IBM p690 - Thunder
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IBM
In use: October 2, 2003 - November 30, 2007
Experimental use
Peak teraflops: 0.33
Processors: 64
Processors per node: 32
Frames: 2
Nodes per frame: 1.00
Clock speed: 1.30GHz
Memory (terabytes): 0.13TB
Electrical power consumption: 15.50 kW
Thunder was a two-node IBM p690 system that CISL used primarily for testing purposes, though it also hosted some production work. It was a counterpart to the Bluesky p690 production system but had IBM's then-new, experimental Federation high-speed interconnect for inter-node communication.
Under UCAR's Advanced Research Computing System subcontract with IBM, IBM proposed performing an upgrade to Bluesky to replace its Colony high-speed interconnect fabric with Federation, but NCAR ultimately chose not to disrupt the production workload.