The Maui High Performance Computing Center (MHPCC) announced that the University of Hawaii, prime contractor for MHPCC, has contracted to purchase a terascale, high performance computing platform from Dell. This new 5,120-processor Dell PowerEdge 1955 system will increase the computational capability of MHPCC to over 60 teraflops. The system is based on 3.0 GHz dual-core Intel Woodcrest processors arranged in 1,280 four-core nodes using the InfiniBand interconnect. The acquisition includes an optional upgrade scheduled in 2008, which would introduce Intel's most current multi-core processor technology at that time. This upgrade would increase MHPCC's overall computational capability in 2008 to approximately 120 teraflops.

This acquisition is the largest in the history of MHPCC and the first significant purchase from Dell. The computational capacity provided under this procurement will advance MHPCC to the forefront of high performance computing and re-establish it among the leaders in the Department of Defense research and development community. This new system will complement the Department of Defense High Performance Computing Modernization Program's array of high performance computing resources.