UMBC Supercomputing Center Eyes Socio-Econ Problems

  • By Paul McCloskey
  • 08/27/07
The University of Maryland-Baltimore County and IBM said they would collaborate to build a facility dedicated to research on aerospace, defense, financial services, medical imaging, and weather/climate change prediction.

Researchers called the Multicore Computing Center (MCC) an "orchestra" of one of the world's most powerful supercomputing chips.

They  were referring to the Cell Broadband Engine (Cell/B.E.), jointly developed by IBM, Sony, and Toshiba.

The processor is used in products such as Sony's PlayStation 3. Cell processors are capable of powering image and video-intensive tasks like virtual reality, as well as simulations and imaging for aerospace, medicine, and defense.

Researchers said they would face a challenge making the processors work together. "Cell processors are groups of eight very fast, independent but simple PCs with their own tiny memory all on a single chip each with its own leader," said Milt Halem, director of the MCC and professor of computer science at UMBC.

"The challenge is choreographing all the chips to work efficiently in parallel. It's like a distributed orchestra with 224 musicians and 28 conductors connected with headphones trying to play Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 together."

Read More:

About the Author

Paul McCloskey is contributing editor of Syllabus.

Featured

  • hand touching glowing connected dots

    Registration Now Open for Tech Tactics in Education: Thriving in the Age of AI

    Tech Tactics in Education has officially opened registration for its May 7 virtual conference on "Thriving in the Age of AI." The annual event, brought to you by the producers of Campus Technology and THE Journal, offers hands-on learning and interactive discussions on the most critical technology issues and practices across K–12 and higher education.

  • glowing shield hovers above a digital cloud platform with abstract data streams and cloud icons in the background

    Google to Acquire Cloud Security Firm Wiz

    Google has announced it will acquire cloud security startup Wiz. If completed, the acquisition — an all-cash deal valued at $32 billion — would mark the largest in Google's history.

  • laptop on a clean desk with digital padlock icon on the screen

    Study: Data Privacy a Top Concern as Orgs Scale Up AI Agents

    As organizations race to integrate AI agents into their cloud operations and business workflows, they face a crucial reality: while enthusiasm is high, major adoption barriers remain, according to a new Cloudera report. Chief among them is the challenge of safeguarding sensitive data.

  • From the Kuali Days 2025 Conference: A CEO's View of Planning for AI

    How can a company serving higher education navigate the changes AI brings to ed tech? What will customers expect? CT talks with Kuali CEO Joel Dehlin, who shared his company's AI strategies with attendees at Kuali Days 2025 in Anaheim.