Fanatical About Performance
XENON delivers Australia's first GPU-based-Supercomputer to CSIRO
10/12/2009
XENON delivers Australia’s first GPU-based-Supercomputer to CSIRO
New GPU (Graphics Processing Units) supercomputer that will process CSIRO research data
thousands of times faster and more efficiently than a desktop PC.
Melbourne, Australia, 25th November 2009 – XENON, a leader in High Performance Computing (HPC) solutions has deployed Australia’s first GPU High Performance Compute Cluster, based on hybrid computation technology, which combines the Central Processing Units (CPUs) with more powerful Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), for the CSIRO.
The GPU supercomputer which is located in the Canberra Data Centres (CDC), contains 1024 Intel Xeon 2.8GHz processor cores which is complemented by 61,440 NVIDIA Tesla streaming processor cores and will help scientists to explore the use of GPU technology for parallel processing.
CSIRO's supercomputer will be among the world’s first to combine traditional CPU computing with more powerful GPU highly-parallel computing, providing a world class computational and simulation science facility. In addition, to its immense computational power, the GPU cluster also heralds major environmental benefits. This unique heterogeneous cluster architecture is more energy efficient and significantly cheaper to run than a traditional CPU-only supercomputer.
CSIRO scientists will use this supercomputer for research in advanced materials, cloud computing data, visualisation tools, genetics and more.
Specific projects to be run on the supercomputer include:
- figuring out where tiny fragments of genetic code sit on a genome
- 3D reconstruction of medical images from the Australian Synchrotron
- modelling the interactions between nutrients and plankton in the oceans
Technical features of XENON’s GPU supercomputer include:
- 128 Intel Dual 2.8GHz Xeon E5462 Compute nodes (a total of 1024 compute cores) with 16GB or 32GB of RAM
(a total of 2.6 Terabytes), 500GB SATA storage and ConnectX 20Gb/s DDR InfiniBand interconnect - 64 Tesla S1070 Compute Servers (256 Tesla GPUs with a total of 61,440 streaming processor cores)
- 144 port InfiniScale IV 20Gb/s DDR InfiniBand Switch
- 80 Terabyte Hitachi NAS Storage system
“XENON was excited to work together with CSIRO to deliver one of the world’s first large scale GPU supercomputers,” said Dragan Dimitrovici, CEO of XENON Technology Group (XTG). “We are also grateful that CSIRO had the vision to break tradition by adopting new leading edge GPU technology rather than the standard CPU technology.”
“The CSIRO GPU cluster will provide CSIRO with the cutting edge massively parallel computing technology that we need to address national challenges such as climate change and the design of advanced materials in both a cost effective and energy efficient way. We greatly appreciate the excellent service and support provided by XENON Systems during and following the installation of the CSIRO GPU cluster.” Dr John A. Taylor, CSIRO.
The CSIRO GPU supercomputer was designed, assembled and installed by XENON – NVIDIA’s only Australian Tesla Preferred Partner. XENON has established a reputation as one of Australia’s foremost IT hardware manufacturers, known for pioneering the latest technologies including the introductions of NVIDIA’s Tesla product range into Australia and New Zealand.
ABOUT CSIRO
CSIRO, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, is Australia's national science agency and one of the largest and most diverse research agencies in the world. CSIRO’s primary purpose is to conduct and apply the results of research for the furtherance of Australia’s national and international objectives and, specifically, the economic competitiveness of the Australian industry CSIRO, with our key partners, remains dedicated to addressing wide-ranging challenges that matter to Australia
ABOUT XENON®
XENON® Systems Pty Ltd, a fully owned Australian company and a member of the XENON Technology Group (XTG), provides high performance computing solutions to technical, creative and corporate users. XENON’s solutions are employed in a wide range of demanding environments and industries which include; defence, education, research, manufacturing, broadcast, animation and digital content creation.
For more information visit: www.xenon.com.au
