The northern federal university starts the supercomputer in educational process

On December 15, 2014 the Softline company announced end of the complex project on creation of the supercomputer by request of the Northern (Arctic) federal university. The cost of the solution is about 20 million rubles.

Project Tasks

Acquisition of the supercomputer was initiated by Institute of mathematics, information and the SAFU space technologies. The value of high-performance computing promptly increases as more and more scientific and technical tasks decides using supercomputer technologies. At the university there was a need to train students in the solution of such tasks, in creation of a system of training of highly qualified personnel in the field of supercomputer technologies, in accomplishment of research works, scientific maintenance of innovations within the main scientific direction of "High-performance and Distributed Computing, Mathematical Modelling, Informatization and Intensification of Mathematical Education" institute.

The main selection term of the solutions providing creation of the supercomputer - performance. For the competitive procedure the customer prepared detailed technical specifications with characteristics of the device. Based on the tender, on the basis of successful experience of cooperation on a number of IT projects creation of the supercomputer was entrusted by Softline companies.

The choice of solutions for implementation is caused by a number of factors:

• Fujitsu has in a system solution portfolio with intellectual functions, the providing optimal performances according to modern requirements to high-performance computing. Besides, the possibility of expansion taking into account the predicted growth of requirements to performance is provided.

• Ansys is the universal program system of the final and element analysis popular with specialists in the field of the automated engineering calculations. Modeling and the analysis allow to avoid expensive and long development cycles.

Project Progress

During the project specialists of the contractor supplied the equipment of Fujitsu, the application software of Ansys and infrastructure software solutions of Intel.

Carried out commissioning of the equipment, installation of the infrastructure and application software, training of IT personnel of the customer in work with the created hardware and software system.

Hardware filling of the supercomputer created in SAFU represents 20 computing nodes: 12 normal nodes with two 10-core processors (on 20 cores of CPU on one node) and eight - with hybrid architecture where in addition to two 10-core processors about one 60-core graphic processor is installed (total 20 cores of CPU and 60 cores of GPU on one node). On standard tests of Linpack the supercomputer reached performance 17 TFLOPS.

Project Results

The created computing system is intended for training of students and undergraduates, carrying out scientific research. Work with it in many respects will facilitate and will accelerate work in spheres where computational modeling where the huge amount of difficult calculations is required is applied to the solution of a task, processing of a large number of data in real time or the solution of a task can be found by simple search of a set of initial parameters.

For December 15, 2014 the supercomputer in a data processing center, in the main building of SAFU, works in the mode of trial operation.

"We had a need for the computer which would produce thousands and millions of calculations per second. The supercomputer is intended first of all for training of students and undergraduates, for carrying out scientific research. We in return prepared infrastructure for this implementation. Results of implementation exceeded our expectations, and since February, we organized a number of rates on training of students in work at the supercomputer. Now they can conduct researches and calculations, significantly saving time and resources. There is also a wish to note professionalism of our partners from Softline company which supplied to the stipulated terms to us the equipment and started the supercomputer", – Olga Yufryakova, the director of the Center of the innovation training of IMIKT SAFU told.

The complex project of Softline and Fujitsu on creation of the supercomputer in SAFU