Swansea, Wales; London, Paris; March 10, 2021 — Atos today announced it has signed a contract with Swansea University to deploy its BullSequana X410 supercomputer, built on the Nvidia A100 Tensor Core GPU architecture and Nvidia Mellanox HDR 200Gb/s InfiniBand networking, to support academics in Wales to drive AI-based research.
The largest Nvidia A100 deployment in Wales, according to Atos, this HPC system forms part of Atos’ existing relationship with Supercomputing Wales – an Atos and Dell EMC supercomputing Centre of Excellence partially funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Welsh Government.
Part of the ‘AccelerateAI’ initiative, also funded by the ERDF through the Welsh government, this GPU-accelerated supercomputer will enable research groups with concentrations in mathematics, engineering, science and medicine across Wales to pursue advancements in AI research and in industrial applications.
The Nvidia A100 Tensor Core GPUs installed within the BullSequana X410 supercomputer are highly parallel processors designed to boost computing. The integration of up to eight GPUs within a 2U form factor is designed to enhance compute density, performance and cost-efficiency. The system will also include Nvidia Mellanox HDR 200Gb/s InfiniBand.
The AI supercomputer will be based at Swansea University’s Bay Data Centre, where Atos will maintain the equipment and work with academics.
Researchers from other universities in the Supercomputing Wales consortium – including Cardiff, Aberystwyth and Bangor – will have access to the system. In collaboration with local SMEs, the project is also intended to help accelerate adoption of AI methods in Welsh industry.
A supercomputer on GPUs only sans CPUs. It’s unusual.