Lenovo and Intel Deliver New System to Leibniz Supercomputing Center

Lenovo and Intel will deliver a next-generation supercomputer to Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ) of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences in Munich, Germany.

One of the foremost European computing centers for professionals in the scientific, research and academic communities, LRZ is tasked with managing not only exponential amounts of big data, but processing and analyzing that data quickly to accelerate research initiatives around the world. For example, the LRZ recently completed the world’s largest simulation of earthquakes and resulting tsunami’s, such as the Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake. This research enables real-time scenarios planning that can help predict aftershocks and other seismic hazards.

Upon its completion in late 2018, the new supercomputer (called SuperMUC-NG) will support LRZ in its research across a variety of complex scientific disciplines, such as astrophysics, fluid dynamics and life sciences, by offering high-performance computing (HPC) services that leverage technology optimized to address the a broad range of scientific computing applications. The LRZ installation will also feature the 20-millionth server shipped by Lenovo, a significant milestone in the company’s data center history. Once operational, the LRZ SuperMUC-NG system is expected to place on the industry-wide TOP500 list.

The SuperMUC-NG will deliver 26.7 petaflop compute capacity powered by nearly 6,500 nodes of Lenovo’s recently-announced, next-generation ThinkSystem SD650 servers, featuring Intel Xeon Platinum processors with Intel Advanced Vector Extensions (Intel AVX 512), and interconnected with Intel Omni-Path Architecture. The new system will also include the integration of Lenovo Intelligent Computing Orchestrator (LiCO), management suite with an intuitive GUI that helps accelerate development of HPC and AI applications, as well as cloud-based components to empower LRZ researchers with the freedom to virtualize, process the vast amount of data sets and expediently share results with colleagues.

To address the often-astronomical operational expenses generated by HPC infrastructure, the new SuperMUC-NG supercomputer will benefit from Intel technical optimizations and also feature cutting-edge water cooling technology from Lenovo. In combination with Lenovo Energy Aware Run-Time (EAR) software, a technology that dynamically controls system infrastructure power while applications are still running, Lenovo’s comprehensive water-cooling technology delivers 45 percent greater electricity savings to LRZ as compared to a similar, standard air-cooled system. Together, these energy efficiency innovations will help further reduce the research center’s carbon footprint and total cost of ownership.