NCKU Develops World's First Switchless Cluster Supercomputer
 

The National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) Supercomputing Research Center (RSC) has built the world's first switchless cluster computer. Known as the "CK-Star", this computer connects eight computers without switch control, thus breaking Intel's performance record. Together with the computer systems provided by Acer, the CK-Star is jointly built by NCKU RSC Director Dr. Chi-Chuan Hwang and Dr. Yuefan Deng of Mainland China's National Supercomputing Center in Jinan (NSCCJN), who is also a Distinguished Professor at the State University of New York (SUNY).

NCKU RSC Director Dr. Chi-Chuan Hwang added that CK-Star is the most unique switchless cluster supercomputer compared to traditional cluster supercomputer which requires switch control to control interaction between nodes. He explained that the weakness of the traditional one is that switches will become performance bottlenecks when the number of nodes is large. Besides, switches also consume large amount of power, estimated to be 50% of the total power consumption. With the introduction of the CK-Star which allows the unrestricted expansion of supercomputers, these problems can be overcome.

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