Eviden deployment to boost DiRAC GPU supercomputing capacity up to 80 per cent

London, (UK) –  May 22, 2023

Eviden, the Atos business leading in advanced computing, and the University of Edinburgh today announce a three-year contract extension to increase the computing capacity of the BullSequana XH2000. This energy-efficient supercomputing system was delivered by Atos to facilitate the Extreme Scaling Service of DiRAC, allowing the UK science community to pursue cutting-edge research on a broad range of topics, from simulating the entire evolution of the universe to modelling the fundamental structure of matter.

As part of the contract, Eviden will expand the power of the existing system by providing additional hardware, including 256 NVIDIA A100 Tensor Core GPUs up to 80 per cent more capacity, allowing scientists across the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) community to drive forward research in theoretical physics.

Additional DDN storage and NVIDIA Quantum InfiniBand networking will be provided with Eviden engineers installing, configuring and integrating the new GPU nodes into the state-of-the-art system, located in Scotland’s capital city.

Professor Luigi Del Debbio, Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Edinburgh and Project Lead: “We are delighted to continue our strategic partnership with Eviden, an Atos business, which will enable our growing scientific community to harness increasingly powerful supercomputing resources and make potentially ground-breaking discoveries in all the research areas supported by DiRAC. The upgraded equipment will build on the success of the current system, further enhancing our HPC system offering and strengthening the University of Edinburgh’s position as a world-leading supercomputing hub.”

Emmanuel Le Roux, Group SVP, Head of HPC, AI and Quantum Computing, Eviden, at Atos Group: “The extension to our existing partnership with the University of Edinburgh is testament to the success of the BullSequana system with these upgrades providing a major boost to DiRAC’s high performance computing resources. Bolstering the existing system with additional GPU capability and storage will accelerate scientific research, helping to address real-world issues through the power of supercomputing.”

Eviden is committed to supporting closer collaboration between academia and industry through the power of supercomputing and deep learning. In the UK, the company works in partnership with centres of excellence including The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Hartree Centre, Wellcome Genome Campus, the University of Oxford’s JADE service, among others.

Eviden, a global leader in HPC, has reinforced its positioning with 43 supercomputers in the latest TOP500 listing (June 2023), all also referenced in the latest Green500. With an increased performance and now reaching 238 petaflops, the Leonardo system, EuroHPC pre-exascale supercomputer hosted by Cineca and based on Eviden’s BullSequana XH2000, has maintained its position as the 4th most powerful supercomputer in the world. Eviden also has three new systems entering the listing, including Alex6, first HPC system to enter the TOP500 with an Eviden BXI interconnect technology connecting both CPUs and GPUs.

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 About Eviden [1]

EvidenEviden designs the scope composed of Atos’ digital, cloud, big data and security business lines. It will be a global leader in data-driven, trusted and sustainable digital transformation. As a next generation digital business with worldwide leading positions in digital, cloud, data, advanced computing and security, it brings deep expertise for all industries in more than 53 countries. By uniting unique high-end technologies across the full digital continuum with 57,000 world-class talents, Eviden expands the possibilities of technologies for enterprises and public authorities, helping them to build their digital future. Eviden is an Atos Group business with an annual revenue of c. € 5 billion.  

About Atos

Atos is a global leader in digital transformation with 111,000 employees and annual revenue of c. € 11 billion. European number one in cybersecurity, cloud and high-performance computing, the Group provides tailored end-to-end solutions for all industries in 69 countries. A pioneer in decarbonization services and products, Atos is committed to a secure and decarbonized digital for its clients. Atos is a SE (Societas Europaea) and listed on Euronext Paris.

The purpose of Atos is to help design the future of the information space. Its expertise and services support the development of knowledge, education and research in a multicultural approach and contribute to the development of scientific and technological excellence. Across the world, the Group enables its customers and employees, and members of societies at large to live, work and develop sustainably, in a safe and secure information space.

About DiRAC

DiRAC stands for Distributed Research Utilising Advanced Computing. The DiRAC High Performance Computing facility provides cutting-edge supercomputing resources for UK researchers working on world-leading scientific calculations across a wide range of areas including particle physics, astrophysics, cosmology and nuclear physics. It comprises supercomputers at Cambridge, Durham, Leicester and Edinburgh, each designed to support specific types of calculations.  DiRAC also provides access to a team of expert research software engineers to help researchers make the most efficient use of the available computing resources. For more details see: https://dirac.ac.uk/.

Press contacts:

Global PR: Constance Arnoux – constance.arnoux@atos.net – +33 (0)6 44 12 16 35

UK: Helena Shadbolt – helena.shadbolt@mhpc.com – +44 (0)20 3128 8799

UK: Nick Collins – nick.collins@mhpc.com  – +44 (0)20 3128 8897

[1] Eviden business is operated through the following brands:  Alia Consulting, AppCentrica, ATHEA, Atos Syntel, Bull, Cloudamize, Cloudreach, Cryptovision, DataSentics, digital.security, Eagle Creek, EcoAct, Edifixio, Energy4U, Engage ESM, Forensik, IDEAL GRP, IDnomic, In Fidem, Ipsotek, Maven Wave, Miner & Kasch, Motiv, Nimbix, Processia, Profit4SF, science+computing, SEC Consult, Visual BI, Worldgrid, X-Perion, zData 

Eviden is a registered trademark. © Eviden SAS, 2023.