END USER INSIGHT

Tommy Minyard , Ph . D ., TACC ’ s Director of Advanced Computing Systems

Texas Advanced Computing

Center ( TACC ) needed to upgrade its powerful Lonestar5 supercomputer to keep up with its several thousand projects and continue pushing the boundaries of supercomputing . The organisation realised immersion cooling was the only practical way forward . Tommy Minyard ,

Ph . D ., TACC ’ s Director of Advanced Computing Systems , explains how GRC ’ s liquid immersion cooling solution addressed its concerns , enabled it to overcome obstacles , reduce its backlog and accomplish its goals . exas Advanced Computing

Center ’ s ( TACC ) unassuming name belies the ground-breaking work for which it is widely known . Located at The University of Texas , Austin , its mission is to enable discoveries that benefit science and society through the application of advanced computing technologies . For this it receives funding from the National Science Foundation ( NSF ), along with other important research and education institutions .

Since its inception in 2001 , TACC has evolved its capabilities while making the best use of its existing hardware investment whenever possible . As a result , it has employed a variety of cooling strategies that include CRAC1 and chiller , in-row , liquid-to-chip , as well as singlephase liquid immersion cooling . Immersion cooling in particular has allowed TACC to continue achieving key scientific advancements by pushing the limits of computing power . Thus , it comes as no surprise that it is now the home of the world ’ s longest running immersion cooling system . This system was designed by GRC , who pioneered single-phase liquid immersion cooling for data centres .

Background

The TACC was busier than ever . As designer and operator of some of the world ’ s most powerful computing resources , it had several thousand projects in the queue and needed to upgrade its already powerful Lonestar5 www . intelligentdatacentres . com

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