Elbrus

Elbrus is a series of Soviet super-computers developed at the Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Engineering (ITMiVT) in the 1970s - 1990s. The same name was given to processors developed for use in high-tech military complexes, air defense and missile defense.

2024: Russia agreed to produce Alt tablets and servers based on Elbrus processors in India

In September 2024, Russian and Indian companies agreed to create a joint venture for the production of tablets based on the Alt operating system and servers with Elbrus processors in India. The decision was part of broader cooperation between the two countries in the IT space. Read more here.

2023: Sharp price increase due to high demand

The cost of processors of domestic companies MCST (Elbrus chips) and "" Baikal Electronics(chips) Baikal has doubled since the beginning of the year 2023. On May 12, 2023, the newspaper "" writes about this Kommersant with reference to participants in the computer technology market.

According to the publication, on the website of the retailer of computer components "Chip and Deep" the price of the BE-T1000 chip increased by 55%, to 8.9 thousand rubles apiece. Baikal Electronics noted that we are talking about the sale of old warehouse stocks and the company cannot affect prices: "In this case, the formation of prices lies entirely with the partner and is his area of ​ ​ responsibility."

The general director Promobit of "" (a manufacturer of servers DSS and Bitblaze) Maxim Koposov says that the rise in the cost of Russian processors is caused by an increase in demand for them and limited supply: more and more companies are announcing products based on Russian chips.

Increasing the cost of domestic chips directly affects the cost of final equipment, "Koposov emphasized, adding that as a result, Russian computer vendors are starting to use more components of American manufacturers.

Norsi-Trans CEO Sergei Ovchinnikov confirmed to the newspaper that the cost of domestic processors has doubled since the beginning of the year. The production of Russian chips at foreign factories has become more complicated, logistics chains have lengthened and, accordingly, the cost of the final component has increased, he said.

The state corporation Rostec explained to Kommersant that the manufacturer of the Shokin NPP Istok (part of Rostec) buys processors at wholesale prices and "has sufficient reserves," but the company has no data on price increases.

The manufacturer's spokesman electronic engineers F+ tech added that shortages and overheads increase the price of any microelectronic components.^[1]

2022

Compatibility with QApp post-quantum algorithm libraries

On October 6, 2022, the manufacturer of domestic universal micro processors MCST , together with the developer of complex quantum-resistant software solutions cyber security QApp , announced the completion of a pilot project demonstration of work on libraries of post-quantum algorithms Elbrus processors. More. here

How to produce domestic chips under sanctions? Elbrus processor developers have Plan A and Plan B

The ICST is considering two options for the production of Elbrus processors under the conditions of sanctions, said on April 19, 2022, company representative Konstantin Trushkin at a meeting of members of the Domestic Software ARPP. The first way is to try to get around the sanctions.

We are looking for options to still slip behind the cordon and get processors according to good technological standards. But this occupation, of course, is risky, it may not be successful, and after that you will have to start building channels again. And most importantly, unfortunately, formally, the processor may no longer have anything to do with us, the Russian company. Simply because if he is related to us, then this is a sanctions topic, "Trushkin explained. "Let's try.

Plan B - use the Russian factory "Micron." Today, it can produce processors using a 90nm process technology. This is the level of the early 2000s, and there are a lot of difficult moments, said the representative of the ICST.

But we hope that our colleagues are the only advanced factory in Russia, they will be able to overcome them and enter full-fledged mass production, "says Konstantin Trushkin.

The ICST representative chose not to disclose the details of the negotiations with Micron.

It will also take a lot of work so that those processors that will be produced on Micron are equipped with all the necessary software, and that this software works quickly enough, allowing you to solve problems at a level worthy of customers.

In March, against the background of a special operation in Ukraine, Russian chipmakers were under the sanctions of the European Union and the United States, including Baikal Electronics and the ICST. Foreign counterparties must coordinate with the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the US Department of Commerce all deliveries to these companies of any products manufactured using American technologies. At the same time, the US authorities adhere to the "policy of refusal."

And European companies are prohibited from providing sub-sanctioned chipmakers with any technological services related to the production of dual-use goods, issuing them grants, loans, loans, and other financial assistance.

The Taiwanese company TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor factory, has denied Russia the production of Baikal and Elbrus chips amid sanctions. Another large chip factory, the Chinese SMIC, was previously threatened with closure by the US authorities in the event of an attempt to produce Baikal and Elbrus.

