CLUMEQ is a supercomputing consortium of universities in the province of Quebec, Canada. It includes McGill University, Universite Laval, and all nine components of the Universite du Quebec network. CLUMEQ supports scientific research in disciplines such as climate and ecosystems modeling, high energy particle physics, cosmology, nanomaterials, supramolecular modeling, bioinformatics, biophotonics, fluid dynamics, data mining and intelligent systems.

Working closely with Sun consultants, CLUMEQ implemented a Sun Constellation System, which combines high-performance computing, networking, storage, and software into a fully integrated system. The system includes Sun Blade 6048 Modular Systems with Sun Blade X6275 Server Modules, a Sun Lustre Storage System, Sun Datacenter InfiniBand Switches, and Sun HPC software. Sun Services worked with the CLUMEQ team to provide project management, and to optimize the placement of cluster components to maximize the cooling efficiency of the facility. Sun also provided a comprehensive, customized training and a maintenance package for the CLUMEQ system administration team.

In 2006, CLUMEQ started to design a high-performance computing (HPC) system at its Universite Laval datacenter, in an effort to give researchers the most advanced HPC technology possible. This new supercomputer was to reside in the silo of a former Van de Graaff particle accelerator on the campus of Universite Laval, which was once used for experiments related to subatomic particles. The structure was transformed into an innovative, energy-efficient cooling enclosure leveraging a 3-level cylindrical floor plan with up to 1.5 megawatts of cooling capacity and space to host up to 56 standard-sized racks. Not only was the refurbishment able to preserve a campus landmark, but the Laval researchers were able to exploit the natural efficiencies of a cylindrical design, and incorporated additional efficiencies in their air cooling system.

In early 2009, Sun, along with IBM, HP, and two other companies, responded to the CLUMEQ RFP. "We asked for bids for solutions that would specifically fit the silo design," remarks Marc Parizeau, deputy director of CLUMEQ. "Sun won the bid because they offered the best hardware and software at the best price, and its solution fit our criteria," says Parizeau.

The Sun Constellation System is designed to be flexible, so that it can fit into a variety of physical datacenters, and was a perfect match for the cylindrical layout of the silo. The system includes 10 fully loaded Sun Blade 6048 Modular Systems with Sun Blade X6275 Server Modules, a Sun Lustre Storage System, a full-bisection InfiniBand switch interconnect, and a complete HPC software stack.

Sun's total solution package also included Sun Professional Services, and consultants from its Data Center Services practice successfully integrated the solution into the existing CLUMEQ project ecosystem by complementing the consortium's architectural and construction efforts. The Sun team used three-dimensional Building Information Modeling (BIM) to plan and visualize system installation to facilitate the precise placement of new equipment. Sun also worked closely with its own partner community, which provided expertise in areas such as architecture design and construction management. Sun Services also provided a comprehensive, customized training and a maintenance package for the CLUMEQ system administration team.

When the new system, which is scheduled for completion by the end of 2009, is up and running it will feature 7680 processor cores with a power envelope below 374kW. As a result, the computing resources of CLUMEQ have increased ten-fold and will allow more complex simulations that were previously out of reach to their researchers. "Our new supercomputer will enable CLUMEQ and other Compute Canada researchers to implement significantly more complex models in search of answers to questions in a wide range of fields, including climate and ecosystems modeling, high-energy-particle physics, cosmology, data mining, and intelligent systems," says Parizeau.

More Information

Sun Customer Ready HPC Cluster: Reference Configurations with Sun Fire X4100, X4200, and X4600 Servers login or registration required

Pathways to Open Petascale Computing: The Sun Constellation System - Designed for Performance Sun white paper, login or registration required

Solving the HPC I/O Bottleneck: Sun Lustre Storage System Sun BluePrints article, login or registration required

Free Ebook: HPC for Dummies

Sun HPC Recent Developments

Sun BluePrint: Implementing the Lustre File System with Sun Storage [...read more...]

		fullsource
Print Email Current Profile Archive Blog Generate newsletter