PAGASA to get IBM supercomputer

Mac Pro yan. 8-)

Are they donating the hardware but charging for the maintenance? Or will that be free as well?

IMHO, as a third-world, developing country, we don’t need a “supercomputer”. We’re better off relying on a custom bank/cluster of off-the-shelf available components which are cheaper to run and maintain and non-proprietary/more open.

Something like that entire slew of PS2s someone built a few years back, or for a more recent implementation, those Raspberry Pi clusters people have been making.

Cheaper, less power to run, cooler, easier/simpler maintenance.

Why not just use open and cheap solutions? I’m sure DOST Engineers have knowledge about cloud computing(Openstack + Hadoop). This solutions does not need pricey and speedy hardware.

Regarding more advanced and modern solutions –

I don’t think PAGASA has the proper funding to attract talents\resource persons that are capable of implementing these proposed advanced and modern solutions.

-i move or kunin ung pork barrel ng mga kurakot at inutil na govt officials para gamitin sa pag upgrade ng system ng pag asa system.

magkano naman kayo aabutin nito? malamang triple ng original price :))

kickback ito pag hindi nila i-announce kung ano specifically binili nila at magkano

Use Cloud instead of Mainframes on DC 1.0, this is so Jurassic!

Just like most of the readers who knows technolgy would suggest clustering and using off-the-shelf brands and open-source software are half-right on the matter.

While it is cheap to just cluster in a dozen of compters to do the computations. Heck, why not do something like folding-at-home where we can contribute on putting our weather forcast in a competitive level with other nations.

But this isn’t a hobby. While most of the suggestion worked. I think their decision was so-so right. I think they choose IBM because they are widely available in the country and support and hardware are easy to find. There are a number of IBM specialist in the country that are trained to use these equipment, which lessen the problem of figuring out problems if PAG-ASA used off-the-shelf hardware. People already said it, the government are not I.T savy, and having them go through the problems of making their own “super comptuer”, the wise decision is have someone do the I.T for them.

Now my problem, or question, is what system (software) are they going to use in the supercomputer. I would hope they could go open-source but from a company that knows and specialized on it.

donate yan. basa basa din pag may time. IBM has always been generous in terms of helping the majority. hindi lang sila nagsasabi na nagdonate sila ng ganito nag sponsor sila ng ganyan. unlike other tech companies.

On the bright side: if PAGASA won’t be using the super computer 24/7, they can even rent out processing time to other organizations (such as private companies and universities) that need occasional access to supercomputers during PAGASA’s off-peak hours and earn some extra cash on the side ;-)