Atos supercomputer to enhance weather prediction capabilities for leading European numerical weather centre ECMWF - Seite 2

Adrian Gregory, Group SEVP, CEO UK&I and Global Head of Atos Syntel said: “We believe that our BullSequana supercomputing technology, people and collaborative approach will reinforce the ECMWF’s reputation as a world class research and operational centre and that this partnership will stand as a flagship model for industry-meteorological collaboration.”

Günther Tschabuschnig, Convener of the ECMWF Technical Advisory Committee which reviewed ECMWF’s HPC selection said: “One cannot overestimate the importance of accurate weather prediction.  This has never been truer than in our current age, as the effects of climate change and severe weather are increasingly felt. Individuals and societies need ever greater amounts of information to ensure they are prepared.  Atos brings an impressive track record of success in this field and its background in delivering advanced supercomputing solutions to some of the world’s best meteorological services will ensure we are placed on a firm footing for success.“

Atos has successfully deployed BullSequana systems at many leading European supercomputing centres that either undertake production or research work into weather forecasting, earth systems and climate modelling including Meteo France, the German Climate Computing Centre, the Spanish AEMet, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute and Plymouth Marine Laboratory in the UK.  Atos is also a partner of the ECMWF and other national weather centres in the ESCAPE2 and ESIWACE2 European projects developing next generation weather models which contribute to informing the future of atmospheric sciences.

Based in Reading in the UK, ECMWF is an independent intergovernmental organisation supported by 34 Member and Co-operating States across Europe and holds the largest archive of numerical weather prediction data in the world. The system will be delivered and installed at the ECMWF data centre in Bologna, Italy in 2020, with service commencing in 2021. Atos will work locally with E4 Computer Engineering to manage, run and maintain the system.

Atos has produced thought leadership on the topics of supercomputing and big data, which is also included within its Digital Vision programme.

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Additional technical information

Atos brings together its key technology partners to work on this project, which includes AMD, Mellanox and DDN, who have successfully provided solutions to most of the world’s supercomputing centres. The BullSequana system is equipped with AMD EPYC processors, a Mellanox HDR InfiniBand (200Gb/s) and has over 91PB of EXAScaler storage from DDN, enhancing the system’s overall speed, efficiency and stability. The BullSequana XH2000‘s highly-efficient water-cooled Direct Liquid Cooling (DLC) solution will provide exceptional energy efficiency, minimising the carbon footprint of the system, helping ECMWF meet its green objectives.