AWS is based on a radiologist from Sciberia

The Yakut company "Cyberia" carried out the commissioning of a fully domestic automated workplace (AWS) of a radiologist. To launch the workplace, the domestic Elbrus processor was used. Read more here.

As part of domestic hardware and software enterprise management systems

On March 23, 2022, JSC MCST"" and LLC SBK"" announced the creation by joint efforts of fully hardware the Russian and software enterprise management systems (UP AGRARIAN AND INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX). These complexes were based on the software platform "," SBK-enterprise which in 2021 was adapted for the Russian " processors Elbrus." More. here

Datamaster Usability

AS has adapted its universal no code platform Datamaster for the design and creation of information systems related to collection, processing, information storage and automation to the Elbrus architecture. business processes The firm "AS" announced this on March 16, 2022. More. here

2021

Compatibility with SBK-Enterprise

On June 3, 2021, the company, System Business Components LLC a domestic developer MCST processors to import substitution of enterprise management information systems, announced that, together with JSC "," the developer and manufacturer of a domestic hardware platform based on the Elbrus family, as part of foreign work software , it completed the configuration of the software platform "" SBK-enterprise for use as part of hardware and software systems based on processors "" Elbrus-8C under the control OS of "Elbrus." More. here

Turbo ERP Compatibility

On June 24, 2021, the Russian software vendor Turbo (part of Consyst Business Group, LANIT Group of Companies) announced that it had tested its business solutions on Elbrus multiprocessor servers developed by ICST and INEUM named after I.S. Brook. Read more here.

Jatoba and Live Universal Interface DBMS compatibility

On April 21, 2021, FORCE - Development Center announced that specialists from Gazinformservice, FORS Telecom and MCST JSC conducted a number of test tests to determine the main performance indicators of the hardware and software complex as part of the Jatoba DBMS, the Live Universal Interface (LUI) software product and servers based on Elbrus processors. Read more here.

Tionix VDI Connect Compatibility

MCST and THIONIX tested the products for compatibility. Thionics announced this on March 11, 2021.

Tests have shown that software TIONIX it operates normally at automated workplaces with processors Elbrus- 1C+ and Elbrus-8C MCST production. here More.

2019

Testing blockchain nodes based on Elbrus

Russian developer B41 Blockchain Development, a resident of the Skolkovo Foundation's Information Technology Cluster, has developed and tested a blockchain node assembled on the domestic Elbrus software and hardware platform. This was announced on September 11, 2019 at the Skolkovo Foundation.

The Elbrus hardware platform has been developed in Russia and is resistant to popular cyber attacks, including Meltdown and a number of Specter varieties. This is of particular value for any digital sphere and, in particular, the financial sphere, where hacker attacks can cause serious damage. Blockchain reliability and equipment power of attorney open the prospect for the next stage of import substitution and digitalization of sectors of the national economy based on equipment and software exclusively of Russian production.

Noda is compiled in binary codes of the Elbrus processor and works stably. Ahead - tests of the performance of blockchain based on Elbrus and its optimization. In the future, we plan to integrate Nodes Plus's own blockchain framework with Elbrus to digitalize priority industries, including fintech, the banking industry, the Internet of Things, industry, logistics, and so on, "said Oleg Sivakov, chief developer of the Blockchain Development B41.

The decision of the Skolkovo company B41 Blockchain Development, for example, may be in demand to build a secure infrastructure for the fast payment system, which was launched this year at the initiative of the Bank of Russia, - Pavel Novikov, director of the Finance & Blockchain Innovation Center of the Skolkovo Foundation.

Launch of vendor technical support service for Alt OS for Elbrus

On March 11, 2019, it became known that BASEALT (a Russian developer of operating systems for the public sector, state corporations and large businesses) and ALP Group (a Russian service IT company, an IT outsourcing and IT audit service provider) officially announced the start of providing vendor technical support services. Read more here.

Compatibility of Astra Linux and CryptoPro CSP on Elbrus processors

On January 24, 2019, ASTRALINUX announced that the CryptoPro CSP electronic signature tool was certified for use in the Russian Astra Linux operating system for the Elbrus and Baikal processor architecture (MIPS). Read more here.

2018

Creating a supercomputer on Elbrus

On November 13, 2018, it became known about the creation in Russia of the first powerful supercomputer based on a domestic processor. The device can be used in the defense industry.

