what it’s like and what it’s used for

Argentine he has a supercomputer in his nation among the many 100 strongest of the world: Clementina XXI. At a value of 5 million and auctioned in 2022, the crew, which is in knowledge heart of the Nationwide Meteorological Service (SMN), is used for duties that require an unlimited quantity of computing processing energy. And it's already utilized in analysis, from basin modeling oil and gasoline to the evaluation of varied points of physics, astronomy and even some matters associated to the social sciences.

The world of “supercomputers” consists of apparatus that may carry out an enormous quantity of calculations in comparison with house gear corresponding to notebooks or cell phones. Clementina XXI is as highly effective as 1672 Ps 5 or 2903 MacBook Professional.

Usually, in contrast to a house PC, they don't have a single processor, however a number of processors to deal with extremely complicated duties, from simulating climate phenomena for prediction to researching medicine and astronomical phenomena.

“A high-performance computing system is a system designed for duties that an peculiar laptop can not carry out as a result of they’re very massive or as a result of they might require numerous hours to carry out,” defined Clarín Pablo Minnini, coordinator Nationwide Excessive-Efficiency. Calculation System.Efficiency (SNCAD) of the Ministry of Science and Know-how (MinCyT), which financed the price of Clementine XXI, in a 2022 article.

The gear, which is housed within the Nationwide Climate Service Information Centre, was put in final yr by the Ministry of Protection and to attain this, There was an public sale that was received by Intel and that allowed the nation to get 1,000,000 greenback crew at a low worth.

Clarion spoke with Laura Huarte, Public Sector Schooling and Growth Supervisor at Intel Argentina & Uruguay, who was concerned within the negotiation course of and overseeing the development of Clementine XXI.

“He TOP500 It's like a worldwide snapshot of essentially the most highly effective supercomputers in existence, up to date each six months. To judge the facility of those machines, they’re requested to unravel a bunch of mathematical equations in a short time. Whereas this take a look at doesn't give us a full image of what a pc can do normally, it does inform us how good it’s at fixing a specific kind of math downside,” Huarte mentioned.

“The rating relies on how effectively these computer systems carry out on a take a look at known as the LINPACK Benchmark, which measures their skill to unravel difficult math issues. In abstract, the TOP500 offers us an thought of ​​the processing capability and efficiency of those supercomputers in comparison with the others for displays technological advances on the earth of high-performance computing” he added.

Right here, the specialist informed the small print of one of many nation's supercomputers, which is especially notable for being essentially the most highly effective in Argentina.

─How is the public sale? Why Intel and never its competitors, AMD?

─The tender for the acquisition of Clementine XXI was carried out throughout the framework of the Nationwide Supercomputing Technique, in collaboration between the Ministries of Science and Protection, the Nationwide Meteorological Service (SMN) and CONE. Lenovo emerged because the winner on this course of, designing the system in partnership with Intel know-how, and funding got here from the Ministry of Science by a mortgage from the Latin American Growth Financial institution (CAF).

─And what made Intel win?

─Within the tender, which befell in October 2022 and was awarded in December 2022, completely different options have been evaluated in a world competitors. Though the tender didn’t specify manufacturers, it detailed the configurations and energy required for high-performance computing (HPC). Selecting the winner wasn't primarily based solely on worthsince an analysis desk was used that assigned particular weights to the completely different parts (technical/financial) by a rating method.

─Who competed?

─There have been three competing choices: Lenovo, with a configuration with Intel processors and Intel Max Sequence GPUs, HP, with AMD processors and GPUs, and Bull, with processors Intel Xeon Sapphire Rapids and AMD GPUs. Though bid costs have been comparable and adjusted to the recognized finances of roughly $5 million, the choice was primarily based on an analysis matrix that thought of each technical and financial points. They have been carried out Highlights [pruebas de rendimiento] to evaluate technical skill, and these outcomes have been weighted in a method that decided the ultimate rating. Within the course of, Lenovo, with its full configuration proposal powered by Intel CPUs and Max sequence GPUs, scored the very best within the technical and financial analysis, securing its place because the winner and successful bidder of the tender.

