The so-called Asian Cat supercomputer has been developed by a collaboration between Lenovo, Cavium and Mellanox with the aim of being a computationally powerful and energy efficient platform based around the ARM v8 microprocessor.
Providing a platform for research and collaboration with both academia and industry into the energy efficiency and performance of new hardware platforms the new system, which comprises 24 nodes (2304 cores), is a primary resource in supporting the activities of the Hartree Centre Energy Efficient Computing (EEC) research programme.
The Hartree Centre is part of the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council and this work is a fundamental part of it’s research programme to maximise the energy efficiency of computing architectures through an integrated co-design approach that considers hardware and software and is part of our contribution to help develop the next generation of exascale supercomputers.
Dr Robin Pinning, Chief Technology Officer at the Hartree Centre, believes that the new supercomputer will bring substantial benefits to the many organisations working with the Hartree team
“The Hartree Centre prides itself on working at the leading edge of the adoption of emerging technologies to further our Energy Efficient Research Computing Programme. Our latest ARM64-based ‘Asian Cat’ machine is a perfect example of how we are achieving this by working closely with key technology partners Lenovo, Cavium, Mellanox and OCF.”
Dr Pinning went on to say that “The machine is allowing us to push forward our programme of R&D, working closely with UK industrial and research HPC communities. The collaboration will lead to the development of tools, applications and, ultimately, the co-design of future generations of energy efficient supercomputing hardware.”
