# Alpha

> American supercomputer

**Wikidata**: [Q134172957](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q134172957)  
**Source**: https://4ort.xyz/entity/alpha-q134172957

## Summary
Alpha is an American supercomputer operated by the Flatiron Institute in New Jersey. Built by Lenovo in 2024, it runs on Linux and uses Intel Xeon Platinum 9242 processors with NVIDIA H100 GPUs connected via Infiniband NDR networking.

## Key Facts
- Alpha is a supercomputer operated by the Flatiron Institute in New Jersey
- Built by Lenovo in 2024, making it a recent addition to high-performance computing
- Runs on Linux operating system, the family of Unix-like systems created in 1991
- Ranked 243rd on the November 2024 TOP500 list of the world's most powerful supercomputers
- Achieves 4.10 petaflops (Rmax) and 4.99 petaflops (Rpeak) of computing performance
- Contains 7,488 processor cores and 964,608 maximum cores across its architecture
- Uses 48-core Intel Xeon Platinum 9242 processors running at 2.3GHz
- Equipped with NVIDIA H100 GPUs for accelerated computing tasks
- Connected via Infiniband NDR high-speed networking technology
- Serves the higher education industry through scientific research applications

## FAQs
### Q: What is Alpha?
A: Alpha is an American supercomputer operated by the Flatiron Institute in New Jersey, built by Lenovo in 2024 for high-performance scientific computing tasks.

### Q: How powerful is Alpha?
A: Alpha achieves 4.10 petaflops of sustained performance (Rmax) and 4.99 petaflops peak performance (Rpeak), ranking it 243rd on the November 2024 TOP500 list.

### Q: What hardware does Alpha use?
A: Alpha uses Intel Xeon Platinum 9242 48-core processors at 2.3GHz, NVIDIA H100 GPUs, and Infiniband NDR networking, all running on Linux.

## Why It Matters
Alpha represents a significant investment in computational research infrastructure for the Flatiron Institute and the broader scientific community. As a mid-tier supercomputer ranked in the top 250 globally, it provides researchers with substantial computing power for complex simulations, data analysis, and scientific modeling that would be impossible on conventional systems. The system's combination of modern Intel processors, NVIDIA GPUs, and high-speed networking enables it to handle demanding workloads in fields like computational biology, astrophysics, and materials science. By providing this level of computational capability to researchers in the higher education sector, Alpha helps advance scientific discovery and innovation in ways that benefit society through new understanding of complex systems and phenomena.

## Notable For
- Ranked 243rd on the prestigious November 2024 TOP500 list of world supercomputers
- Built specifically for the Flatiron Institute's research needs in 2024
- Combines Intel Xeon Platinum 9242 processors with NVIDIA H100 GPUs for heterogeneous computing
- Achieves 4.10 petaflops of sustained performance for real-world scientific applications
- Represents Lenovo's entry into the high-performance computing market for research institutions

## Body
### Technical Specifications
Alpha is built around Lenovo's ThinkSystem SR680a V3 architecture, featuring 48-core Intel Xeon Platinum 9242 processors running at 2.3GHz. The system incorporates NVIDIA H100 GPUs for accelerated computing workloads, connected through Infiniband NDR high-speed networking fabric. This combination provides both traditional CPU processing power and GPU acceleration for specialized computational tasks.

### Performance Metrics
The supercomputer achieves 4.10 petaflops of sustained performance (Rmax) and 4.99 petaflops of peak theoretical performance (Rpeak). It contains 7,488 processor cores and supports up to 964,608 maximum cores across its distributed architecture. These specifications place Alpha in the upper tier of research computing systems, capable of handling complex scientific simulations and large-scale data analysis.

### Operational Context
Operated by the Flatiron Institute, a research center focused on computational science, Alpha serves the higher education industry. The system runs on Linux, the open-source operating system created by Linus Torvalds in 1991. As a research-focused supercomputer, Alpha enables scientists to tackle problems in computational biology, quantum physics, machine learning, and other data-intensive fields that require massive parallel processing capabilities.

## References

1. [Source](https://www.top500.org/site/51060/)
2. [TOP500](https://top500.org/system/180346/)
3. [Source](https://top500.org/lists/top500/list/2024/11/)