KOBE and TOKYO, Japan, June 5 -- Kobe University and Fujitsu today announced that Kobe University has decided to deploy the Fujitsu PRIMEHPC FX10 supercomputer as the computing system for the university's information sciences curriculum.

The new system will use as its core a PRIMEHPC FX10 with 96 nodes, resulting in a theoretical peak performance of 20 teraflops. The system is scheduled to begin operations this August.

Kobe University will use the new system to nurture the development of human resources who will be involved in creating new fields of research and interdisciplinary areas utilizing supercomputer technology.

Background

In recent years, with the intensification of global competition, there is a need for Japan to continuously promote and strengthen innovation to sustain the country's development. With supercomputing technology as a core national technology, pursuing new scientific methodologies is also important for accelerating progress in science and engineering.

Kobe University has therefore established a new Graduate School of System Informatics in April 2010 with the aim of training students with new skills, constructing a new academic framework and educational program, and building an organization for the advancement of educational research in cooperation with other institutions. The new graduate school has established a graduate degree program in computational science.

In addition, on May 15, 2012, Kobe University entered into a collaborative agreement with the RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Sciences in the fields of computational science and computer science. The agreement strengthens cooperation with the RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science and contributes to joint research in computational science while advancing the country's science and technology capabilities, as well as to regional development by raising the skills of human resources.

As another part of these initiatives, Kobe University will deploy Fujitsu's PRIMEHPC FX10 supercomputer system for the university's information sciences curriculum. The PRIMEHPC FX10 further improves on Fujitsu's supercomputer technology employed in the K computer, which achieved the world's highest performance of any supercomputer in 2011. The new system will be installed in the Integrated Research Center of Kobe University located on Kobe's Port Island.

By leveraging its new of ultra-high-speed and high-capacity supercomputer to the greatest extent, the Kobe University Graduate School of System Informatics is aiming to educate students and others in large-scale simulation technology and nurture the development of human resources who can understand and analyze a wide variety of natural and social phenomena.

About the System for Information Sciences

The system is being configured from a 96-node, single-rack model of Fujitsu's PRIMEHPC FX10 supercomputer, an enhancement of K computer technology. Nodes are equipped with SPARC64™IXfx processors, which attain higher levels of performance per unit of power, and are interconnected through "Tofu" interconnects employing the highly flexible 6-dimensional Mesh/Torus architecture. Furthermore, due to Fujitsu's "Technical Computing Suite" HPC middleware, the system supports a wide range of development languages which enable maximum performance. It also features advanced functions for system management and job operations management.

The theoretical peak performance for the entire system is 20 teraflops.

In addition, for saving simulation data and performing backup, the system is equipped with 120TB of storage through two ETERNUS DX80 storage systems. Kobe University will also employ 40 Fujitsu ESPRIMO K552/D desktop units for user training purposes.

About Fujitsu

Fujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company offering a full range of technology products, solutions and services. Over 170,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 4.5 trillion yen (US$54 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2012. For more information, please see http://www.fujitsu.com.

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Source: Fujitsu