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SC07's connectivity is provided by what is temporarily the world's most powerful network, created onsite by a team of volunteers using 48 miles of fiber and the latest in advanced equipment and technologies, donated by more than 56 institutions and companies. The total SCinet bandwidth weighs in at around 200 gigabits per second: 2000 times greater than the average home cable modem.
Images courtesy of Jerry Newton Photography
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Looking beyond the immediate reality of SC07-the hectic schedule of sessions, workshops, challenges, demonstrations and speakers; the frenzied energy of gala martinis, disco-light lanyards and gigabyte bracelets-this supercomputing city represents an exciting and unique chance for the world's IT leaders to get together and share their enthusiasm for the future.
The increasing depth and strength of grid computing's contribution to high performance computing is apparent in the number of exhibitors who are involved in grid-related projects and activities: Enabling Grids for E-sciencE, Open Science Grid, Teragrid, GridPP, the National Grid Service, Open Grid Forum, AstroGrid, caGrid, DGrid, the Austrian Grid Initiative, NorduGrid, CancerGrid, DEISA and dozens of other universities, institutions and virtual organizations.
With an emphasis less on Linpack and more on facilitating access for all, academic grids have staked a strong claim in the computing arena. From physics and medicine to cinema and social science, the grid-enabled applications and technologies exhibited here at SC07 will provide thousands of researchers and scientists the opportunity to explore our world at an entirely new resolution, an opportunity that is already delivering world-changing scientific results.
So congratulations grid people: you do an extraordinary and important job. I look forward to hearing more of your achievements over the next year and on in to SC08 and beyond.
- Cristy Burne, iSGTW
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