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The state’s $11 million supercomputer could be transferred to New Mexico’s three research universities if they can figure out how to run it in a way that’s economically feasible and without additional cost to taxpayers.
State Information Technology Secretary Darryl Ackley told the Journal he expects to see a joint proposal from the universities within a couple of weeks.
“I’ve told the universities I would certainly entertain that option if they do a proposal, but there can’t be a budget increase,” Ackley said. “I need something that shows they can take it on and sustain it.”
The decision whether to sell the supercomputer to private bidders or turn it over to the universities will depend on the best return for the state, which paid $11 million in 2008 to buy the machine. It’s no longer in the top 100 fastest in the world, its hardware is showing some age and its market value has slipped to a few hundred thousand dollars — even though it can do 172 trillion calculations per second.
The state also provided nearly $9 million to the New Mexico Computing Applications Center, a nonprofit that has managed it since 2008, to maintain and operate the machine and to set up gateways for public colleges and universities to access it for research and educational programs.
“The state has already sunk a lot of money into it, and we shouldn’t do more,” Ackley said. “But if they (the universities) can propose something that’s reasonable and demonstrates some type of return, we’ll certainly consider it.”
Johann van Reenen, the University of New Mexico’s vice president for research, said UNM is working with New Mexico State University and the New Mexico Institute for Mining and Technology in Socorro on a proposal.
“Ultimately, I think it’s a loss if we don’t keep it intact for the three universities and for commercial users, but funding is an issue,” van Reenen said.
Thomas Bowles, CEO of the New Mexico Computing Applications Center, shows the state’s supercomputer at Intel in Rio Rancho.
The supercomputer could leverage a lot more federal research dollars by making grant proposals from the universities more competitive. The Computing Applications Center says the machine has already supported $60 million in federal funding for research by faculty and students. It could also generate revenue from commercial entities and institutions that rent time on it.
The state is repossessing the machine from the Computing Applications Center, contending the center can’t run the supercomputer profitably.
The center owes $421,000 in outstanding bills to SGI Inc., the company that sold the machine to New Mexico and has provided ongoing operation and maintenance services.
Ackley said the state has tried to sell the machine, but so far those efforts have failed given the computer’s age. It slipped from the world’s third-fastest machine in 2008 to No. 128 today.
“We have had a few prospective leads to sell it, but they didn’t pan out,” Ackley said. “One party that was interested in getting into supercomputing determined that the hardware was too old.”
Selling the machine remains an option, but the state may get just pennies on the dollar at auction. According to an informal market survey by SGI in 2011, the machine would likely generate less than $400,000 after costs for packaging and transporting it to new owners are factored in.
For the universities, housing, operation and maintenance costs are central considerations, van Reenen said.
UNM would likely take the bulk of the supercomputer, which includes 28 racks of processors, or cores. Each rack has 500 processors, for a total of 14,000 cores that work together.
UNM’s Advanced Research Computing Center is calculating costs, said director Susan Atlas.
UNM might need to modify its infrastructure to accommodate the supercomputer, known as Encanto, which has certain requirements unique to the machine, such as power and cooling specifications. UNM also must calculate additional administrative costs, such as dedicated technical staff to operate and maintain the machine.
“It’s pretty straight forward to assess ongoing operating costs,” Atlas said. “The tricky part is determining the nature of infrastructure improvements and what they would cost.”
The Computing Applications Center has said it can cost up to $1 million annually to house, operate and maintain Encanto at Intel Corp. in Rio Rancho, where it’s currently located. But that’s if the computer is running at full capacity year round, and it includes commercial rates to SGI to operate and maintain it.
Atlas said she expects housing and operating costs at UNM to be much less.
“We’re approaching this completely fresh,” Atlas said. “We’re not interested in hearsay or third-party assessments.”
UNM would take the bulk of Encanto because N.M. Tech has said it lacks the infrastructure to maintain even a portion of the computer, and NMSU has only offered to take two racks.
If UNM houses the bulk of Encanto, it would share computer use with the other two universities, Atlas said.
Apart from getting state approval, UNM might also need Board of Regents’ support, depending on costs.
“Anything over $500,000 has to go before the regents,” said UNM spokesperson Diane Anderson. “This is not a done deal.”
— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal
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