HPE teams up with Intel to deliver an exascale supercomputer Aurora

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), an IT service provider, has teamed up with Intel to roll out Aurora, an exascale supercomputer. The machine has been delivered to the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory. 

As per the company, Aurora boasts a 1.012 exaflops on 87% of its system, securing its place as the second-fastest supercomputer globally, according to the TOP500 list. Notably, it’s also the largest AI-capable system out there, claiming the top spot on the HPL Mixed Precision (MxP) Benchmark with a whopping 10.6 exaflops on 89% of its system. 

Trish Damkroger, senior vice president and general manager, HPC & AI Infrastructure Solutions at HPE, said, “We are proud of the strong partnership with the US Department of Energy, Argonne National Laboratory, and Intel to realise a system of this scale and magnitude that was made possible through our joint innovative engineering, multiple teams, and most importantly, shared value of delivering state-of-the-art technology to fuel science and benefit humankind.” 

Aurora is capable of processing one quintillion operations per second. This immense capability positions it to tackle some of the toughest challenges facing humanity. 

Powered by the HPE Cray EX supercomputer, Aurora boasts the largest deployment of open, Ethernet-based supercomputing interconnect HPE Slingshot, on a single system. This network connects a staggering array of computer nodes, storage, and service endpoints, as well as thousands of switches, facilitating lightning-fast communication across the system. 

Designed with artificial intelligence (AI) in mind from the start, Aurora enables researchers to harness the power of generative AI models for scientific breakthroughs. Early experiments include brain mapping, high-energy particle physics, and accelerated drug discovery. 

“The Aurora supercomputer was designed to support the research and science communities within the HPC and AI space,” said Ogi Brkic, Intel vice president and general manager, Data Center AI Solutions. “Our ongoing collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory and HPE has resulted in promising early science success stories. And we’re excited to see what’s to come as we continue to optimise system performance to accelerate the science and march toward what is next.”