Linux launches Boeing's rocket

Tuesday, March 20, 2001

Boeing's Delta IV Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle is a serious rocket. Scheduled to launch first in 2002, it will have the power to pull payloads of 29,000 lbs, allowing scientists to place larger satellites into orbit.

But when Boeing tried to run CFD simulations on the Delta IV (www.boeing.com/defense-space/space/delta/delta4/delta4.htm), it quickly realized that it couldn't run the complex applications on dinky little desktops. A problem of such complexity demanded unprecedented computation power. So they broke out the big guns.

Boeing implemented a Linux supercomputer powered by 96 AMD Athlon(TM) processors (www.amd.com). Located at the company's Space and Communications Div. in Huntington Beach, CA, the supercomputer was developed by Linux NetworX (Sandy, UT, www.linuxnetworx.com), a company which uses cluster technology to link multiple computers through high-speed networks and form a single, scalable system. It uses software called ClusterWorX(R) to manage all those processors, in a similar manner to how the company has created "Beowulf" clusters for other applications in the past.