“Atos reveals Bull sequana, the world’s most efficient supercomputer”

A first exascale-class computer, Bull sequana is capable of processing a billion billion operations while consuming 10 times less energy than current systems
Designed to integrate the most advanced technologies in the futures, Bull sequana is already being implemented at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA)
Atos strengthens its leadership in high-volume data processing and analysis, enabling its customers to reinvent their business models through "Atos Codex", an integrated end-to-end predictive & cognitive analytics solution

Speaking before industry executives and researchers, in the presence of French Minister of Economy, Emmanuel Macron, Atos Chairman and CEO, Thierry Breton, will reveal today Bull sequana, the first exascale-class supercomputer offering a thousand times more performance than current petaflops-scale systems.

Bul sequanal Taking the compute performance to a whole new level, Bull sequana will reach exascale level by 2020, processing a billion billion operations per second.

Compared to existing systems for a given performance level, Bull sequana is 10 times more energy-efficient and 10 times denser, to fully optimize our sustainability targets and space-efficiency.

« Atos is one out of three or four worldwide players having the expertise and know-how to build supercomputers today – and the only one in Europe. It is a source of pride for our company and provides a unique competitive advantage for our clients. With Atos’ Bull sequana astounding compute performance, businesses can now more efficiently maximize the value of data on a daily basis. By 2020, Bull sequana will reach exaflops level and will be able to process a billion billion operations per second.” says Atos Chairman and CEO Thierry Breton.

Real-time security, personalized medicine, precision agriculture or meteorology ― just to name a few industries ― demand exceptional levels of data processing abilities that sequana generation computers will provide. With greater computational power, meteorology services for instance will be able to provide extremely precise forecasts, predicting fog patches and storms near and around airports.

Atos’ Bull sequana is currently being implemented at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). It will be integrated with the most advanced technologies in the coming years while adapting to existing operating systems. Its open architecture has been designed around major industry standards for hardware and software in order for clients to maximize their investment and save substantial costs.

While extremely high-level computational capacities are primarily designed for major research centers, Bull sequana’s tremendously high density and easy-to-implement integrated components, along with its outstanding reliability, will serve smaller organizations, allowing new usages and services to thrive.

Built in the Atos factory of Angers, Bull sequana supercomputer has benefited from the internationally renowned expertise of Atos engineers – working closely with partners in Europe and across the globe. Its development has been supported by the unmatched experience acquired working with key accounts such as the CEA and the French High Performance Computing Equipment Agency (GENCI) along with long-term technological partners like Intel.

Numerous institutions and private companies throughout the world use Bull supercomputers to accelerate research and innovation and maximize their competitiveness. Among them are for instance:

In France : Valeo, Safran, Dassault-Aviation, Thalès, Météo-France, Grenoble and Reims Champagne Ardenne universities ;
In Brazil: LNCC national laboratory;
In Germany: DKRZ meteorological research center, Dresden and Düsseldorf universities;
In Belgium: Cenearo simulation center for aeronautics;
In Spain: BBVA banking corporation…

Bull supercomputers’ high-data volume processing capabilities are also maximized within Atos’ Big Data services such as “Atos Codex”, an integrated end-to-end analytics solution including predictive computing and cognitive analytics. Atos —named as a visionary in the Magic Quadrant Business Analytics Services Worldwide in September 2015 by Gartner ― offers its clients data processing and analytics end-to-end along the complete IT value chain. According to Gartner, “by 2017, organizations using predictive business performance metrics will increase their profitability by 20%”.

About Bull

Bull is the Atos brand for its technology products and software, which are today distributed in over 50 countries worldwide. With a rich heritage of over 80 years of technological innovation, 2000 patents and a 700 strong R&D team supported by the Atos Scientific Community, it offers products and value-added software to assist clients in their digital transformation, specifically in the areas of Big Data and Cybersecurity. Bull is the European leader in HPC and its products include bullx, the energy-efficient supercomputer; bullion, one of the most powerful x86 servers in the world developed to meet the challenges of Big Data; Evidian, the software security solutions for identity and access management; Trustway, the hardware security module and Hoox, the ultra-secure smartphone. Bull is part of Atos.
For more information: www.bull.com

About Atos

Atos SE (Societas Europaea) is a leader in digital services with pro forma annual revenue of circa EUR 12 billion and 100,000 employees in 72 countries. Serving a global client base, the Group provides Consulting & Systems Integration services, Managed Services & BPO, Cloud operations, Big Data & Cyber-security solutions, as well as transactional services through Worldline, the European leader in the payments and transactional services industry. With its deep technology expertise and industry knowledge, the Group works with clients across different business sectors: Defense, Financial Services, Health, Manufacturing, Media, Utilities, Public sector, Retail, Telecommunications, and Transportation. Atos is focused on business technology that powers progress and helps organizations to create their firm of the future. The Group is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic & Paralympic Games and is listed on the Euronext Paris market. Atos operates under the brands Atos, Atos Consulting, Atos Worldgrid, Bull, Canopy, Unify and Worldline.