Lenovo DCG backs modernisation of Netherlands supercomputer

Lenovo Data Center Group (DCG) will become part of an effort to create the 'largest and most powerful' supercomputer in the Netherlands - a project worth €20 million.

Lenovo DCG will support ICT cooperative organisation SURF to help create the supercomputer, which is expected to be operation by mid-2021.

According to SURF research services manager Walter Lioen says that researchers' need for computing power, data storage and processing is growing 'exponentially'.

"In the design of the new supercomputer, the usability for scientific research was paramount. SURF has chosen Lenovo because of its quality, performance and future flexibility, as well as its considerations for sustainability.

Lenovo's high-performance computing (HPC) technology includes  Lenovo ThinkSystem servers, powered by 2nd Gen AMD EPYC processors, ThinkSystem servers powered by future generation AMD EPYC processors, Lenovo Neptune water cooling technology, 12.4 Pebibyte (PiB) of Lenovo Distributed Storage Solution (DSS-G) and servers with NVIDIA HGX A100 4-GPU.

Lenovo's cooling technology aims to remove 90% of heat from the entire system.

NVIDIA Mellanox HDR 200Gb/s InfiniBand will provide smart in-network computing acceleration engines, provide the extremely low latency, high data throughput networking.

"We're so pleased to contribute to a project that will not only enrich scientific research in the Netherlands but deliver a smarter and more energy-efficient system, thanks to our incredible water-cooling technology," says Lenovo DCG general manager for Benelux and Nordic, Tina Borgbjerg.

"The sheer power that will be delivered by this national supercomputer showcases our strength in HPC, and the scale of this deal further demonstrates our commitment to the Benelux region and the Netherlands."

The supercomputer will deliver more than 10 times the capacity of the previous system and will achieve peak performance of almost 13 petaflops.

AMD and NVIDIA are equally enthused about the project.

"Incorporating the world's most advanced AI technology, all connected by high-bandwidth, low-latency NVIDIA Mellanox HDR InfiniBand networking, into the SURF supercomputer gives researchers what they need to quickly and effectively take on the workloads of the exascale AI era," says NVIDIA general manager and vice president of accelerated computing, Ian Buck.

AMD's commercial EMEA senior director Roger Benson adds, "AMD is proud to be working with leading global institutions to provide access to advanced technologies and capabilities that are critical for supporting modern HPC workloads and research that addresses some of the world's greatest challenges.

Infrastructure modernisation on the supercomputer will begin this month. The supercomputer will support research and innovation across all fields of science.