  In this paper we describe the performance of the 9 instrumented IceCube
strings and 16 surface IceTop stations taking data at the Geographical South
Pole after 2 deployment seasons. We will focus on the description of the array
and on the construction and data analysis status. The expected full array
performance is discussed and compared to other results for the relevant physics
studies using high energy neutrinos for astrophysical neutrino searches.
