When it comes to clusters, it makes sense that we’d have a few announcements – uh - clustered. And I’m not sorry about the pun. We recently showed the Purdue University team installing its new high-performance computing cluster (HPCC) in just half a day.

Today, it’s all about Clemson University using a next-generation HPCC to enable a wide range of academic research, from how family migration patterns impact schools and children’s development to the design of wireless communication networks.

Known as the Palmetto Cluster, it is housed at Clemson’s Information Technology Center and comprises 512 Dell PowerEdge 1950 servers. Currently benchmarked at 31 teraflops (TF), which means it can perform more than 31 trillion operations in one second, it is expected to grow to 100 TF.

Innovative and cost-effective solutions like the Palmetto Cluster are contributing to Clemson’s steady climb in the competitive U.S. News and World Report rankings for top schools.

John Mullen, our VP of higher education, recently had the opportunity to visit Clemson and meet with three of the school’s IT leaders: Jim Bottum, CIO and vice provost for Computing and Information Technology; Jim Pepin, CTO; and Jill Gemmill, the executive director  of Cyberinfrastructure Technology Integration. Here's a video of them talking about the cluster and other IT projects underway at Clemson.

Go Tigers! And FWIW – as an avid golfer myself – best of luck to Clemson sophomore Kyle Stanley who shot six-under-par in a 36-hole qualifier in Columbus, OH on Monday to make it into the field for the 2008 United States Open (June 12-15 at Torrey Pines).