Knowledge on
display
The Australian National University uses Dell rack workstations and
LCD monitors to build Australia’s largest scientific display system
Filling a wall with a single image of the Earth or the cosmos
is impressive. But for researchers, a wall-size image with crisp
enough detail for scientific analysis is more than just an exciting
spectacle, it’s an invaluable tool.
Customer profile
COUNTRY: Australia
INDUSTRY: Education/Science
FOUNDED: 1946
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 3,545
WEB ADDRESS: www.anu.edu.au
Challenge
The Australian National University (ANU)
required a large-scale image display system,
but cost/performance, space, and heat load
obstacles stood in the way of the project.
solution
ANU used a cluster of Dell™Precision™rack
workstations driving 30-inch Dell UltraSharp™
LCD monitors to create a powerful, efficient,
and flexible display solution.
Benefits
Get IT Faster
Easy-to-install Dell hardware enables ANU•
to implement the display solution in just
two weeks
Run IT Better
Large-scale imaging capability helps•
provide an environment for more effective
research and education methods
Grow IT Smarter
Dell rack-mounted workstations allow•
ANU to install the cluster in a confined
space within cooling limitations
Standards-based Dell system offers a•
platform for future development
The potential benefits of such a system were
clear to The Australian National University
(ANU). ANU is Australia’s top-ranked university
with more than 1,400 academic staff. “Large-
scale display systems are a crucial enabling
tool for researchers in various disciplines
including astronomy, medicine, geophysics,
and the humanities,” says astrophysicist Dr.
Markus Buchhorn, director of information and
communication technologies (ICT) environments
at ANU. “When scientists are able to examine
an image from the large-scale to the very small
details at the same time, they make connections
that they wouldn’t make otherwise.”
requirements range from
high image quality to low
system heat
Buchhorn envisioned a system with a cluster of
workstations driving two or three dozen wide-
screen LCDs. To achieve this, the team needed
panels that had high image quality and were easy
to mount on a wall. Criteria for the computers
included ample processing performance for
large data sets, powerful graphics technology,
and the ability to securely share images with
other research institutions. Heat load was also
a major concern because the cluster had to fit in
a confined space next to the display wall and fit
within the cooling capabilities of that space.
Buchhorn’s team asked several vendors to
propose solutions, and ANU ultimately selected
Dell. “Dell had already met service and reliability
standards as a preferred supplier to the
university,” notes Buchhorn. “We were equally
impressed with the innovative system they
proposed. With the rack-mounted workstation
form factor, Dell addressed our space, cooling,
and performance concerns all in one.”
The Dell team recommended Dell UltraSharp
3008WFP 30-inch wide-screen flat panel
monitors, driven by a cluster of Dell Precision
R5400 dual-socket rack workstations with
quad-core Intel®Xeon®processors. The rack
workstations provided the compact size needed
to fit in the limited space available to the
team. At the same time, the chassis provided
room to accommodate two full-length OpenGL
professional graphics cards for high-quality
images, plus Teradici hardware encryption and
decryption technology to boost performance over
a network or direct connections.
dell hardware helps reduCe
installation time
The team quickly and easily performed the
deployment, installing 12 workstations and 35
LCD monitors. Instead of showing 35 individual
images, the team used software toolkits to show
one image scaled across all of the screens. “We
stacked the Dell LCDs five units high by seven
units wide to provide over 125 square feet of
viewing surface,” says Buchhorn. “The
hardware was simple to order and install.
It was only two weeks from the decision
point to the operational point.”
solution: Clustering
