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GeoWalls and beyond…. Jason Leigh, Luc Renambot, Andrew Johnson, Nicholas Schwarz, Arun Rao. Disks, Networks, and Displays are getting cheaper. Think about the kinds of research problems you can solve if you lived in a world with:
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GeoWallsand beyond… Jason Leigh, Luc Renambot, Andrew Johnson,Nicholas Schwarz, Arun Rao
Disks, Networks, and Displays are getting cheaper • Think about the kinds of research problems you can solve if you lived in a world with: • On demand access of large data sets from massive data servers (like USGS EDC) • Rapid access of large data sets over emerging national and international high speed networks (like StarLight, National Lambda Rail) • Visualization of large, layered and time-series data sets on infinite resolution displays (like GeoWall 2s, etc..)
A virtual computer built from clusters of computers that serve as giant storage/compute/visualization peripherals attached to a backplane that consists of ultra high speed deterministic networks. • Goals: • Develop an end-to-end solution: understand how to develop such a system (from hardware to middleware to applications) eliminating all the bottlenecks. • Explore how this new architecture can effect dramatic change in the way we solve computational science problems in a number of e-Science initiatives: NSF EarthScope, NIH Biomedical Informatics Research Network, NSF ORION Ocean Observatories • Partners: CALIT2, UCSD, Scripps, USGS EDC, NCMIR
StarLight CA*net4 NORDUnet CA*net4 IEEAF/ Tyco IEEAF/Tyco CESnet UK-Light TeraGrid APAN NetherLight Other DataTAG 2.5Gb and 10Gb Links 2.5Gb and 10Gb Links (Anticipated) Co-location space for multi-terabyte disk servers and tens of gigabits of network bandwidth, connected to all federal networks and international high speed optical networks. www.startap.net
National Lambda Rail www.nationallambdarail.org
GeoWall 2 • 10 PCs – 8 to drive the 5x3 array of 20” LCDs. 1 PC to act as a console. 1 PC as a backup. • Each PC has GeForce FX5600. • 18 LCDs – 15 to use. 3 as spares. • 16 DVI fiber optic extension cables – 30ft: ~$400 per cable. • 1 Gigabit network switch - ~$4500 • KVM Switch - $2400 • Total cost ~ : $67900 • Using 19” LCDs and older GeForce Ti graphics should bring this price down to: $48180 • GeoWall2’s are Scalable. You buy as many PCs and tiles to create the resolution you want.
Scripps OptIPuter2 IBM T221 displays (18M pixels – 7680x2400)
Single small form-factor PC Dual-output for stereo visualization (GeoWall) LCD array for high-resolution display (7.7 Mpixels)
Personal GeoWall 2 • Personal GeoWall 2 = GeoWall + “Array of LCD panels” • Single 32 bit PC ~ $2000 (2G RAM) • Quadro4 980XL ~ $500 (for stereo) • Quadro4 NVS 400 ~ $400 (for tiled graphics) • Mount ~ $500 • 2560x2048 ~ $3200 ($800 each 19” LCD • Or 3200x2400 ~ $5700 ($1300 each 20” LCD) • In the near future: Athlon64 or Opteron, Quadro FX 4000 and Quadro FX 600 PCI • Next year: PCI Express graphics cards may allow us to support mult-headed graphics better
LambdaVision • 11x5 LCD tiled display (17600x6000) (~17 ft wide) • 100 million pixels • 30 node dual processor Opteron • 2G RAM, 2 TB disk per node • Dual gigabit networking • All future GeoWall 2s will use 64-bit processors- there is no reason to go back
Conclusion • Think about how the GeoWall Community should evolve? • Think about the kinds of research problems you can solve if you lived in a world with: • On demand access of large data sets from massive data servers (like USGS EDC) • Rapid access of large data sets over emerging national and international high speed networks (like StarLight, National Lambda Rail) • Visualization of large, layered and time-series data sets on infinite resolution displays (like GeoWall 2s, etc..)
On a lighter note:Game Programming on the GeoWall with DarkBASIC www.evl.uic.edu/cavern/agave/DB_STEREO_DEPLOY