According to Kommersant, citing knowledgeable sources, a supercomputer based on the Elbrus processor is being developed, which is expected to be included in the TOP500 rating of the most powerful computing systems.

One of the executors of the project, the costs of the "supercomputer" part of which are estimated at 1 billion rubles, was the Institute of Software Systems named after A.K. Eilamazyan. They confirmed to the publication that they are going to take part in the development of a supercomputer with Russian processors.

According to the director of the institute, Sergei Abramov, "a large project is being formed in order to solve a specific applied problem in the defense industry complex, and the creation of a supercomputer on a Russian processor is one of the parts of this project." 

The company ICST, which produces Elbrus processors, has not officially confirmed the existence of a project to create a supercomputer based on its products. But company representatives stressed that Elbrus processors have achieved performance that allows them to be used in the creation of supercomputers.

One of Kommersant's interlocutors, familiar with the project, says that we are talking about the first large Russian supercomputer based on a domestic processor, before that American chips were used for them. Elbrus processors previously ran only small supercomputers the size of a cabinet, he points out.

According to the head of the Russian representative office of AcerDmitry Kravchenko, for computing tasks that ensure the country's security and defense capability, it is preferable to have products whose architecture and software are transparent and fully controlled by domestic specialists.

The domestic processor and other element base is the basis of modern cybersecurity, especially in the defense industry and the armed forces, he said.[2]

Rostec presented an ultra-strong laptop at Elbrus

On July 9, 2018, the Roselectronics holding of Rostec State Corporation presented a serial sample of a new version of a domestic protected laptop YeS1866 for extreme operating conditions. The computer's computing core is based on the Russian Elbrus 1C + microprocessor. Read more here.

A processor has been created in Russia - an analogue of Intel Xeon and AMD Opteron

As it became known to CNews, the new processor of the Russian company MCST, known as the developer of the Elbrus microprocessor line, received characteristics similar to the properties of the Intel Xeon E5-2640 v2 and AMD Opteron 6370 server processors. Representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade announced this to CNews in January 2018. The first of the foreign products was launched on the market in the third quarter of 2013, the second in early 2014^[3].

The development of domestic novelties by order of the Ministry of Industry and Trade began in November 2015 and ended in November 2017. Neither the ICST nor the ministry has yet issued any announcements in relation to it. The cost of work amounted to 500 million rubles.

The contract with the ICST was signed following a competition for the implementation of thematic development work (OCD) as part of the subprogram for increasing the competitiveness of the domestic industry "Accelerated development of the military-industrial complex." The literal name of the lot sounded like the development and development of the production of a microprocessor for the implementation of a binary compatibility system with the x86, x86-64 architecture and computer modules based on it. The competition at the ICST tender was unsuccessfully tried by the Scientific and Technical Center "NTC Module."

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, all work under the contract was completed by the ICST in full, on time (until November 30, 2017) and adopted by the state commission.

2017: PCs and servers on Elbrus platform released 8S

On May 25, 2017, Roselectronics presented samples of personal computers and servers based on the Elbrus-8S microprocessor platform.

Created computing devices are declared as systems with increased performance and a guarantee of a high level of information protection. The eight-core chip is manufactured using 28 nm technology^[4]

This is the next generation of domestic computing. All stages of assembly are carried out at our production sites and at the enterprises of domestic partners. All this guarantees a high level of information security of the equipment. We expect the first experienced batch of processor-based personal computers to be ready by the end of Q2 2017. Arseniy Brykin, Deputy General Director of JSC "Roselectronics"

The installation batch of 2- and 4-processor servers based on Elbrus-8C will be released by the end of 2017. Servers are designed to process large amounts of information, including in real time.

2016: Price of Elbrus achievements

On August 10, 2016, the cost of developing two of the latest models from the Elbrus processor line became known - 1.25 billion rubles.

The development of Elbrus-8C and Elbrus-1C + - was carried out for three years and cost the budget 836 million and 410 million, respectively (in total ~ 1.25 billion). The work was carried out within the framework of the execution of contracts of the Ministry of Industry and Trade for the first two lots of the 2011 tender "for the implementation of research and development work under the subprogram of the federal target program No. 1 Part 28." Program No. 1 means "Development of the electronic component base and radio electronics" in 2008-2015^[5]

Work on lot No. 1 was called "Development of a heterogeneous microprocessor with a peak performance of more than 150 GFlops based on high-performance universal 64-bit processor cores." For lot No. 2 - "Development of a 64-bit microprocessor with built-in graphics with a peak performance of more than 24 Gflops."

