Fujitsu introduces 85 Tflop/s PRIMEPOWER HPC2500 supercomputer sucessor to VPP5000Tokyo 22 August 2002 Fujitsu introduced a new massively parallel scalar supercomputer, the PRIMEPOWER HPC2500 with a theoretical peak-formance of 85.1 Tflop/s and scalable up-to a maximum of 128 x 128-processor nodes or 16,384 processors. Main memory size is a maximum of per 512 Gbyte per node. Targeted at the High-Performance Computing (HPC) market, the new supercomputer becomes the top-of-line model in Fujitsu's flagship PRIMEPOWER servers for the UNIX market and is presented as a succesor to the VPP5000 vector supercomputer too. Fujitsu expects to sell a hundred systems over the newx two years.
PRIMEPOWER HPC2500 uses a massively parallel scalar design based on 1.3 GHz SPARC64 V processors. The time required for carrying out automotive crash analysis is greatly reduced comparing to older architectures. Fujitsu's own previous HPC server, the vector-type VPP5000 Series, took roughly 8.2 hours to complete the required calculations, while the new HPC2500 took only 1.1 hours, making it a solid seven times faster. Another notable potential area of use is in protein folding calculations for sequenced human genome research, which could be reduced eight-fold, from one year to about one and a half months.
In developing the new supercomputer, Fujitsu capitalized on its established track record and strengths in vector-based supercomputer, including cutting-edge processor technology, parallel execution of calculation instructions and ultrafast interconnect technology, and combined these features with shared memory and memory access control technologies developed for its PRIMEPOWER line of servers. As a result, Fujitsu was able to achieve a theoretical peak performance of 665.6 Gflop/s per 128-processor node and, when 128 of these nodes (16,384 processors total) are clustered together using its high-speed optical interconnect, 85.1 Tflop/s overall. Compared with the VPP5000 Series, the new PRIMEPOWER HPC2500 delivers approximately 70 times higher performance per node, and 17 times higher overall.
To ensure a smooth transition for customers moving from the VPP Series to the new PRIMEPOWER HPC2500, Fujitsu is offering a parallel compiler (XPFortran) that encapsulates the VPP Fortran specification. The company is also providing industry-standard Fortran and C/C++ compilers that are designed to get the most out of the SPARC64 V processors through cache optimization and other functions, as well as enable high-speed operation simply by recompiling existing programs. Fujitsu also assists customers in migrating to PRIMEPOWER HPC2500 by providing tuning services and other transition-support services.
The new supercomputer runs on the Solaris operating environment, for which a large number of applications are commercially available.
Fujitsu's leading edge HPC products are playing a key role in a wide range of scientific and commercial applications, from materials development based on nanotechnology and post-genomic pharmaceuticals, to large-scale scientific calculations in the aeronautics, space, weather and environmental fields, as well as design and simulations for product development in the automotive, heavy industry and electronic equipment industries. Fujitsu will continue to stay at the vanguard of supercomputing technology, and the new PRIMEPOWER HPC2500 promises to make an even greater contribution to supporting leading edge R&D, accelerating and improving advances in science and technology, and improving competitiveness in a variety of industries.
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