INTERVIEW WITH DR. ALEX R÷DER

September 15, 2000

by Uwe Harms

San Diego, CALIF. — DeTeCSM (Deutsche Telekom Computer Service Management) is the IT provider for the Telekom Group with operations (data centers), techniques (infrastructure) and services (call center, advisory services). It provides all the services outside the group too – they are marketed through Deutsche Telekom’s sales channels. The company employs a staff of 6200 and operates about 28 700 MIPS CPU, 110 TByte mainframe disk memory (MVS), 3 200 Unix servers, 177 000 PC, 135 000 printers and 30 000 terminals. The 6 Service and Computer Centers (SCC) are located northern, west, south-west, south, east and in the middle of Germany.

As IBM had installed their 100th IBM RS/6000 SP supercomputer, Uwe Harms got the chance to interview Professor Dr. Alex Rˆder, Chairman of the Managing Board of DeTeCSM.

Uwe Harms: “As you are German Telekom’s IT provider, you surely got all their powerful servers and mainframes and overtook all their computer centers, what happened then?”

Alex Rˆder: “We now own all the mainframes and the servers. The consolidation process started in 1992 with about 108 computer centers, at nearly each Telekom location a computer center. The consolidation finished in 1996 with these 6 SCCs. We now offer 28000 mainframe MIPS, all in CMOS technology. This step was followed by the servers, where we checked whether it is appropriate to centralize it or when it is locally used, keep it local.”

U.H.: “You are not concentrated on Deutsche Telekom but look for other customers. Can you give some examples?”

Alex Rˆder: “About 15% of our revenues come from sisters or outside, about 180 Million Euro (about 155 Million US$) out of 1.19 Billion Euro (about 1 Billion US$) in 1999. One interesting project was Lufthansa Passage GmbH. We delivered, operate and do maintenance for their desktops. We installed 4000 desktops and integrated about 130 applications. Additionally we installed ticket printers and realize the help desk. Another project, just finished, was the German Federal Agency of Labour Exchange. In the offices of the Labour Exchange we installed 83000 PCs, 1200 NT servers and 21000 printers. Friday after work, the old equipment was disassemmbled, the new installed and tested. Monday in the morning the new machines were up and running.”

U.H.: “What about Deutsche Post AG – are they outsourcing their equipment too?”

Alex Rˆder: “Yes, we just overtook the field service, have employees for the PCs and software available, and their corporate network. In the next step, end of this year, the mainframes and servers are coming.

U.H.: “You recently installed your 100th IBM RS/6000 SP server, how many nodes do they have?”

Alex Rˆder: “In total we have 1100 nodes with 2 to 4 CPUs and 2 to 4 GB RAM.”

U.H.: “That leads to an estimation of approximately 3300 CPUs. In the actual Top500 list DeTeCSM has seven IBM SP with an aggregated peak performance of 1.2 TFlop/s using 1600 processors. Thus I estimate a peak performance of the 100 systems of more than 2.5 TFlop/s. This is about 20% of the peak performance of the fastest computer of the world, ASCI White. This IBM RS/6000 SP has 8192 processors and delivers a peak performance of 12 TFlop/s. What are you doing with your Teraflop/s ?”

Alex Rˆder: “The IBM SP plays an important role in the server consolidation task, about 1000 servers have been consolidated. We use the SP’s for datawarehousing, as application server in the SAP R/3 and inquiry services as well as in a Tivoli environment.

U.H.: “Can you give us some details?”

Alex Rˆder: “I start with Tivoli. In the project Enterprise Process Management Framework (EMPF) we use the next generation of system management. The Tivoli building blocks run on 11 RS/6000 SP with 180 nodes to manage all the mainframes, servers and clients in our huge network from a central point. By the way, only two people manage the 100 SP systems. An other project is the SAP HR (Human Resources), 3 IBM SP with 70 nodes are used as application server with a backend database on an IBM S/390 mainframe. Here 10 000 named users, more than 3200 concurrent user, in 220 locations access secure R/3 for example with smartcard for identification. The database has a size of 500 GB plus the mirror. The inquiry service uses 7 SP with 100 nodes.”

U.H.: “IBM is your only supplier?”

Alex Rˆder: “Wo do not believe in a single vendor strategy, as competition reduces the costs and improves the support. As you can see in the Top500 list, we have big systems from other vendors too.”

U.H.: “Why did you chose IBM as a main supplier – 100 IBM SP systems?”

Alex Rˆder: “The IBM machines have the high performance, we need in commercial applications. Now there is a single point of administration. As I mentioned earlier, two operators manage all the SP-systems from one location. Other issues are availability, reliability, and scalability. Soon we can extend our machines.”

