30 June 2021 - High Performance Computing bwForCluster Helix: Order has been placed for the high performance computer
The tendering process for the procurement of the new high-performance computer bwForCluster Helix, which was launched at the beginning of 2021, was successfully completed in mid-June, and the orders have been placed.
The newly acquired system will have approximately 20,000 AMD EPYC Milan processor cores, 100 terabytes of main memory, and 200 NVIDIA Ampere Tensor Core GPUs (A100 and A40). For communication technology, it will employ a non-blocking NVIDIA Mellanox InfiniBand HDR network with a connection of at least 100 GBit/s per computer node.
The high-performance memory features a parallel IBM Spectrum Scale file system with a total capacity of about 11 petabytes with a flash storage capacity of about 800 terabytes. With Helix, we will be able to achieve an even more powerful connection to the SDS@
hd service which will allow for better support for data-intensive computing.
The computing cluster will be supplied by MEGWARE Computer Vertrieb und Service GmbH; the storage system will be provided by ABC Systems AG.
Over the coming weeks, the systems will be delivered and subsequently set up by the respective providers in a server room at the University Computing Centre. We are aiming for an uninterrupted transition from the existing system to the new high-performance computer, so that computing resources will remain continuously available to users.