Dubai: Lenovo and Intel today announced their collaboration to modernise HPC infrastructure at Austria’s most powerful supercomputer – the Vienna Scientific Cluster-4 (VSC-4). Built on Lenovo ThinkSystem servers and 2nd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors, VSC-4 supports more than 300 research projects led by scientists from higher education institutions throughout Austria, covering life-enhancing challenges such as meteorology to materials science, quantum chemistry to genetics.

The VSC itself is a consortium of five major Austrian universities: TU Wien; the University of Vienna; the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna; the Graz University of Technology; and the University of Innsbruck. Their collaboration enables them to procure and operate bigger, more powerful supercomputers for their researchers than would be possible individually, as demand for HPC resources has increased significantly in recent years.

Like its predecessors, VSC-4 will be used to support projects wishing to run big data analytics and machine learning jobs to advance their research. The requests have also become more diverse and wide- ranging, including non-traditional users in areas such as biotechnology, social sciences and humanities. Projects include predicting the impact of climate change to rivers and flood areas; helping nations prepare for changing weather patterns; understanding how certain drugs react with proteins in the human body to improve medicine development; and simulating early universe situations following the Big Bang.

Lenovo worked with the VSC-4 team to provide Lenovo ThinkSystem SD650 servers with its 3rd generation of Direct Water-Cooling technology, powered by 2nd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors. The built-in water-cooling technology removes approximately 90% of the heat from the system, dramatically reducing the need for air cooling by fans, and cutting energy costs while increasing performance.

A cluster comprised of 790 ThinkSystem SD650 nodes was implemented featuring 37,920 Intel Xeon Scalable processor cores with Intel DL Boost, Intel’s built-in AI acceleration technology. The servers are connected by 100 GB/sec Intel Omni-Path Architecture, a high-speed interconnect that increases application performance, improves load balancing and maximizes scalability.

The new VSC-4 became the first supercomputer in Austria to break the petaflop (PFLOP) barrier, achieving a peak performance of 3.7 PFLOPS (2.7 PFLOPS in continuous operation) as measured on the Linpack benchmark. It is the country’s largest HPC installation and ranks 93rd in the November 2019 TOP500 list of the world’s most powerful supercomputers.

“With our planet currently facing so many challenges, we are proud that Lenovo DCG is helping VSC deliver the computing power needed to support the researchers who are set out to solve these challenges. Advanced computing power is creating opportunities across a breadth of industries which will help make substantial improvements in human productivity and sustainability in a myriad of areas.” Richard Wilcox, Regional Director, Middle East, Lenovo DCG.

“VSC-4 is four times more powerful than its predecessor, and with Lenovo’s direct water-cooling technology we’re saving energy and costs too. We’re so pleased with the results because we now have a truly world-class supercomputer that will be at the heart of the Austrian research community for years to come” said Professor Herbert Störi, Scientific Project Leader, Vienna Scientific Cluster.

 “The new VSC-4 system gives the European research community a powerful new resource for exploration, innovation and discovery,” said Trish Damkroger, vice president and general manager of the Extreme Computing Organization at Intel. “With our latest Intel Xeon Scalable processors and Omni-Path fabric, VSC-4 is ready to take on the most demanding tasks at the convergence of HPC and Artificial Intelligence.”

* Lenovo Data Center Group ranked 1st in the annual TOP500 Supercomputers list; see press release for more information

-Ends-

About Lenovo

Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a US$50 billion Fortune Global 500 company, with 57,000 employees and operating in 180 markets around the world. Focused on a bold vision to deliver smarter technology for all, we are developing world-changing technologies that create a more inclusive, trustworthy and sustainable digital society. By designing, engineering and building the world’s most complete portfolio of smart devices and infrastructure, we are also leading an Intelligent Transformation – to create better experiences and opportunities for millions of customers around the world. To find out more visit https://www.lenovo.com , follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Weibo and read about the latest news via our StoryHub.

Intel, the Intel logo, Xeon and Omni-Path are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Find more information about Intel go to newsroom.intel.com  and intel.com. 

© Press Release 2019

Disclaimer: The contents of this press release was provided from an external third party provider. This website is not responsible for, and does not control, such external content. This content is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis and has not been edited in any way. Neither this website nor our affiliates guarantee the accuracy of or endorse the views or opinions expressed in this press release.

The press release is provided for informational purposes only. The content does not provide tax, legal or investment advice or opinion regarding the suitability, value or profitability of any particular security, portfolio or investment strategy. Neither this website nor our affiliates shall be liable for any errors or inaccuracies in the content, or for any actions taken by you in reliance thereon. You expressly agree that your use of the information within this article is at your sole risk.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, this website, its parent company, its subsidiaries, its affiliates and the respective shareholders, directors, officers, employees, agents, advertisers, content providers and licensors will not be liable (jointly or severally) to you for any direct, indirect, consequential, special, incidental, punitive or exemplary damages, including without limitation, lost profits, lost savings and lost revenues, whether in negligence, tort, contract or any other theory of liability, even if the parties have been advised of the possibility or could have foreseen any such damages.