First Modular Supercomputer Starts Operation at the Research Center Jülich

November 13, 2017

JULICH, Germany, Nov. 13, 2017 — The second module of JURECA is as large as an entire supercomputer: the booster is accommodated across 33 cabinets in the computer hall of the Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC). The expansion, developed by Intel and the JSC in cooperation with Dell EMC and ParTec to massively increase the available computing power, is directly connected to the first module, the cluster, which was supplied by T-Platforms in 2015. Thanks to the additional 5 petaflop/second – equivalent to 5 billion computing operations per second – the Jülich supercomputer now appears as one of the fastest computers in Europe on the TOP500 list of the fastest computers in the world, the current version of which has been published today. Above all, this is the first time that a supercomputer with an innovative modular architecture has gone into productive operation worldwide.

5 petaflop/s booster at the Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC)
Copyright: Forschungszentrum Jülich / W.-P. Schneider

The modular concept of JURECA – JURECA stands for “Jülich Research on Exascale Architectures” – originates from the EU-funded research projects DEEP and DEEP-ER. The aim of the projects, led by Dr. Estela Suarez, a scientist from Jülich, was to develop a modular supercomputer architecture that is specially tailored to the requirements of modern simulation codes. Various types of modules can be dynamically allocated to the programs by means of the “ParaStation” software system developed by the Munich-based company ParTec, so that their individual advantages can be exploited.

“This works like a turbocharger: a booster module accelerates calculations on a cluster module, or in other words, complex parts of the code, which are difficult to calculate simultaneously on a large number of processors, are executed on the so-called cluster module “, explains Prof. Thomas Lippert, head of the Jülich Supercomputing Centre and originator of the concept. “Simpler parts of the program that can be processed in parallel with greater efficiency, i.e., they are scalable, are transferred to the booster module.”, The booster module uses a large number of relatively slow but energy-efficient cores.

“The successful installation and integration of the booster marks a significant milestone in our efforts to develop highly innovative modular supercomputing systems and to make them available together with industry-leading companies such as T-Platforms, Intel, Dell EMC and ParTec for scientific simulations, for example in materials science or brain and climate research,” explains Dr. Dorian Krause, responsible for computer operation at the JSC. “The test run for the TOP500 was a good proof of the performance and stability of the JURECA cluster booster system. More importantly, we are delighted to be able to make this unique architecture available to our entire user community,” said Krause.

“We are extremely pleased by the successful implementation of this new computer architecture with the help of our software ParaStation. This software has specifically been developed to handle the unique, inventive modular architecture of these futuristic systems. This is a spectacular first step to the provision of the exascale computer, needed in the world for ever growing scientific and civil/commercial applications, from internet to automatic driving, and much more. A world wide ‘first’ and remarkable lead in the race to exascale”, says Bernhard Frohwitter, CEO of ParTec.

Facts and figures

The JURECA cluster booster system achieved rank 29 in the TOP500 list with a performance of 3.78 petaflop/second. The updated version of this list of the world’s fastest computers – which celebrated its 25th anniversary and the 50th edition – was presented today at the beginning of the international supercomputing conference SC17 in Denver, USA.

With the booster module 1,640 new computing nodes with Intel Xeon Phi 7250-F processors are added, each with 68 cores. Intel has deployed the system, which is based on Intel’s Scalable Systems Framework (Intel® SSF), together with Dell EMC, using the Dell EMC PowerEdge C6230P server, interconnected with an Intel Omni-Path Architecture (OPA) network. The cluster-module was delivered already in 2015 by the Russian company T-Platforms, which actively supported the development of the booster. The system is operated by the ParaStation Cluster Suite from ParTec, which fully implements the software functionality required for modular supercomputing.


Source: Jülich Supercomputing Centre 

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