IBM, a partner since day one in the Center for Computational Research (CCR), is positioning UB's supercomputing facility for even greater growth by donating equipment worth more than $640,000.

The gift from IBM, brings the total equipment donation from the corporation to the center to just under $2 million.

The equipment upgrade, including 14 4-way 375MHz Power3 thin nodes and an 8-way 222MHz Power3 high node, will increase the power of CCR's IBM SP supercomputer almost threefold, while also significantly increasing its storage capacity.

"We are partnering with the University at Buffalo to continue building a world-class computational facility that will support the university's expanding research and our collaborative projects," said Michael J. Cadigan, vice president of manufacturing and procurement for the ESG Group at IBM.

"We also believe that providing IBM technology gives us an advantage when recruiting UB's best and brightest students because it gives the students a chance to use and become familiar with our products and we get a chance to know the students," Cadigan added.

Russ Miller, CCR director and professor of computer science and engineering, said the upgrade will "provide a significant amount of additional computation to our users, particularly those working on large problems in areas that include computational chemistry, biology and fluid dynamics."

"The partnership with IBM is important to the success of CCR," Miller continued. "IBM is a leader in the field of high-end computing. In addition to providing leading-edge hardware and software, IBM also has critical research divisions in areas of interest to UB, including bioinformatics, parallel computing, networking and compilers."

Established in January 1999, CCR was made possible by gifts of more than $1 million each from IBM and Silicon Graphics Inc., $1 million in funding from SUNY, a $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation and a gift of more than $400,000 in computer equipment from Sun Microsystems. UB made an initial investment of approximately $1.5 million.