Saul Perlmutter

The U.S. Department of Energy announced today that the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has signed a $146 million contract with Cray for the facility’s next-generation supercomputer, a pre–exascale machine slated to be delivered in 2020. Named “Perlmutter” in honor of Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist Saul Perlmutter, it is the first NERSC system specifically designed to meet the needs of large-scale simulations as well as data analysis from experimental and observational facilities.

The new supercomputer represents DOE Office of Science’s commitment to extreme-scale science, developing new energy sources, improving energy efficiency, and discovering new materials. It will be a heterogeneous system comprising both CPU-only and GPU-accelerated cabinets that will more than triple the computational power currently available at NERSC.

“Continued leadership in high performance computing is vital to America’s competitiveness, prosperity, and national security,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry in making the announcement.

Go here to read a DOE news release on the announcement.

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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world’s most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab’s scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel Prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. For more, visit www.lbl.gov.

DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.