Today Fujitsu announced the deployment of a new supercomputer system for the Meteorological Research Institute of the Japan Meteorological Agency. The Institute has started operating the new system on March 2.
The new system consists of approximately 900 nodes including the latest x86 servers Fujitsu Server PRIMERGY CX2550 M5. With high-speed Intel Omni-Path interconnect, the system has a peak performance of 2.81 petaflops.
A precise numerical prediction model with high resolution is necessary to accurately predict storm and heavy rain associated with typhoons as well as local downpours including linear precipitation zones that cause major disasters, and to provide appropriate disaster prevention information,” said Kazutoshi Onogi, Senior Director for Research Coordination, Meteorological Research Institute. “The new supercomputer system can meet our expectations, and we will use it to further promote our research and development, for example in predicting global warming in addition to advancing analysis and prediction technologies in the fields of earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes.”
The system connects 880 nodes of the latest x86 servers Fujitsu Server PRIMERGY CX2550 M5, equipped with Intel’s newest CPUs 2nd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable Processors, in parallel, using a high-speed interconnect Intel Omni-Path Architecture. Accordingly, it achieves high scalability for simulation applications such as weather forecasting, earthquake and tsunami analysis conducted by the Meteorological Research Institute, and can perform calculations on a wide range of applications, from small to large scales. The system is CPU-based and does not use accelerators such as GPUs, enabling a wide range of applications to run with high performance and low power consumption.
With the new supercomputer system, the Meteorological Research Institute plans to further advance research and development in areas such as the prediction and analysis of earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes. Moreover, the system will be used for the development of high-resolution, detailed numerical prediction models as well as for research on predicting global warming. At the same time, with its technology and experience accumulated through the development and offering of world-class supercomputers, Fujitsu will strongly support the Meteorological Research Institute in their research to achieve the world’s highest level of weather forecast accuracy, thereby contributing to realize a safe and secure society.
System configuration
- Number of nodes 880
- Peak performance: 2.81 petaflops
- Total main memory capacity: 242 terabytes
- Interconnect: Intel Omni-Path Architecture
- Storage capaciy: 16.5 petabytes
- Parallel file system bandwidth: 300 gigabytes / sec
Since its establishment in 1946, the Meteorological Research Institute has been conducting a wide range of research related to weather and climate forecasting. It is working to develop technologies for predicting torrential downpours and storms associated with typhoons, while addressing issues such as adaptation to global warming. Research and development are also being carried out on models for simulating conditions ranging from local weather to global climate forecasts. Moreover, efforts are being made to upgrade meteorological services, so as to achieve the world’s highest level of weather forecast accuracy by around 2030.
The Institute contributes to socio-economic activities by providing accurate weather information and data, as it supports the safety and security of the population through warnings and information issued by the Japan Meteorological Agency.
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