Contracts for these lots were won in December 2011 by the developer of Elbrusov, ICST. Their execution was supposed to be completed before December 2015.

On December 31, 2015, Alexander Kim, General Director of the ICST, in his New Year's greetings on the company's website announced the completion of processor tests and the paperwork stage.

The state spent 1.25 billion rubles on the last two processors of the Elbrus line. For three years, despite the fact that the processors were not created from scratch - the Elbrus architecture has been used by the company in its lineup for more than ten years.

Representation

• Elbrus-8C is an 8-core processor created using 28 nm technology. Its purpose is primary and secondary processing of large volumes of digitized signals in real time, solving other information processing problems using both universal information processing algorithms and specialized ones: PCs, servers, high-performance systems.

• Elbrus-1C + is made using 40 nm technology. It contains one core of the Elbrus architecture and one graphics core with support for hardware acceleration of 3D graphics. It is intended for use in economical single-board wearable and built-in computers, terminals, industrial automation.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade is inclined to see the creation of computers based on them of a diverse design for the machine-building, aviation, space industry, fuel and energy complex, and other industries.

What is the degree of availability, the timing of the start of serial production and free sale, as of August 10, 2016, is not known. Nevertheless, in January 2016, the United Instrument-Making Corporation announced the start of development of cyber-espionage-protected equipment on the Elbrus-8S platform.

Elbrus-8S also appears in the Government-approved plan for guaranteed purchases of Russian civil microelectronic products for the medium term. The Ministry of Internal Affairs announced its intention in 2017-2018 to purchase products on this platform.

The Elbrus-8SV microprocessor is being designed with a peak capacity of over 500 GFlops. The foundations are laid for the next generation, with a capacity of more than 1 TFlops. Alexander Kim

2015: Elbrus-8C to hit the series in 2016

On May 26, 2015, it became known about the plans of the ICST company to begin serial deliveries of the Elbrus-8S processor in 2016. The processor is based on 28nm technology and will provide five times higher computing performance than its predecessor^[6]

Alexander Yakunin, CEO of the United Instrument Making Corporation, said: "The development of this chip has reached its final stage. At the end of this year, the processor should go to state tests, in 2016 it is planned to launch it into mass production. "

An experimental batch of Elbrus-8C processors was launched into production in July 2014.

Elbrus-8s processor on a computer board, 2014

As of May 26, 2015, the 8-core Elbrus-8S chip operates at a clock frequency of 1.3 GHz, performance - 250 Gflops. For comparison, the performance of the previous generation of the microprocessor - the 4-core Elbrus-4S, created on the basis of 65-nm technology, is five times lower - 50 Gflops (the development of this processor, operating at 800 MHz, was completed in 2014).

The main feature of the line of domestic Elbrus processors is the principle of explicit parallelism of operations embedded in the architecture. In addition to the high performance and energy efficiency of processors, it makes it possible to use them in replacing imported computing systems where information security and technological independence require it.

Computers on the Elbrus platform run the Elbrus OS, which is based on the Linux kernel and has a Debian package management system. Versions of C, C++, Java, Fortran-77 and Fortran-90 compilers, POstgreSQL DBMS, a large number of special software have been created for the Elbrus platform.

The company plans to release a peripheral interface controller - KPI-2 - simultaneously with the Elbrus-8C processor. According to the developers, this will allow systems on the Elbrus-8C to achieve a higher speed of exchange with external devices. It will use:

• PCI-Express 2.0 bus with 20 lines,
• three Gigabit Ethernet controllers
• eight SATA 3.0 ports.

Yakunin noted - in plans for 2018, to present the next generation of Elbrus - Elbrus-16S. It will be 8-core and created using 28 nm production technology, but operates at 1.5 GHz and offers increased computing power - 512 Gflops.

Elbrus-8C is not alone in the domestic field of processors - the company Baikal Electronics announced the completion of the release of engineering samples of a multi-core processor Baikal-T1 created according to the 28 nm topology. The chip is designed for industrial and consumer devices in the markets of communication solutions, industrial automation and embedded systems.