U.H.: “You mentioned commercial applications, do you have any engineering, e.g. computer aided engineering, or scientific application?”

Alex Rˆder: “No, we concentrate on the commercial field.”

U.H.: “What about Linux, does DeTeCSM has a Linux strategy?”

Alex Rˆder: “This operating system is a candidate. Actually we run tests with native Linux on IBM S/390. One and a half year ago, we installed a SAP application on Linux and ran it. But today we made no decision, which Linux. An other issue is the user. Our experienced personnel could download and install Linux on their PCs, but we do not allow this for the reason of easier maintainability.

U.H.:”Thank you Dr. Rˆder for your time and this interview. It surprised me, which supercomputing power, measured in TeraFlop/s, is installed within DeTeCSM.”

============================================================

Subscribe to HPCwire's Weekly Update!

Be the most informed person in the room! Stay ahead of the tech trends with industry updates delivered to you every week!

MLPerf Inference 4.0 Results Showcase GenAI; Nvidia Still Dominates

March 28, 2024

There were no startling surprises in the latest MLPerf Inference benchmark (4.0) results released yesterday. Two new workloads — Llama 2 and Stable Diffusion XL — were added to the benchmark suite as MLPerf continues Read more…

Q&A with Nvidia’s Chief of DGX Systems on the DGX-GB200 Rack-scale System

March 27, 2024

Pictures of Nvidia's new flagship mega-server, the DGX GB200, on the GTC show floor got favorable reactions on social media for the sheer amount of computing power it brings to artificial intelligence.  Nvidia's DGX Read more…

Call for Participation in Workshop on Potential NSF CISE Quantum Initiative

March 26, 2024

Editor’s Note: Next month there will be a workshop to discuss what a quantum initiative led by NSF’s Computer, Information Science and Engineering (CISE) directorate could entail. The details are posted below in a Ca Read more…

Waseda U. Researchers Reports New Quantum Algorithm for Speeding Optimization

March 25, 2024

Optimization problems cover a wide range of applications and are often cited as good candidates for quantum computing. However, the execution time for constrained combinatorial optimization applications on quantum device Read more…

NVLink: Faster Interconnects and Switches to Help Relieve Data Bottlenecks

March 25, 2024

Nvidia’s new Blackwell architecture may have stolen the show this week at the GPU Technology Conference in San Jose, California. But an emerging bottleneck at the network layer threatens to make bigger and brawnier pro Read more…

Who is David Blackwell?

March 22, 2024

During GTC24, co-founder and president of NVIDIA Jensen Huang unveiled the Blackwell GPU. This GPU itself is heavily optimized for AI work, boasting 192GB of HBM3E memory as well as the the ability to train 1 trillion pa Read more…

MLPerf Inference 4.0 Results Showcase GenAI; Nvidia Still Dominates

March 28, 2024

There were no startling surprises in the latest MLPerf Inference benchmark (4.0) results released yesterday. Two new workloads — Llama 2 and Stable Diffusion Read more…

Q&A with Nvidia’s Chief of DGX Systems on the DGX-GB200 Rack-scale System

March 27, 2024

Pictures of Nvidia's new flagship mega-server, the DGX GB200, on the GTC show floor got favorable reactions on social media for the sheer amount of computing po Read more…

NVLink: Faster Interconnects and Switches to Help Relieve Data Bottlenecks

March 25, 2024

Nvidia’s new Blackwell architecture may have stolen the show this week at the GPU Technology Conference in San Jose, California. But an emerging bottleneck at Read more…

Who is David Blackwell?

March 22, 2024

During GTC24, co-founder and president of NVIDIA Jensen Huang unveiled the Blackwell GPU. This GPU itself is heavily optimized for AI work, boasting 192GB of HB Read more…

Nvidia Looks to Accelerate GenAI Adoption with NIM

March 19, 2024

Today at the GPU Technology Conference, Nvidia launched a new offering aimed at helping customers quickly deploy their generative AI applications in a secure, s Read more…

The Generative AI Future Is Now, Nvidia’s Huang Says

March 19, 2024

We are in the early days of a transformative shift in how business gets done thanks to the advent of generative AI, according to Nvidia CEO and cofounder Jensen Read more…

Nvidia’s New Blackwell GPU Can Train AI Models with Trillions of Parameters

March 18, 2024

Nvidia's latest and fastest GPU, codenamed Blackwell, is here and will underpin the company's AI plans this year. The chip offers performance improvements from Read more…

Nvidia Showcases Quantum Cloud, Expanding Quantum Portfolio at GTC24

March 18, 2024

Nvidia’s barrage of quantum news at GTC24 this week includes new products, signature collaborations, and a new Nvidia Quantum Cloud for quantum developers. Wh Read more…

Alibaba Shuts Down its Quantum Computing Effort

November 30, 2023

In case you missed it, China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba has shut down its quantum computing research effort. It’s not entirely clear what drove the change. Read more…

Nvidia H100: Are 550,000 GPUs Enough for This Year?

