A discussion of the motivation for, planning, and development of Anton, a specialized supercomputer for the simulation of the behavior of large biomolecules, such as proteins, at the atomic level. Beginning in 2003, D E Shaw Research defined project goals, built an interdisciplinary team of chemists, computer scientists, and engineers, and proceeded to design a complete computer including a multimillion gate ASIC, numerous boards, and a complete packaging and cooling system. In the course of the work, several new algorithms and techniques were developed and published, and some interesting engineering lessons were learned.

BIO
Martin Deneroff heads the Engineering subgroup at DESRES. With over thirty years of experience in the electronics industry, he is an expert in computer system architecture and development. Prior to joining DESRES, Martin served as Vice President of Server and Platform Engineering at SGI. He also served as the architect for Concurrent Computer Micro 5 as well as the SGI Challenge and Origin servers. In 2003, he was appointed to the High End Computing Technology Task Force, which was created to develop strategies to promote U.S. competitiveness in the global computer market. Martin received an M.S. in computer science from Monmouth University, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from MIT. In his spare time, Marty enjoys traveling, playing bridge, and spending time with his family.