Ohio Supercomputer Center working with
industry partners to launch additional HPC resource in Fall
2022
COLUMBUS, Ohio, April 12,
2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Ohio Supercomputer Center
(OSC) will launch Ascend, a new Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL) high
performance computing cluster with advanced NVIDIA graphics
processing units (GPUs) to support artificial intelligence (AI),
machine learning, big data and data analytics work in Fall
2022.
The name Ascend evokes the state of Ohio's long history of advancements in the
aviation and aeronautics fields. Known as the "Birthplace of
Aviation" for its flight innovators the Wright Brothers,
Ohio also lays claim to the first
night and commercial cargo flights, the first female pilot to
circumnavigate the globe, and the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
and the National Air Force Museum. Ohio has produced more astronauts than any
other state in the nation and is home to the NASA Glenn Research
Center. Even the most iconic fictional person to take to the skies,
Superman, was created in Cleveland. In the spirit of that legacy,
Ascend will be OSC's first computing cluster devoted entirely to
intensive GPU processing, helping Ohio academia and industry elevate their
research endeavors.
"Over the last few years, OSC has experienced a growing demand
for its GPU resources," said Doug
Johnson, associate director of OSC. "By establishing a
cluster focused on analysis of very large datasets quickly, support
for classes of AI/ML applications that can't run on our current
systems, and simulations that require the fastest GPUs, OSC will
better meet the needs of these clients while ensuring the prompt
processing of requests for our existing clusters, Owens and
Pitzer."
Ascend will help meet the needs of an increasing number of
clients involved in research and technology innovations in the AI
and machine learning fields. OSC currently is involved in two
National Science Foundation-funded projects designed to advance AI
work. One is the AI Institute for Intelligent Cyberinfrastructure
with Computational Learning in the Environment (ICICLE), led by The
Ohio State University, which will build
the next generation of cyberinfrastructure with a focus on making
AI more accessible to everyone.
OSC also is offering the "AI Bootcamp for Cyberinfrastructure
(CI) Professionals" this year to build expertise in AI and
supportive technologies among staff at research computing
facilities like OSC nationally.
"Ascend will provide a state-of-the art resource for the ICICLE
research team to explore and develop new AI technologies while also
giving our staff an opportunity to increase their understanding of
the AI workload and best practices for support of this growing
area," said Karen Tomko, OSC
director of research software applications.
Ascend reflects the state of Ohio's ongoing commitment, supported by the
Ohio Department of Higher Education and Chancellor Randy Gardner, to ensuring that Ohio academic and industry researchers can
access the most cutting-edge technologies in supercomputing.
The project is a collaboration between OSC and several
information technology vendors. Dell Technologies is designing and
constructing the new system while AMD is providing CPUs and NVIDIA
is supplying GPUs and InfiniBand networking.
Comprised of Dell PowerEdge servers with 48 AMD EPYC™ CPUs and
96 NVIDIA A100 80GB Tensor Cores GPUs supercharged by NVIDIA NVLink
and interconnected by the NVIDIA Quantum 200Gb/s InfiniBand
platform, Ascend triples OSC's capacity for AI, modeling and
simulation. The new system joins OSC's Pitzer and Owens clusters
current capabilities of 5.5 petaflops, more than 14.2 petabytes of
disk storage capacity and more than 14 petabytes of expandable
backup storage. Ascend will add additional petaflops of
performance.
"Dell Technologies is working with the Ohio Supercomputer Center
to help industry and academic researchers pioneer in their
respective fields with the latest in advanced computing technology
and expertise," says Rajesh Pohani,
vice president of PowerEdge, Core Compute and High Performance
Computing, Dell Technologies. "Ascend's AI capabilities, enhanced
by powerful PowerEdge XE8545 servers, will complement and
significantly expand the advanced computing resources essential to
engineering innovation and scientific discovery that is ultimately
helping to move forward human progress."
"The exascale AI era will allow researchers to make discoveries
that were considered unattainable for decades," said Ian Buck, vice president of Hyperscale and HPC
at NVIDIA. "NVIDIA's accelerated computing platform equips pioneers
like the researchers at OSC with the breakthrough performance of
next-generation supercomputers such as Ascend to push the
boundaries of scientific exploration."
"AMD EPYC processors support researchers around the world with
the performance and productivity needed to answer some of science's
biggest questions," said Brock
Taylor, director of high performance computing, AMD. "We're
excited the Ascend supercomputer will help the Ohio Supercomputer
Center advance their mission to advance levels of artificial
intelligence, machine learning, big data and data analytics."
"With four A100 80GB NVLink GPUs per node, Ascend will offer a
unique, leading-edge resource for our clients," Johnson said.
OSC's client services team will evaluate client requests to run
projects on Ascend, which will be accessible through OSC's OnDemand
web portal.
OSC plans to announce a more detailed timeline for the Ascend
launch and availability this summer.
Dell Technologies and Dell are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its
subsidiaries. AMD, EPYC, and combinations thereof are trademarks of
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Other trademarks may be trademarks of
their respective owners.
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