New York State Will Award 150 Million CPU Hours to Industry, Academia and Government Organizations

Photo: State CIO Dr. Melodie Mayberry-Stewart

The New York State Office of the Chief Information Officer and Office for Technology (CIO/OFT) and the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR) today announced that public and private researchers and businesses in New York state have nearly 150 million CPU hours on one of the world's most powerful supercomputers. Over the next three years businesses, universities and state agencies can apply for time on the supercomputer located at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations (CCNI).

"The ability to perform cutting-edge research at a fast pace is crucial to the continued development of new products and technology across our state," said Governor Paterson. "The supercomputer is an invaluable resource for our local businesses and universities. I applaud CIO/OFT, NYSTAR and Rensselaer Polytechnic for working with public and private researchers across the state to take advantage of this significant technology."

The global market is becoming increasingly competitive and the state's HPC assets can help differentiate New York firms from the rest of the world by increasing the speed in which they can innovate," said Ed Reinfurt, executive director of NYSTAR. Fortune 500 companies along with many smaller companies have expressed extreme interest in using this supercomputing facility to assist them in product development and help them gain a competitive advantage by decreasing their time to market for their new products.

"The world is taking notice of the emergence of supercomputers in New York and our state's burgeoning high-tech economy," said state CIO Dr. Melodie Mayberry-Stewart. "The research and development that takes place on this high-powered computer will have significant implications for medical, agricultural, economic, social programs and public policies. State agencies will be able to use the supercomputer to solve complex problems in public safety, cyber security, education, transportation, health or human services to name just a few -- and at no cost. Through this historic partnership with NYSTAR, Rensselaer and IBM, New York will be at the forefront of innovation."

The CCNI increases the technological capacity of academic, public-sector, and private-sector research in New York. NYSTAR, in partnership with CIO/OFT, will leverage this asset to propel New York forward in areas using computer modeling and simulation. This supercomputer, along with advanced academic cyber-infrastructure, will allow researchers anywhere in New York to participate in this unique opportunity, making this truly a statewide initiative.

New York State invested in a $100 million partnership with Rensselaer and IBM to create one of the world's most powerful university-based supercomputer centers. As part of New York's investment in the CCNI, the state was allocated 20 percent usage of the supercomputer. The state has adopted a usage policy which gives preference to economic development but also includes use for state agencies to conduct research.

New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) Commissioner David Hansell said, "As we strive for an outcome-based service delivery approach to assist low-income New Yorkers in achieving economic security and self-sufficiency, having access to analytical tools and computing resources is a key element for success. CCNI presents a unique opportunity for OTDA and other state agencies to make policy changes that will enhance program performance, accuracy and integrity by mining billions of data records at an unprecedented speed."

At the heart of the CCNI facility is an IBM Blue Gene supercomputer that will operate at more than 80 teraflops (trillion floating point operations per second). At peak performance, CCNI packs 100 teraflops of massively-parallel computing power, meaning the supercomputer can perform 100 trillion
calculations per second.

Contact Information

For further information on how businesses can apply for time at the supercomputer, contact Michael Ridley, Director of High Performance Computing: mridley@nystar.state.ny.us or by phone at 518-292-5700. State agencies can apply for time on the supercomputer by contacting Rico Singleton, deputy CIO for enterprise IT governance: rico.singleton@cio.state.ny.us or by phone at 518-473-2807.