The National Supercomputing Centre (NSCC) Singapore has awarded Hewlett Packard Enterprise a S$40-million contract to build a new supercomputer that will be eight times faster compared to NSCC’s existing pool of high performance computing (HPC) resources.
Primed to switch on in early 2022, the new system will expand and augment ongoing research efforts by enabling tools such as artificial intelligence (AI) and deep machine learning to optimise modeling, simulation and even software simulation for quantum computing.
NSCC will use the system to unlock scientific discoveries across medicine, diseases, climate, engineering and more. This will be through a S$200-million investment that was announced by the Singapore government in March 2019.
The NSCC’s new supercomputer will be built and powered using the HPE Cray EX supercomputer, which is an HPC system designed to support next-generation supercomputing such as Exascale-class systems. It also features a full stack of purpose-built technologies across compute, software, storage and networking to harness insights from vast, complex data more quickly and efficiently.
The new system will be housed in a new data centre designed to increase sustainability and reduce energy consumption. It will leverage liquid-cooling capabilities made possible through the HPE Cray EX supercomputer to increase energy efficiency and power density by transferring heat generated by the new supercomputer with a liquid-cooled process.
The combination of these advanced technologies will enable the NSCC’s existing community of researchers and scientists to further their R&D efforts to make breakthroughs in a range of areas, some of which include understanding the spread of airborne cough droplets; accelerating insights into weather forecasting and climate patterns for Singapore and Southeast Asia and; advancing safety in autonomous driving with optimised AI training.
“Supercomputers have enabled the scientific community in Singapore to make significant strides in their research,” said Tan Tin Wee, chief executive at the NSCC Singapore. “The new system will provide the necessary resources to meet the growing supercomputing needs of our researchers, and to enable more of such significant scientific breakthroughs at the national and global level.”
Bill Mannel, VP and general manager at HPE, said the new system will deliver a significant boost to R&D, allowing Singapore’s community of scientists and engineers to make greater contributions that will unlock innovation, economic value, and overall, strengthen the nation’s position in becoming more digitally-driven.
