigate and contain them.
Our models can take up
to 120 hours to run, so
we need all the performance
we can get. Silicon Mechanics
gave us the confgurations we
needed at the best price.
Shufu Xu
Systems Analyst
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Our goal is to deliver the
precise confgurations
each customer needs,
without any unnecessary
frills or over-confgured
components that raise the
price.
Art Mann
Vice President of Business Development
Silicon Mechanics
Maximizing Performance per Dollar
In the research teams largest simulations, every
man, woman, and child in the US is represented.
That includes more than 280 million people, and it
takes tremendous computing power to accurately
model their movements and interactions. Until
recently the research team borrowed time on other
organizations supercomputing systems, but they
needed a dedicated in-house system to speed their
research.
Xu has extensive expertise in high-performance computing and had a clear vision of the design
requirements. After interviewing a number of major server manufacturers and system integrators, a
colleague recommended he speak with someone from Silicon Mechanics. It was a good tip. According
to Xu, Our models can take up to 120 hours to run, so we need all the performance we can get. Silicon
Mechanics gave us the confgurations we needed at the best price.
Thats not unusual, says Art Mann, Vice President of Business
Development for Silicon Mechanics. Our goal is to deliver
the precise confgurations each customer needs, without any
unnecessary frills or over-confgured components that raise the
price. Whether theyre deploying a single server or a cluster , that
approach delivers better value for customers. The lower cost was
important to us, says Dr. Halloran. It allowed us to build a larger
cluster within our budget, so every simulation runs faster.
A Powerful Cluster and Responsive Service
When frst deployed, the system included 23 servers, each
confgured with two dual-core processors. Since then the cluster has
been expanded twice, and now includes 90 servers (360 CPUs), interconnected by a stack of six Gigabit
Ethernet switches. The head node for the cluster has 1.7 terabytes of storage, to handle the massive
amounts of data collected in the simulations.
The high-performance cluster is a critical asset for the research team, so keeping it up and running at all
timesand at full poweris important. As Xu notes, With any large server cluster, there will always be
occasional hardware failures, so service was another factor in our purchasing decision. Silicon Mechanics
has been very responsive. Whenever we have a problem, they get replacements to us within a daytwo
at the most. With the other vendors we considered, the turnaround would have been at least three days.
The Work Goes OnOnly Faster
For now, Halloran and Xu have all the computing power they need and are focused on conducting their
research, extending their models, and refning their software for even faster performance. Theyre pleased
with their cluster and with the support theyve received from Silicon Mechanics. We get a lot of inquiries
from colleagues who are interested in building high-performance clusters, says Dr. Halloran. We always
suggest they include Silicon Mechanics in their short list of potential vendors.
Copyright 2007 Silicon Mechanics
The lower cost was
important to us. It
allowed us to build
a larger cluster within our
budget, so every simulation
runs faster.
Dr. Betz Halloran
Biostatistician
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center