Kiger's Notebook

Plug pulled on IBM's record breaking computer Roadrunner

IBM's record-breaking Roadrunner supercomputer was the fastest computer in the world when introduced five years ago.

But this week, it was retired and soon will be dismantled, surpassed by other machines in the fast-evolving world of supercomputers.

The Roadrunner, which owed much of its hybrid design and manufacture to Big Blue's Rochester campus, was the first machine to break the computer industry's "sound barrier" in 2008 by clocking a petaflop or one quadrillion calculations per second.

“We just all looked around and said, ‘We made it,’” stated Peter Keller, who was part of the Rochester manufacturing team that recorded that historic milestone on May 25, 2008.

The plug was pulled on the $121 million supercomputer on Easter Sunday at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

"Roadrunner, while I would not define it as strictly obsolete, it has been surpassed by newer technology," said Kevin Roark, of Los Alamos. "It's perfectly normal. …This is the natural progression."

Roadrunner's duties are being shifted over to Los Alamos' Cielo supercomputer, which is made by Seattle-based Cray Inc. Two years younger than Roadrunner, Roark describes it as faster, smaller, less expensive and more energy-efficient than its IBM predecessor.

Until it was shut down, Roadrunner ran 24 hours a day, seven days a week since being delivered to the laboratory via 25 trucks.

While it now is being experimented on as it waits to be dismantled and shredded, Roadrunner took Los Alamos' work on the United States' nuclear weapons stockpile to a new level.

"It has performed remarkably well. It has really helped us solve some fundamental problems that were essentially unsolvable before a computer of its speed," Roark said.

It wasn't just its speed that made Roadrunner so groundbreaking. The revolutionary hybrid design that coordinated the use of different types of computer chips, including Cell chips originally designed in Rochester to be used in Sony's PlayStation 3 video game system.

"Roadrunner was a truly pioneering idea," said Gary Grider, of Los Alamos' High Performance Computing Division, in a statement. "Roadrunner got everyone thinking in new ways about how to build and use a supercomputer."

Los Alamos teamed up with IBM to build Roadrunner from commercially available parts. They ended up with 278 refrigerator-size racks filled with two different types of processors, all linked together by 55 miles of fiber optic cable.

The supercomputer has been used over the last five years to model viruses and unseen parts of the universe, to better understand lasers and for nuclear weapons work. That includes simulations aimed at ensuring the safety and reliability of the nation's aging arsenal.

Roadrunner was the world's fastest computer for 18 months. At its peak, it was two times faster than Blue Gene/L, which was IBM’s star machine and the fastest computer in the world in 2007.

Its historic speed kept Roadrunner on the Top 500 Fastest Computers list, despite being outdated. It still ranked as 22nd fastest machine in the world in November.

IBM had four of the top 10 fastest computers on that November list, and all had roots in Rochester. Sequoia, a BlueGene/ Q, took the No. 2 spot behind Cray's Titan. Other BlueGenes — Miram JUQUEEN and Fermi — locked up the fourth, fifth and ninth spots.

IBM layoffs under way, numbers rolling in

Shouts of "R.A." (Big Blue-speak for layoff or firing) are ringing through the halls of IBM sites across the country, including Rochester's campus.

Workers are posting on the Alliance@IBM union site about being cut after 10, 15 years or more on the job.

Here's one comment from a soon-to-be unemployed IBMer:

Comment 02/27/12: Just received RA at the Rochester MN site at 9:00 am....I am in shock but also a little happy to be out of the hell of "Big Blue" -Anonymous-

I'd love to hear from any area IBMers who were slashed during this round of cuts.To protect severance and possible work at IBM as full employer or contract worker with firm CTG, I am offering to keep such sources anonymous, if the person so desires.

The challenge here for a reporter is that IBM gave up  saying anything about employee numbers let alone cuts back in 2008/2009. Not that they were real chatty before that, but it possible to accurately track general trends.

Now the media can only speculate and work from information from emotional people who have just lost their jobs and/or groups with an agenda to organize a union at IBM.

Not sure how that benefits IBM, but I guess that is a moot point because the Big Blue Wall blocking the flow of official information is now more well established than the Berlin Wall ever was. It seems no numbers ever get over this wall.

Most official sites, like the City of Rochester and Rochester Economic Development, Inc. still list IBM as the second largest employer in this city. However, the last time IBM released any specific local numbers was at the end of 2008, when it reported that 4,200 people were employees in the Med City.

