The Department of Defense will implement high performance storage company DDN‘s EXAScaler ES400X appliances in conjunction with Penguin Computing’s TrueHPC supercomputing platform for DoD’s High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP). The new systems will be integrated at the Navy DoD Supercomputing Resource Center (Navy DSRC) and Air Force Research Laboratory DoD Supercomputing Resource Center (AFRL DSRC), which rank among the top 100 global supercomputers.
The new systems are designed to enhance the DoD HPCMP’s capability to support Science and Technology (S&T), Test and Evaluation (T&E) and Acquisition Engineering communities.
“Our DoD customers are dealing with extremely complex data models to conduct their advanced research,” said Jeff Jordan, vice president of Federal Sales at DDN. “DDN’s focus on real-world performance, faster implementation and efficient scaling will get key technology into the hands of users who are driving research, development and operational projects and increasing their productivity. It’s gratifying to see these systems used to help the DOD meet its mission in confronting massive challenges such as COVID-19 research, AI and ML, and virtual prototyping.”
DDN said the Navy DSRC system uses 26 PB of DDN’s EXAScaler storage, including 4PB of NVMe-based flash storage and 22 PB of disk drive-based storage for long term data. The AFRL DSRC system, supported by over 20 PB of DDN’s EXAScaler storage, enables high-performance data analytics as well as adding to the HPCMP’s capability to support DoD artificial intelligence requirements.
DDN has deployed multi-petabyte systems to support the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) in Aberdeen, Maryland, and the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) in Vicksburg, Mississippi. These deployments support their programs by supplying solutions specifically designed to address complex workloads and diverse resource demands, many of which “require more storage performance and scalability to drive faster computation and make data management easier and secure,” DDN said.
“We are pleased to partner with DDN to deliver solutions that will help the DoD in their pursuit of solutions to the most challenging science and technology questions,” said Sid Mair, president, Penguin Computing. “Together, Penguin Computing and DDN look to set the standard for efficient High-Performance Computing and AI infrastructure.”
The AFRL DSRC and Navy DSRC systems are expected to enter production service early in calendar year 2022.
The HPCMP provides the Department of Defense supercomputing capabilities, high-speed network communications and computational science expertise that enable DoD scientists and engineers to conduct a wide-range of focused research and development, test and evaluation, and acquisition engineering activities. This partnership puts advanced technology in the hands of U.S. forces more quickly, less expensively, and with greater certainty of success. Today, the HPCMP provides a comprehensive advanced computing environment for the DoD that includes unique expertise in software development and system design, powerful high-performance computing systems, and a premier wide-area research network. The HPCMP is managed on behalf of the Department of Defense by the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center located in Vicksburg, Mississippi. For more information, visit https://www.hpc.mil.