August 17, 2023

The GPU Squeeze continues to place a premium on Nvidia H100 GPUs. In a recent Financial Times article, Nvidia reports that it expects to ship 550,000 of its lat Read more…

Shutterstock 1285747942

AMD’s Horsepower-packed MI300X GPU Beats Nvidia’s Upcoming H200

December 7, 2023

AMD and Nvidia are locked in an AI performance battle – much like the gaming GPU performance clash the companies have waged for decades. AMD has claimed it Read more…

DoD Takes a Long View of Quantum Computing

December 19, 2023

Given the large sums tied to expensive weapon systems – think $100-million-plus per F-35 fighter – it’s easy to forget the U.S. Department of Defense is a Read more…

Synopsys Eats Ansys: Does HPC Get Indigestion?

February 8, 2024

Recently, it was announced that Synopsys is buying HPC tool developer Ansys. Started in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1970 as Swanson Analysis Systems, Inc. (SASI) by John Swanson (and eventually renamed), Ansys serves the CAE (Computer Aided Engineering)/multiphysics engineering simulation market. Read more…

Choosing the Right GPU for LLM Inference and Training

December 11, 2023

Accelerating the training and inference processes of deep learning models is crucial for unleashing their true potential and NVIDIA GPUs have emerged as a game- Read more…

Intel’s Server and PC Chip Development Will Blur After 2025

January 15, 2024

Intel's dealing with much more than chip rivals breathing down its neck; it is simultaneously integrating a bevy of new technologies such as chiplets, artificia Read more…

Baidu Exits Quantum, Closely Following Alibaba’s Earlier Move

January 5, 2024

Reuters reported this week that Baidu, China’s giant e-commerce and services provider, is exiting the quantum computing development arena. Reuters reported � Read more…

Leading Solution Providers

Contributors

Comparing NVIDIA A100 and NVIDIA L40S: Which GPU is Ideal for AI and Graphics-Intensive Workloads?

October 30, 2023

With long lead times for the NVIDIA H100 and A100 GPUs, many organizations are looking at the new NVIDIA L40S GPU, which it’s a new GPU optimized for AI and g Read more…

Shutterstock 1179408610

Google Addresses the Mysteries of Its Hypercomputer 

December 28, 2023

When Google launched its Hypercomputer earlier this month (December 2023), the first reaction was, "Say what?" It turns out that the Hypercomputer is Google's t Read more…

AMD MI3000A

How AMD May Get Across the CUDA Moat

October 5, 2023

When discussing GenAI, the term "GPU" almost always enters the conversation and the topic often moves toward performance and access. Interestingly, the word "GPU" is assumed to mean "Nvidia" products. (As an aside, the popular Nvidia hardware used in GenAI are not technically... Read more…

Shutterstock 1606064203

Meta’s Zuckerberg Puts Its AI Future in the Hands of 600,000 GPUs

January 25, 2024

In under two minutes, Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, laid out the company's AI plans, which included a plan to build an artificial intelligence system with the eq Read more…

Google Introduces ‘Hypercomputer’ to Its AI Infrastructure

December 11, 2023

Google ran out of monikers to describe its new AI system released on December 7. Supercomputer perhaps wasn't an apt description, so it settled on Hypercomputer Read more…

China Is All In on a RISC-V Future

January 8, 2024

The state of RISC-V in China was discussed in a recent report released by the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. The report, entitled "E Read more…

Intel Won’t Have a Xeon Max Chip with New Emerald Rapids CPU

December 14, 2023

As expected, Intel officially announced its 5th generation Xeon server chips codenamed Emerald Rapids at an event in New York City, where the focus was really o Read more…

IBM Quantum Summit: Two New QPUs, Upgraded Qiskit, 10-year Roadmap and More

December 4, 2023

IBM kicks off its annual Quantum Summit today and will announce a broad range of advances including its much-anticipated 1121-qubit Condor QPU, a smaller 133-qu Read more…

  • arrow
  • Click Here for More Headlines
  • arrow
HPCwire