Welcome to TekTalk with Psykout!

Alrightie then, we’re going to assume you’re already familiar with my little piece of the digital Jagged Earth world. If not, check out the first two installments on supercomputing [Part 1  & Part 2]

Quickie version: I’m Psykout and I’m the resident tech savant for the Lodge of the Wolf, if I do say so myself. I won’t be revealing all the secrets to be found in The Jagged Earth in Psykout’s Secrets, there’s too many of them even for an insomniac with lots of time on her hands and access to computing resources that literally defy belief. Speaking of such, meet…

BASTION

The supercomputer operated by the International Cooperative for Containment of the Criminally Enhanced (IC3E) is code-named “BASTION“. Many operational details are available only with a verified “need to know” information request directly to the IC3E. As an international body operating through an ambassadorial embassy within Aurora City, the IC3E is not subject to the United States of America’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.  The following approximate technical details have been provided by the IC3E in the interests of the supercomputing community.

Psykout here, and you wouldn’t believe the trouble lurking in the IC3E nets for you ambitious entrepreneurs out there. Seriously, you wouldn’t. I know I’m wasting my electrons here, but really, just don’t do it. If you absolutely can’t help yourself, make sure your organ donor cards are up to date. Yes, I’m kidding. A little. I think.

BASTION is designed primarily to support data aggregation and analysis of complex regional, political, and law enforcement data, consistent with IC3E’s mandate. While a portion of the data is derived from various “data lakes” of unstructured data, the majority of the information made available to BASTION is received from detailed field reports of Augments and Augmented activity across the globe. BASTION correlates empirical data, field analysis, and theoretical research in the fields of chemistry, energetics, medicine, and physics with specific application to Augmentation concerns.

Public Announcement Aside… ICE is the traditional acronym used for intrusion countermeasures. We call the IC3E “icy” or “icee” (for those familiar with that culinary delight) and, while merely a happy coincidence from their perspective, they are dead serious about deserving that apellation. Yes, I’m still trying to keep you optimists from beating your head against an iceberg. Trust me, you’re only going to annoy it.

The IC3E is responsible for the Supercomputing Analytics Bridging Earth-based Resources (SABER) initiative in Aurora City. SABER is a joint effort between the Specialized Weaponry and Ordnance Research Directorate (SWORD), the IC3E, and The Chalice Bureau to establish, optimize, and operate ground-based aggregation of supercomputing resources. As envisioned, the SABRE collective resources would be first connected using dedicated fiber-optic lines in a sealed and shielded infrastructure between locations. The full brief for SABRE includes the creation, test, and implementation of high-speed, line-of-site, satellite uplinks and downlinks using particle or energetic systems. While significant research and development of quantum-based supercomputing and post state-of-the-art transmission technology remains, at full capacity SABER would allow direct pooling of compute, analysis, and data resources between all supercomputing-capable partners anywhere in the world. Combined in this fashion, the virtual SABER cloud could function, albeit briefly, at such an order of magnitude to be able to process active data feeds with historical information to enable subsurface, oceanic, and meteorological analysis, modeling and simulation on a global scale.

They are still working on the quantum entanglement problems reaching outside the limits of a small to mediumish city, but what they already have available is enough to make a girl swoon if I was the swooning type. We’ve barely scratched the possibilities of what we can do when this puppy is connected to my baby and the TCB super. Error correction, internal garbage collection, and the uncertainties inherent in quantum computing are keeping the eggheads up at night (*yawn*) and working feverishly to solve the issues of making this bad boy suitable for public consumption.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Name/Designation: BASTION (Mark 3 Mod 0.7)

Partners/Designers

• Prime Contractor:        Specialized Weaponry and Ordnance Research Directorate (SWORD)
• Facility Design/Build:   John Little Defense Designs (JLDD), Keep Containment Technologies (KCT), United Kingdom (UK) Augment Enforcement Administration (UK-AEA)
• Installation:                 Specialized Weaponry & Ordnance Research Directorate (SWORD), Silicon Integration International, Inc. (SI3)
• Additional Funding:     Representative Assembly for Pan-American & International Executives on Robotics (RAPIER), Convocation of Nations, United States of America (USA) Department of Energy (DoE), European Space Agency (ESA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (USA NOAA)
• Hardware/Software:    Jackson P. Catas – Deep Space Research (JPC-DSR), Glacier Freelance Research (GFR), Coherent Light (CL), Daedalus Research (DR)

Basically everybody, their brother, their cat, and their third cousins’ kittens have an interest in this one. It’s a veritable who’s who listing of movers and shakers and bakers. Not everyone is listed here, but the ones that are should, I say again, SHOULD give a very good picture of how important this setup is to the international community. So, okay; that’s my last public service announcement. You’re on your own.

Processing Hardware (Exact specifications are classified under SWORD authority)

• More than 5000 GFree quantum core compute cells (QC3s)
• More than 15000 Daedalus Research holography-based based acceleration cells (HACs)
• 850GB Coherent Light primary memory modules primary memory modules (PMMs)
• 320 GB Coherent Light non-volatile memory modules (NvM2s)

Standard Compute Capacity

• More than 2.0 mixed-mode trinary resolutions per second (MTRS)
• More than 5.0 exaOPS (mixed precision operations per second)

Estimated Peak Performance

• 2.25 MTRS
• 6.5 exaOPS

Storage

• 65 petabytes (PB) primary storage @ > 5.0 terabytes (TB) per second
• 40 PB secondary storage @ > 4.0TB per second
• 20 PB auxiliary storage @ > 3.0 TB per second

Power and Cooling
Classified under SWORD authority

Filesystem
Classified under SWORD authority

So there you have it, dear readers. That’s the Big Three wrapped up in a silicon nutshell. Don’t get me wrong, I’m dead certain that similar initiatives are under way, or are already in place, on the dark side of the Augmented community. I’ll bring whatever I can ferret out back to you, but I’m fond of these neurons of mine and my kitty Boo would be most cross if I ended up dead. My Lodgemates rarely concatenate the word “caution” with “Psykout”, but this is a very deep pool with piranhas and sharks and other bad things I can’t think of at the moment, so caution it is. I’ll get the goods though, eventually, so stay tuned.