─ In what place is he and in what rating? How does this checklist work?

─For the primary time in historical past, Argentina managed to safe a outstanding place within the High500, the distinguished rating that evaluates high-performance computing (HPC) programs. Clementina XXI, the supercomputer on the Nationwide Meteorological Service, entered the checklist at place 196, exhibiting a formidable capability of three.88 Pflops in response to the Linpack take a look at. It’s essential to emphasise that this milestone was achieved utilizing solely 60% of the supercomputer's whole capability.

Regardless of performing efficiency checks with half of the nodes enabled, we’re engaged in an ongoing effort to refine and optimize Clementine XXI's efficiency. Our goal is to re-apply for rating within the subsequent evaluation scheduled for Might 2024, this time with the whole operational crew at 100%. With out This achievement represents a major step and highlights the potential and dedication of the crew concerned on this mission. We’re dedicated to persevering with to enhance and strengthen Argentina's presence in excessive efficiency computing.

─What computing energy does it have?

─The brand new system is the primary implementation in Latin America primarily based on the superior know-how of Intel® Xeon® CPU Max Sequence processors and the highly effective Intel® Information Middle GPU Max Sequence GPU, designed with built-in high-bandwidth reminiscence (HBM). Not like its predecessor, the Huayra Muyu supercomputer With roughly 340 TeraFLOPS, this technique not solely demonstrates excellent efficiency, exceeding as much as 40 occasions the computing energy, but in addition stands out for occupying solely half the house required by the Huayra Muyu. There have been a number of advances in computing applied sciences inside CPUs and GPUs over the previous 5 years. As well as, Argentina's supercomputing initiatives, led by the nation's Minister of Science, Know-how and Innovation, together with the Minister of Protection, are resulting in Argentina to new IT significance in Latin America.

─What efficiency capability does it have?

─With a peak efficiency of 15.7 petaFLOPS, 5120 Intel® Xeon® CPU Max Sequence cores and 37,888 Intel® Information Middle GPU Max Sequence cores it’s one in all The quickest HPC in Latin America and the quickest useful resource devoted to educational scientific analysis.

─What particular makes use of will this supercomputer have?

─Though it’s bodily positioned on the headquarters of the Nationwide Meteorological Service, solely 10 p.c of the system's capability will likely be devoted to SMN codes. The remaining 90% will likely be out there to public researchers of universities and business. Its operation will serve to strengthen the virtuous interplay between the private and non-private sectors.

─And the way will the entry to its use be?

─Clementine will function by an open entry regime, offering important advantages to the whole nationwide science and know-how cloth. This infrastructure won’t solely assist enhance local weather forecasting, but in addition present a platform for scientific researchers to conduct research in genomics, drug design, new supplies, in addition to advances in synthetic intelligence and knowledge science, amongst different essential functions. It can make it potential to make use of excessive efficiency computing for analysis starting from oil and gasoline reservoir modeling to complicated programs evaluation, numerous points of physics, astronomy and even some social science matters.

─Will they make public calls to benefit from their computing energy?

─To entry the platform, open calls will likely be held periodically, both yearly or semiannually, to which scientists from all areas of the nation can be part of. Every crew should submit an in depth mission describing their objectives and the time required for its execution. Following an analysis by consultants within the area, every mission will likely be assigned a sure variety of hours of processing capability on the supercomputer.

─What place does it occupy within the native high-performance computing ecosystem?

─In keeping with Pablo Mininni, coordinator of Argentina's Nationwide Excessive Efficiency Computing System (SNCAD) of the Ministry of Science and Know-how (MinCyT), in 2019 the group analyzed the state of supercomputing in Argentina. The investigation confirmed that Argentina had 10% of the computing energy wanted by researchers in the whole nation. Due to this fact, a Nationwide Computing Middle was created to offer scientific computing capability to researchers throughout the nation. The middle would be the head of a community of SNCAD facilities. Their first buy was the Clementina XXI, designed by Lenovo and constructed with Intel.