Nov. 23 — Atos, an international leader in digital services, and CEA announce that the first Bull sequana equipped with BXI (Bull eXascale Interconnect) has entered the TOP500 ranking of the most powerful supercomputers in the world. A total of 20 supercomputers developed by Atos are currently ranked in the TOP500 list.

The Bull sequana supercomputer equipped with BXI is the first “cell” of the 25-petaflop supercomputer that Atos will supply to The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) in 2017 as part of the Tera1000 project. Its architecture heralds the next generation of exascale supercomputers for the 2020s. The first phase of the Tera1000 supercomputer at CEA is currently ranked #55 in the TOP500.

One single cell ranked in TOP500

The system that is ranked in the TOP500 is a single Bull sequana cell, featuring 85 compute blades interconnected by a BXI network, with a total of 220 Intel Xeon Phi 7250 processors, coming to a theoretical peak power of 670 teraflops. It is developing a Linpack performance of 380.5 teraflops. For the first time in the world, a supercomputer is equipped with the new generation BXI network developed by Atos. BXI is one of the key technologies that will eventually enable us to reach exascale level performances.

Designed and developed in France

Bull sequana supercomputers are produced at the Atos factory in Angers, France. They are designed based on the worldwide expertise of engineers from the Atos group, as well as long-standing partnerships with major customers such as the CEA: the tried-and-tested methodology of co-design aims to optimise the performance of the simulation code – supercomputer pairing.

As François Geleznikoff, Head of the CEA’s Military Applications Division, says, “Meeting the challenge of exaflops and big data is a major issue for research, defence and industry, as it opens up a whole field that today remains unexplored and inaccessible, making it possible for us to not only understand, but also simulate complex physical phenomena and industrial systems. In Europe, the CEA, in partnership with Atos, is particularly well positioned to meet this challenge – both in terms of the expertise of its teams, and the dynamism of its computing facilities, which are open to all fields of research and industry.”

Philippe Vannier, Executive Vice-President in charge of Big Data & Security and the Chief Technology Officer in the Atos Group, adds, “Atos is incredibly proud to see the concrete results of the Tera1000 project. Today we are taking a major step on the road towards exaflops. Undoubtedly, the interconnect technologies will provide a crucial contribution in achieving exaflops performance. With BXI, Atos is confirming its leadership in the field of supercomputers and beyond in the processing of very large volumes of data.”

The Atos supercomputer ‘Santos Dumont’ at LNCC in Brazil ranked #364 received an award from the TOP500 organization as it is the largest supercomputer in South America.

About the CEA and the Military Applications Division

The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) is a public research organization working in four main areas: defense and security, nuclear and renewable energies, technological research for industry and fundamental research. Building on its recognized expertise, the CEA takes part in implementing cooperation projects with a wide range of academic and industrial partners. With its 16,000 researchers and employees, it is a major player in European research and is also expanding its international presence.  The CEA’s Military Applications Division (“DAM”) takes charge of defence and security missions. The DAM is responsible for the design, manufacture and through-life support of the nuclear warheads that equip France’s sea- and airborne deterrence forces and of the nuclear reactors and reactor cores on French Navy submarines and aircraft carrier. The DAM also contributes to national and global security through the technical support it provides to the authorities relative to the prevention of nuclear proliferation and terrorism in chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosives domains (CBRN-E) and cybersecurity. For more information, visit: www.cea.fr.

About Atos

Atos SE (Societas Europaea) is a leader in digital services with pro forma annual revenue of circa €12 billion and circa 100,000 employees in 72 countries. Serving a global client base, the Group provides Consulting & Systems Integration services, Managed Services & BPO, Cloud operations, Big Data & Cybersecurity solutions, as well as transactional services through Worldline, the European leader in the payments and transactional services industry. With its deep technology expertise and industry knowledge, the Group works with clients across different business sectors: Defense, Financial Services, Health, Manufacturing, Media, Utilities, Public sector, Retail, Telecommunications, and Transportation. Atos is focused on business technology that powers progress and helps organizations to create their firm of the future. The Group is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic & Paralympic Games and is listed on the Euronext Paris market. Atos operates under the brands Atos, Atos Consulting, Atos Worldgrid, Bull, Canopy, Unify and Worldline. For more information, visit: www.atos.net.

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Source: Atos