Do they still have more 4,000? Do they have more 3,500 or 3,000 workers in Rochester? I haven't been able to find a reliable to confirm such a number.

I'm uncomfortable listing it as the second highest employer, since there is no proof for that. However, that is generally the accepted belief.

 

NASA unplugs last of IBM mainframes

Here's a blast from the past. Many folks in Rochester are familiar, some intimately, with IBM's System 360 mainframe.

It was the precursor to the wildly popular Rochester creation - the AS/400.

Here's some from a piece written by Stephen Shankman for CNET's news site about the end of an era.

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There was a time when IBM's mainframes were cutting-edge machines for scientific and engineering calculations.

Those days began in the 1960s, when IBM's System 360 rewrote the rules of computing and before humans walked on the moon. Big Blue long since has moved its high performance commupting effoprt toward its high-end Blue Gene systems and more conventional Linux servers using Intel and AMD x86 chips and Unix servers with its own Power processor. 

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Now NASA has followed suit, switching off its last mainframe, Chief Information Officer Linda Cureton said in a blog post Saturday.

"This month marks the end of an era in NASA computing. Marshall Space Flight Center powered down NASA's last mainframe, the IBM Z9 Mainframe," Cureton said.

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Cureton, who once programmed a System 360 mainframe in assembly language at the Goddard Space Flight Center, came to their defense:

They're really not so bad honestly, and they have their place. Things like virtual machines, hypervisors, thin clients, and swapping are all old hat to the mainframe generation though they are new to the current generation of cyber youths...

Today, they are the size of a refrigerator but in the old days, they were the size of a Cape Cod. Even though NASA has shut down its last one, there is still a requirement for mainframe capability in many other organizations.

More than four decades ago, when NASA acquired two "super-speed System 360 Model 95 machines in 1968, IBM touted the machines' mathematical abilities.

"Both of NASA's Model 95s are handling space exploration problems which require unusually high computation speeds," IBM said. "The Model 95s are capable of computing 14-digit multiplications at a rate of over 330 million in a minute."

Red Wing book store's final chapter

In one city's tale, it is the final chapter for its independent book store.

The Best of Times Bookstore in Red Wing started its 'Going Out of Business' sale this morning with the plan to close the doors for good by Jan. 31.

Here's some from the bookstore's Facebook page:

Despite our best efforts we could not fight the trifecta that has befallen our business: a bad economy, a street with many closed businesses with very VERY little traffic, and people's affection for spending their $ with Amazon.
We've had a blast and the memories are cherished. Thanks for our many fans through the 7 1/2 years - you have been extremely appreciated!

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The independent shop is owned by Leslie Hakala. In November 2010, Hakala started brewing coffee drinks and tea and blending smoothies along with selling new and used books, says owner

At the time, Hakala said it made sense to add the caffeine connection when the two coffee shops that used to bookend either side of her store both closed last year.

Look for more about this closing soon, either in my column or from our Red Wing reporter.

The Belgians are coming - Mayo Clinic-linked firm opening Roch. subsidary

Here's some from a piece I whipped up today about a Belgium biotech company, Cardio3, opening a U.S. office in the US. I've have been following these guys for years.

They are a pretty interesting firm.

The whole story is in today's print edition, including more about the potential of what this could mean for Rochester.

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After years of talks, a Belgium company that uses stem cells to repair the heart is coming to Rochester in what local officials hope will be the start of a cluster of regenerative medicine firms here.

Cardio3 BioSciences, which is based on Mayo Clinic-licensed research by Dr. Atta Behfar and Dr. Andre Terzic, uses a patient's own stem cells from bone marrow to repair heart damage.

Clinical trials with patients in Europe have shown positive results. Now the company is establishing a subsidiary in Rochester to begin trials in the United States.

"What is unique about this is it's Mayo intellectual property that they are commercializing, which they took to it Belgium … and now it has come full circle back to Rochester," said Rochester Area Economic Development Inc. President Gary Smith. "That is a big thing … a very big thing."

Spam Lip Glaze? Yes, this exists

Here is a taste from my column in today's paper. I lead off with a Hormel product that I can imagine Miss Piggy using.

Check out the print edition for more details, including how well such a lip balm is selling.

The art is from ThinkGeek.Com.

Pucker up with pork-flavored lips.

Austin's Hormel Foods, known for its iconic Spam canned pork, rolled out Spam Lip Glaze balm in early August.

