CSIRO seeking new supercomputer

CSIRO has commenced its search for the next generation of supercomputer to replace the organisation’s current Bragg accelerator cluster.

The tender for the new machine is calling for a heterogeneous system combining traditional central processing units with coprocessors to accelerate both the machine’s performance and energy efficiency. The successful bidder will be asked to deliver and support the system for three years within a $4 million proposed budget.

Bragg debuted in the TOP500 list of supercomputers in the world in 2012 at number 156, before going on to rank at number seven on the Green500 in 2014. Its replacement will be capable of petaflop speeds, significantly exceeding the existing computer’s performance, and is expected to rank highly on the Green500.

Angus Macoustra, CSIRO’s acting deputy chief information officer, scientific computing, said the replacement cluster will be essential to maintaining CSIRO’s ability to solve many of the most important emerging science problems. It will power a new generation of groundbreaking scientific research, including data analysis, modelling and simulation in a variety of science domains, such as biophysics, material science, molecular modelling, marine science, geochemical modelling, computational fluid dynamics, artificial intelligence and data analytics.

“It’s an integral part of our strategy working alongside national peak computing facilities to build Australian HPC (high-performance computing) capacity to accelerate great science and innovation,” Macoustra said.

The tender process is currently open for submissions at AusTender and will close on 19 December 2016. The winning system is expected to be up and running during the first half of 2017.

Pictured: The current Bragg supercomputer.