Nvidia, the American multinational technology company, recently announced that it has worked with the UK’s University of Bristol to build a new supercomputer using a new Nvidia chip that would compete with Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Device.
Nvidia is known as the world’s top maker of graphics processing units (GPUs), which are in high demand because they can be used to speed up artificial intelligence work. OpenAI’s ChatGPT being an example of one such use.
Named Isambard 3, the new high performance computing (HPC) system will utilise breakthrough technologies, such as the new Arm Neoverse-based Nvidia Grace CPU Superchip, and have at least 55,000 cores to support large scale scientific experiments.
It will be one of the first Nvidia Grace supercomputers in the world. With more than six times the computational performance of its predecessor (Isambard 2), the new Isambard 3 supercomputer will support exciting research and technological advancements.
Isambard 3 will facilitate scientific progress in research areas such as materials engineering, medical sciences, clean energy and AI. It will also support growing GW4 research communities in life sciences, biotech and astrophysics.
Examples of research supported by the GW4’s Isambard supercomputers include simulations to understand the mechanisms behind Parkinson’s disease, simulations to find new drugs to treat osteoporosis, COVID-19 virus modelling that helped develop effective vaccines, and simulations to optimise the design of mechanical hearts.
Isambard 3 will be hosted in a self-contained HPE Performance Optimised Data Center (POD) at the National Composites Centre on the Bristol and Bath Science Park. Employing the latest sustainability techniques and with six times the energy efficiency of its predecessor, it will be one of the most efficient, lowest carbon emission CPU-based supercomputers in the world.
Professor James Davenport, University of Bath’s technical lead on the Isambard project and Hebron & Medlock Professor of Information Technology commented, “Isambard 3 will provide researchers across the UK access to cutting-edge technology, with a transformational increase in performance and energy efficiency. This unique resource will also encourage international collaborations, as we have demonstrated with the various research teams that have already moved their software to Arm architecture thanks to the previous Isambard projects.”
In recent news, the UK’s university alliance GW4, bringing together the universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter, has secured a £10 million investment from UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) to create a World Top 500 supercomputer for AI and cutting-edge scientific innovations.
Once the system goes into production in Spring 2024, Bristol expects the number of registered users to increase significantly beyond the current 800.
Sources: Electronicweekly, HPCwire