Barcelona Supercomputing Center triples computing capacity
This public consortium has just added the most powerful machine in Spain, surpassing the MareNostrum computer, and moves up to 90th on the global Top 500 ranking.
BY BIOCAT
The Barcelona Supercomputing Center-National Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS) has tripled its calculating capacity with the new Bull system, based on bullx nodes equipped with Intel processors and Nvidia graphic processing units (GPUs).
This new machine has double the calculation capacity of the MareNostrum supercomputer, consumes seven times less power and takes up 13 times less space. Thanks to this new machine, the public consortium has moved up to 90th on the global Top 500 ranking (previously 118th).
The new machine has graphic accelerators to support programming model research, development tools and software portability. Unlike the MareNostrum, this BSC-CNS’s new machine is designed for specific use and, although it is not as versatile, offers optimum performance in these applications and programs.
Associate director of the BSC-CNS, Francesc Subirada, explained that the center’s new tools “allow for optimum use of supercomputing resources, accelerating performance of complex applications with a high social impact, like genome analysis, seismic imaging and designing new materials.”
Manager of Nvidia, Sumit Gupta, explains that "the spectacular increase in performance thanks to the GPU is allowing researchers from a number of scientific fields to speed up the pace of their research.”
This cluster will join the Spanish Supercomputing Network (RES) and will allow Spanish scientists access to more supercomputing resources through the current access committee.
Technical specifications (in Spanish)