New UT Supercomputer Stampede2 Is The Fastest On Any US Campus

Scientists will use the $30 million system to work on data-intensive problems in life sciences, economics and genomics.

By Jill AmentAugust 11, 2017 1:16 pm

A new supercomputer at the University of Texas at Austin is said to be the most powerful on any college campus in the U.S., and among the most powerful in the world.

Stampede2 is a $30 million project the university launched late last month. UT computing engineers say the supercomputer will provide improved high-performance computing capabilities to scientists and engineers.

The university purchased Stampede2 with grant money from the National Science Foundation. Grants will also cover the system’s operation. UT-Austin bought components of the system from Dell, Intel and Seagate,

In the past, scientists using supercomputer systems at UT typically focused on physical science, astronomy and weather modeling, among others. Scientists who use Stampede2 will be tackling projects that require the generation of huge amounts of data, including life sciences, genomics and social phenomena and economics.

The difference between supercomputers and ordinary computers comes down to scale, as well as speed. Supercomputers can perform massive numbers of computations simultaneously at high speed.

Dan Stanzione, executive director of the Texas Advanced Computing Center at UT-Austin says the university’s supercomputers have regularly ranked among the top systems in the world. Rankings fluctuate as more powerful systems come online. Top500.org keeps track of the fastest high-performance computers.