For between $1.95 to $2.99 a tube, fans of Minnesota's favorite canned meat can keep their lips soft and meaty with a Spam-flavored balm.

"Rubbing meat on your face is a good way to get noticed, but probably for all the wrong reasons. But what if you do it because you really want to taste meat, but not eat it? Well, grab yourself some Spam Lip Glaze and you can rub the flavor of meat on your lips without getting weird stares from having bacon hanging from your cheeks."

That's how ThinkGeek.Com describes the latest quirky product that Hormel has branded with the Spam logo.

Tech start-up gets a room of its own

Here's some from my column in today's Post-Bulletin.

For the full piece check out our print edition.

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A young Rochester technology start-up firm now has a room of its own.

StackTech, LLC, which offers on-site information technology consulting and computer support, expects to move into its own office space in mid-September, says John McMahon, one of the three owners and chief marketing officer.

The trio are setting up their office at 4104 18th Ave. N.W. in the Cedarwood Plaza.

Since Kyle Button and Jack Leland formed it in the spring, StackTech has been kind of a virtual company with no defined base of operations.

Most of its support and consulting work is done at customers' offices or homes.

But McMahon says as StackTech's service of creating customized computers on demand has grown, it became apparent that it would be handy to have one central spot to do that work.

StackTech does this for individuals and for businesses, he says.

"People call us up and say 'I'm looking to buy a computer. What can you tell me?' We say, 'Well, we can build you one,' says McMahon. "Tell us what your needs are and we'll build you a computer to meet those needs."

They have been doing that work at their individual home workshops until now.

On 30th anniversary of its PC, IBM fortells its death

Big Blue rolled out a new product back on Aug. 12, 1981 - its 5150 personal computer.

Of course, IBM got out of the PC games a few years back, but there is it no denying tech giant's place in the history of the revolution that put beige comupting boxes on almost desk in the world.

To mark this occassion, IBM had one of the original designers of IBM's 5150 write an essay/blog post. Mark Dean holds three of the nine patents on the first IBM box.

Today he is the the chief technology officer for IBM Middle East and Africa.

I find it interesting that Dean is still going to work every day for Big Blue after all of these years and being a key player in such a significant milestone.

Anyway, here's what he wrote about the death of the creation he helped to bring to life:

I, personally, have moved beyond the PC as well. My primary computer now is a tablet.

When I helped design the PC, I didn’t think I’d live long enough to witness its decline. But, while PCs will continue to be much-used devices, they’re no longer at the leading edge of computing.

They’re going the way of the vacuum tube, typewriter, vinyl records, CRT and incandescent light bulbs.

Mayo Clinic loses brand scrap

Not a good week for Mayo Clinic's collective ego.

After losing its longtime #2 spot on a national best hospitals list, the scrappy Creative Memories company defeated Mother Mayo in the finals of a Minnesota brand smackdown.

Hoards of scrapbookers turned out to defend their St. Cloud-based Creative Memories in an online poll called Minnesota Brand Madness.

Out of the 77,245 votes cast, Creative Memories tallied 58 percent in its favor verus Mayo Clinic's 42 percent.

This Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal Brand Madness poll has been a online battleground for weeks.

Managed like college basketball's March Madness tournament,124 Minnesota brands were paired off in its round and people cast their votes for their favorites.

It included the state's top corporate and product names, such as Target, Mall of America, Schwan's, Post-it Notes, Wheaties and Dairy Queen.

In the path to the final two, Mayo Clinic defeated Tastefully Simple, Summit Brewing, General Mills, Lunds/Byerly's and finally Schwan's.

Tapping an unexpected mobilization of its fans, Creative Memories defeated such more well-known names as Target, Arctic Cat, Wheaties and Mall of America to make it to the championship.

Roch. duo stack up new tech biz

When a pair of Rochester tech experts decided to boot up their own IT firm, choosing a name was kind of a Tweet deal.

Instead of taking the low-tech route of combining their names, Kyle Button and Jack Leland looked to their Twitter accounts.

Button goes by the handle of @Techbutton on the quick-hit social network, and Leland's Twitter moniker is @StackMacT.

"So we went with StackTech for the company name," Button says.

And now they are up and running to provide on-site Information Technology consulting and computer support services for customers.

The duo also plan to delve into smartphone apps by creating ones for customers as well as making their own.

Why start a new IT company in a tech-savvy city like Rochester?

"We're two guys who have always been involved in IT. We've been talking about this for a while," Button says. "We feel there is a need for it here."