HPC Solutions Framework
The comprehensive framework called Lenovo Scalable Infrastructure Services provides a clear, replicable blueprint for solution development, configuration, build, delivery and support. It was disclosed here at the 2016 International Supercomputing Conference (ISC). For this framework, Lenovo is partnering with Intel®, leveraging Intel® Scalable System Framework (SFF) to deliver fully integrated HPC solutions with unified support.
Lenovo showcased the first deployment using this framework – the “MARCONI” Supercomputer for Cineca, an inter-university computing consortium based in Casalecchio di Reno, Italy. The supercomputer, co-designed by Cineca and Lenovo, is based on the Lenovo NeXtScale platform using the latest Intel® Xeon® processors. It is one of the biggest Intel® Omni-Path Architecture deployments to date. It gives the scientific community access to a technologically advanced, energy-efficient HPC solution.
Lenovo achieved a sustained High-Performance Linpack (HPL) performance of 1.72 PFlop/s on MARCONI, underlining the company’s capability to deliver and rapidly deploy the newest, leading-edge HPC technologies. The deployment speed can be accelerated because the solution comes fully assembled, tested and ready to run.
Lenovo Scalable Infrastructure Services leverages the company’s powerful server portfolio, upgraded earlier this year with next-generation Intel® Xeon® v4 processors and the introduction of a new dense, 2U, 4-node system, the ThinkServer SD350. In addition, Lenovo upgraded its industry leading direct-water cooled NeXtScale M5 solution to integrate Intel® Xeon® v4 processors with an improved custom loop that enables even greater performance, efficiency and flexibility. Lenovo will demonstrate how the new direct-water cooled NeXtScale M5 solution can capture up to 90% of its heat directly into the water at its booth during ISC.
Innovating with Customers
At ISC 2016, Lenovo and the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre highlighted their recent breakthrough of cooling the Lenovo NeXtScale M5 based CooLMUC-2 cluster with 50°C hot water in a production environment. LRZ uses this system to move “green IT” a step further, taking the hot water from Lenovo’s direct water cooling technology to drive “absorption chillers.” These chillers use the energy in the hot water to generate cold water, which then is leveraged for cooling five petabytes of HPC storage.
The result is an Energy Reuse Effectiveness (ERE) of 0.3 – meaning that 70% of the captured heat is fully recycled and converted to cold water. In addition, hot water cooling also reduces power consumption of the servers and improves the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE). As a result, the LRZ CooLMUC-2 system consumes only about a third of the total electricity of a comparable, conventional air cooled system.
This advancement is the latest milestone in Lenovo’s ongoing effort to work with customers in creating purposeful innovation. LRZ is a collaboration partner of Lenovo’s HPC Innovation Center in Stuttgart, which is part of a global network for HPC R&D and collaboration that now has other sites in Beijing and Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
