ARMONK, N.Y. and
HAMBURG, Germany, Aug.
21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today
announced it is collaborating with Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron
(DESY), a leading national research center in Germany, to speed up management and storage of
massive volumes of x-ray data. The planned Big Data and Analytics
architecture based on IBM software defined technology can handle
more than 20 gigabyte per second of data at peak performance and
help scientists worldwide gain faster insights into the atomic
structure of novel semiconductors, catalysts, biological cells and
other samples.
DESY's 1.7 mile-long PETRA III accelerator is a super microscope
that speeds up electrically charged particles nearly to the speed
of light – approximately 186,000 miles per second – and sends them
through a tight magnetic slalom course to generate the most
brilliant x-ray radiation of its kind. This synchrotron radiation
is used by more than 2,000 scientists each year to examine the
internal structure of a variety of materials with atomic
resolution. A key challenge in this process is storing and handling
huge volumes of X-ray data.
"A typical detector generates a data stream of about 5 Gigabit
per second, which is about the data volume of one complete CD-ROM
per second," said Dr. Volker Gulzow,
head of DESY IT. "And at PETRA III we do not have just one
detector, but 14 beamlines equipped with many detectors, and they
are currently being extended to 24. All this Big Data must be
stored and handled reliably."
DESY is addressing this Big Data challenge with the help of IBM
Research and IBM Software Defined Storage technology code name
Elastic Storage that can scale easily to store and handle more than
20 Gigabyte of data flowing every second from PETRA III. Elastic
Storage can provide scientists with high-speed access to increasing
volumes of research data. This architecture will allow DESY to
develop an open ecosystem for research and offer
analysis-as-a-service and cloud solutions to its users
worldwide.
"IBM's software defined storage technologies can provide DESY
the scalability, speed and agility it requires to morph into a
real-time analytics service provider." said Jamie Thomas, General Manager Storage and
Software Defined Systems, IBM. "IBM can take the experience gained
at DESY and transfer it to other fields of data intensive science
such as astronomy, climate research and geophysics and design
storage architectures for the analysis of data generated by
distributed detectors and sensors."
The scalability of the system can support DESY and a number of
international partners that are currently building the X-ray laser
European XFEL, a research light source that will generate even more
data. "We expect about 100 Petabyte per year from the European
XFEL," said Dr. Gulzow. That is comparable to the yearly data
volume produced at the world's largest particle accelerator, the
Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the research center CERN in
Geneva.
DESY is one of the world's leading accelerator centers and a
member of the Helmholtz Association. It develops, builds and
operates large particle accelerators used to investigate the
structure of matter. DESY is housed in Hamburg and Zeuthen in Germany and is home to 3000 scientists from
over 40 countries a year.
About Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron
(DESY):
DESY is one of the world's leading accelerator centres.
Researchers use the large-scale facilities at DESY to explore the
microcosm in all its variety – from the interactions of tiny
elementary particles and the behavior of new types of nanomaterials
to biomolecular processes that are essential to life. The
facilities generate the world's most intense X-ray light,
accelerate particles to record energies and open completely new
windows onto the universe. That makes DESY not only a magnet for
more than 3000 guest researchers from over 40 countries every year.
DESY cooperates with industry and business to promote new
technologies that will benefit society and encourage innovations.
This also benefits the metropolitan regions of the two DESY
locations, Hamburg and Zeuthen
near Berlin.
http://www.desy.de/index_eng.html
More information about IBM Software Defined Storage is
available at this link. Follow us on Twitter @ibmstorage
Contact information:
Chaiti Sen
IBM Media Relations
(1) (213) 633-8154
csen@us.ibm.com
Logo -
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO
SOURCE IBM