Today Russian HPC vendor T-Platforms unveiled what it calls the world’s highest-density blade system. As the first blade rack to include the new NVIDIA X2070 GPU, the T-Platforms TB2-TL uses innovative packaging to deliver 105 Teraflops of double-precision peak performance in a single rack. The system is set to start shipping next quarter, and while the possibility of delivering a Petaflop in just 10 racks may sound impressive enough, the TB2-TL also achieves a record-breaking 1450 MFLOPS/Watt.
“We designed this solution for the high end segment of the supercomputer market,” said Vsevolod Opanasenko, CEO of T-Platforms. “Working with NVIDIA, we have architected the world’s most dense blade system while achieving a performance to power consumption ratio twice that of the top system now listed in the Green500. The TB2-TL will support petascale operations today while giving our customers the infrastructure necessary for the eventual transition to exascale.”
You may remember our exclusive interview with Mr. Opanasenko this past May, and his people were kind enough to send me this photo of the TB2-TL mother board.
TB2-TL Motherboard
T-Platforms is far and away the leading HPC vendor in Russia and now they are making serious inroads into Western Europe. Yet you won’t find their machines sold here in America. I’m told certain sectors of the domestic HPC community “would never buy from a foreign vendor.” But as I look at this example, I have to wonder, are we letting Cold War sensibilities keep us from the cutting edge of technology in this country?
This will be an interesting one to watch. There is certainly demand for this technology, and with the right integration partner, who knows what we’ll see in the future. Your future Petascale system could very well be coming from a U.S. vendor, delivered in crates stamped “Made in America”, and stocked full of leading edge blades that say, “From Russia With Love.”