2014: Russian Elbrus-8C processor based on 28 nm technology

In the summer of 2014, ICST launched an experimental batch of Elbrus-8S microprocessors with 28 nm production technology, a 1.3 GHz chip design operating frequency and 250 Gflops computing power. The receipt of ready-made microcircuit samples is expected in October this year. And the creation of engineering samples of a 4-processor server based on Elbrus-8C with a capacity of 1 Tflops is scheduled for the end of 2014.

As specified by CNews in the ICST, microcircuits and servers ready for serial production should appear in 2015. Initially, the server solution will be designed and created by the ICST, and then the company will consider proposals for the production of products by third-party contractors.

It is known that the server will be housed in a 19-inch standard rack, and according to preliminary optimistic forecasts, the solution will consume about 60 W per processor (real consumption may be higher).

In the basic configuration, the server will have up to 6 Gigabit Ethernet ports, 2 PCI-Express 2.0 x16 ports and 2 PCI-Express 2.0 x4 ports and up to 16 Serial ATA 3.0 ports. Expansion capabilities will include an additional 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports and an additional 16 SATA 3.0 ports.

The ICST draws attention to the fact that Elbrus-8S is a completely Russian development. The microprocessor crystal has 8 cores with 64-bit Elbrus architecture of the 3rd generation, a cache of the 2nd level with a total volume of 4 megabytes and the 3rd level with a volume of 16 MB.

On the basis of the Elbrus-8C microprocessor, it is planned to organize mass production of servers, workstations and other computer equipment intended for use in government agencies and business structures that impose increased requirements for information security, as well as for use in the field of high-performance computing, signal processing, telecommunications.

The ICST draws attention to the fact that the Elbrus architecture developed in Russia has a number of exceptional features. These in the company include the ability to perform up to 25 operations on each core in one machine clock cycle (which provides high performance at moderate clock speed), dynamic binary translation technology (which ensures efficient execution of applications and operating systems distributed in x86 binary codes, including in multithreaded mode)support of secure computing mode with special hardware control of memory structure integrity (which makes it possible to ensure a high level of information security of the software systems using it).

The basic operating system for the Elbrus platform is the OS of the same name, built on the basis of the Linux kernel. The platform programming system supports C, C++, Java, Fortran-77, Fortran-90 languages.

2008: Elbrus-3M

In July 2008, the first fully domestic serial computer processor Elbrus-3m was presented. On the basis of this CPU, 64-processor systems with the same name - "Elbrus-3M" are assembled for military purposes. Such a processor, most of the developments for which were made in the Soviet Union, uses a different operating principle from modern Western processors installed in mass computers. The "clearly parallel" processor architecture theoretically gives the chip much greater performance capabilities. So, the Russian processor at a clock frequency of 300 MHz per clock cycle processes up to 23 commands, while the Pentium processor does not exceed ten. As a result, at a lower clock frequency, you can provide performance similar Pentium to 500 MHz - 1.5 GHz depending on the task. However, a different processor architecture implies a slightly different programming principle. However, Elbrus-3M can run the family OS Linux and - Windows 2000 using software emulation, as well as use package programs. Microsoft Office Also, MPEG-4 videos with a resolution of 720x416 are played without any problems and Quake (the first of four) is launched. It is clear that such processors cannot yet compete with Western computers, but they will be used in Russian military equipment. However, unfortunately, it is not yet Russia possible to produce such processors. Elbrus-3M is manufactured taking into account the 130-nanometer process technology. Due to the lack of such assembly lines in Russia, the processor is now assembled in small batches in Taiwan.

1984: Elbrus-2

Elbrus-2 multiprocessor computing complex - developed in 1977-1984, commissioned in 1985. Performance on 10 processors - 125 million operations per second. Built on the basis of ESL integrated circuits IS-100 (analogue of the Motorola 10000 series), due to the high power consumption, a powerful air conditioning system required. In total, about 30 Elbrus-2 machines were produced, of which some were 10-processor. Used in the missile defense of Moscow A-135.

Elbrus-1 and Elbrus-2 were mastered in serial production. When creating these complexes, the fundamental issues of building universal processors of extreme performance were solved. Thus, the dynamic allocation of super-fast memory resources of actuators and a number of other solutions first used in circuitry made it possible to increase the performance of each processor several times. In order to further increase the performance of the complex, fundamental issues of building multiprocessor systems were solved, such as eliminating the mutual influence of modules on overall performance, ensuring the impersonal operation of modules and their mutual synchronization.

Notes