Bull launches the bullx B510 series: the new generation of ultra-dense Petascale supercomputers

• The bullx B510 series delivers twice as much processing power and memory speed as the previous generation
• It features the Intel® Xeon® E5 processors (Sandy Bridge)
• Systems from the bullx B510 series have already been chosen for major large-scale data centers

Paris, November  16, 2011 -

Designed by Bul's Extreme Computing R&D teams, the bullx B510 effectively combines high levels of eco-efficiency, ultra-high density and ultra-high performance. It offers twice the processing power of the previous generation and ensures optimum power consumption for maximum density.

37 Teraflops in a single rack: 100 times greater density in just five years

Based on twin-socket processing nodes grouped into pairs within the blades, the bullx B510 blade series delivers peak performance of over 37 Teraflops per rack thanks to:

• The use Intel® Xeon® ProcessorE5 family
• Its extremely high memory capacity, of up to 256 GB per blade
• Totally non-blocking InfiniBand® QDR or FDR connectivity.

By way of comparison - and proof positive of the incredible progress in High-Performance Computing (HPC) technologies - just five years ago, producing 37 Teraflops of power would have required over a hundred racks.

Protecting investments, through total compatibility with the previous generation

The new bullx B510 blades are designed to integrate seamlessly into existing bullx blade chassis.
This means supercomputers already equipped with bullx blades can take full advantage of the power and density of the new generation systems.

Pascal Barbolosi, Vice-President of Extreme Computing at Bull, commented: "The new generation of bullx blades - which are already at the heart of two Petascale systems - clearly illustrates Bull's expertise in high-power computing. They not only demonstrate our ability to innovate, so as to develop and offer increasingly high levels of services to help our customers meet the challenges of innovation and competitiveness, but they also embody our strategy of ensuring that our Group is a recognized and respected player in the global HPC community, and number one in Europe."

Installed base of thousands of blades puts Bull among the leaders in using the Intel® Xeon® E5 family of new-generation processors

bullx B510 blades will be available on general release from Q1 2012, as soon as the Intel® Xeon® E5 family of processors is also formally released. They have already been chosen by several customers, including two organizations whose Petascale systems are currently being installed. In total, several thousand bullx B510 nodes are already installed and running successfully.

The TOP500, published on 15 November in Seattle at SC11 - the world¿s biggest supercomputing event - also includes a number of bullx B510-based systems delivering a total of one Petaflops peak power and 829 Teraflops sustained power, representing one of the largest base of Intel® Xeon® E5 processors currently installed worldwide.

GENCI (the French national High-Performance Computing organization) has ordered the Curie supercomputer from Bull, which is being installed at the TGCC in France. Eventually this system will feature 5,040 bullx B510 processing nodes, and will be available to support the French and European scientific communities as part of the PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe) initiative.

 "Using the new-generation bullx blades is in line with our objective, to provide researchers with the most powerful infrastructures based on open standards. It is totally in line with our mission, to bring to a wide community of scientists and engineers - in France and Europe - the best solutions that will be at the heart of competitiveness and innovation in Europe," commented Stéphane Requena, CTO of GENCI.

On behalf of F4E, the CEA (the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission) ordered the Helios supercomputer from Bull, installed at Rokkasho in Japan, which features 4,410 bullx B510 nodes and will be made available for international research into controlled nuclear fusion, under the auspices of the ITER project.

"For the Helios supercomputer - the installation of which should be complete in a few weeks - we chose the new bullx B510 blades, for their density and power. As a result, Helios will enable the international IFERC community to make significant progress on research into plasmas and controlled fusion," confirmed François Robin, Director of IFERC/CSC Project.

"Major Supercomputing Centers support real world applications across the broad range of technical computing," said Rajeeb Hazra, General Manager, Intel Data Center & Solution Group. " Users across the spectrum of research, design, simulation and analysis activities will be able to realize substantial performance gains through the adoption of Intel Xeon Processor E5 family in the bullx B510 series of Bull".

Appendix: technical specification

About Bull

Bull is a leader in secure mission-critical digital systems. The Group is dedicated to developing and implementing solutions where computing power and security serve to optimize its customers' information systems, to support their business.

Bull operates in high added-value markets including computer simulation, Cloud computing and 'computing power plants', outsourcing and security.

Currently Bull employs around 9,000 people across more than 50 countries, with over 700 staff totally focused on R&D. In 2011, Bull recorded revenues of €1.3 billion.

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