IBM goes with Linux for Blue Gene supercomputer

Linux will be the main operating system for IBM's upcoming family of 'Blue Gene' supercomputers - a major endorsement for the operating system and the open-source computing model it represents.

IBM's $100m Blue Gene program is directed at creating a new family of supercomputers that will be able to perform a quadrillion calculations per second (one petaflop) by late 2005 or early 2006.

Blue Gene/L, the first member of the family, will contain 65,000 processors and 16 trillion bytes of memory. Due in 2004 or 2005, the system will be able to perform 200 trillion calculations per second. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will use the system for performing nuclear weapons simulations.

The decision to adopt Linux came, in part, as a result of the growing size and strength of the open-source community. Thousands of developers around the world are participating in the evolution of Linux. Creating a new OS inside of IBM would require a massive engineering effort.

Bill Pulleyblank, director of Exploratory Server Systems at IBM Research, said in a statement: "We had two choices of operating systems for the Blue Gene family, either use a special-purpose system or Linux. We chose Linux because it's open and because we believed it could be extended to run a computer the size of Blue Gene. We saw considerable advantage in using an operating system supported by the open-source community, so that we can get their input and feedback."

Michael Kanellos writes for News.com