Working with Saudi Business Machines (SBM), Saudi Aramco has installed the powerful RS/6000SP supercomputer in record time. OGN looks at the system's application in seismic innovation and e-business in the oil industry.IT companies are constantly refining and adding to their technological development to ensure that they can provide industries with the very latest solutions and service enhancements.
The oil industry is no different and Saudi Aramco has completed the installation of what is considered one of the largest supercomputers in the world, in record time.
Working together with Saudi Business Machines (SBM), the general marketing and services representative of IBM WTC in Saudi Arabia, and a team of IBM experts, the Saudi Aramco team completed the installation of a 92-node RS/6000 SP system - which was fully operational within two weeks.
The installation represents the most powerful supercomputer in the commercial sector outside the US and is based at Saudi Aramco's headquarters in Dhahran.
The supercomputer is powered by state-of-the-art IBM Power-III processors. The IBM Nodes have a varying number of processors, ranging from two to eight. This high performance SP system is designed to allow Saudi Aramco to run complex seismic applications and to explore oil and gas.
The SP supercomputer is connected to more than 100 trillion bytes of IBM high performance Serial Storage Architecture (SSA) technology disks. These disks are used with the IBM General Parallel File Systems (GPFS) to furnish the seismic data to the computer nodes.
The technology deployed is ''among the most advanced in the world'', according to IBM. This same technology is being used in the world's largest implementation at the US Department of Energy - namely ASCI White and ASCI Blue.
Seismic Innovation
IBM has always been focused on refining business solutions by helping to improve operations and providing capabilities to react to ever-changing market conditions.
Oil exploration and production uses high performance computing and 3D visualisation of seismic events for visualisation, seismic acquisition, processing, management and simulation - as well as the core IT implementation, support and infrastructure services.
IBM has a long association with the petrochemical industry and has developed the expertise to help geoscientists and petroleum engineers with enhanced solutions and technology.
Few other e-business vendors have the capability to mobilise processing resources quickly and efficiently to meet the needs of geoscience. This helps to reduce the uncertainties inherent in the hunt for petroleum - and in maximising potential returns.
Whether the need is for a new generation of supercomputers to power seismic mapping and modeling, or for consulting expertise that blends deep understandings of science, technology and culture, IBM brings to bear resources that can make the difference between success and its alternatives.
Oil e-business
The flow of oil in refineries is driven by price volatility, high cost of raw materials, the need for accurate forecasting of supply and demand, and maximising return on the capital employed.
To compete refiners must accurately represent plant information to their supply chains, and to customers.
e-business is all about leveraging refining information to build tighter and more efficient customer and supplier relationships.
To do this, chemical and petroleum companies are increasingly using the Web to create and manage supply chains of great complexity, and optimise refinery and plant operations.
Companies that survive and thrive will run essential operations and supplier relationships over the Web.
IBM's suite of supply chain solutions are Web-based tools, strategies and technologies.
They are modular, and easily tailored, but extend far beyond - to link suppliers, business partners and customers in responsive, low-cost value chains.
This includes solutions that streamline operations, provide advanced planning and scheduling solutions, e-maintenance services, and e-procurement solutions. IBM solutions can help to: integrate plant operations; extend plant efficiencies into ERP and plant control; add suppliers to improve production and delivery of materials and services; reduce operating costs and improve response.
IBM/SBM and the SP Technology
In addition to it being the world's largest information technology company, IBM has recently taken over the number one spot in the manufacture of supercomputers, according to independent research.
The RS/6000 SP is the world's leading technology for massively parallel super computing.
Thousands of businesses, organisations and research facilities throughout the world trust the RS/6000 SP to run their most demanding, mission-critical applications.
The RS/6000 SP marks the next generation of computational power capabilities that will help answer the most complex problems of our time.
The fact that, to date, IBM has installed 9,193 SP with 91,150 nodes in various industry sectors is ample proof of its growing success. The SP is capable of performing up to 10 trillion calculations per second - what would take 10 million years to accomplish with a hand-held calculator. The system is being heavily used in scientific research, data management, oil exploration, simulation, analysis, and design.
IBM has provided IT solutions to the Kingdom for more than 50 years with the first information handling system deployed in Aramco in 1947. In 1981, and in order to meet the increased demand on IT requirements in the Kingdom, IBM appointed SBM as its general marketing and services representative in Saudi Arabia.
Realising the importance of e-business in transforming today's day-to-day business activity, SBM adopted IBM's e-business strategy to the various industries in Saudi Arabia and positioned itself as a leading ISP. With more than 500 employees, the company today plays an increasing role in supporting the business community and, together with IBM, is committed to the continuing development and transfer of IT within the Kingdom.
