Atos Boosts Range of Supercomputers

Atos announces that the Bull Sequana X1310, a productized supercomputer, is using ARM processors. This new model is part of its Bull Sequana X1000 supercomputer range. Bull Sequana is an open range of supercomputers that is ready to support future Exascale technologies.

Partners working on the Mont-Blanc project deployed the world’s first ARM-based HPC cluster a few years ago, a prototype based on Bull blades, demonstrating the viability of using ARM technology for HPC. With ARM’s recent introduction of its energy-efficient 64-bit CPUs targeting servers, ARM-based supercomputing is now within reach, Atos reports.

Atos is coordinating the third phase of the Mont-Blanc project, which aims to define the architecture of an Exascale-class compute node based on ARM, and capable of being industrialized. For their research and evaluations, Mont-Blanc partners will rely on a test platform developed by Atos and will leverage the Bull Sequana X1000 architecture. Atos will integrate and industrialize this platform in its standard product range under the name of Bull Sequana X1310.

“This project is part of our Exascale program for 2020, under which we are developing a new generation of supercomputers. Atos designed the Bull Sequana X1000 system as an open platform, to offer HPC users a large choice of computer architectures from which to choose, and to support the future processor technologies that will make it possible to reach the exaflops level. It is therefore a natural step to extend the range to include ARM processors, together with the existing CPUs, core processors and co-processors,” explains Agnès Boudot, group VP, head of HPC at Atos.

Atos supercomputers’ high-data volume processing capabilities are also maximized within Atos’ Big Data services including “Atos Codex,” an integrated end-to-end analytics solution including predictive computing and cognitive analytics.

The Bull Sequana X1310 blade includes three compute nodes, each equipped with two latest generation 64 bit ThunderX2 processors from Cavium, based on the ARM v8 instruction set. The new model is slated to be available in Q2 2018.

For more info, visit Atos.

Sources: Press materials received from the company.