Bull launches HPC blade server | | 2009-07-17 | | | Bull has launched a new family of HPC servers dubbed bullx. The novel blade based architecture is designed specifically for HPC and is scalable from a few teraflops to several petaflops.The bullx blades, designed for speed, density, energy efficiency and ease of management come in two versions: CPU-only and GPU-accelerated. Both are based on dual-socket Nehalem EP quad-core Xeon 5500 processors; the accelerator blades contain up to two NVIDIA Tesla M1060 GPUs. The bullx chassis and CPU-only blades are now available with the accelerator blades becoming available September.A single 7U 18-blade chassis with CPU-only blades will deliver 1.7 teraflops giving 10 teraflops for an entire 42U rack. With GPU blades included, performance will be further enhanced.Interconnects are managed through the backplane, eliminating the need for external cables other than power supply. An optional 36-port InfiniBand switch can be slotted into the chassis for cluster connectivity.An optional ultra capacitor module protects the system from brown-outs and eliminates the need for uninterruptible power supplies. A water-cooled rack door can be installed, improving cooling efficiency by 75 per cent. | |
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