Intel Corporation has announced several new and enhanced technologies, bolstering its leadership in high performance computing (HPC).
They include the future generation Intel Xeon Phi Processor, called Knights Hill, and Intel Omni-Path Architecture, a new high speed interconnect technology optimised for HPC deployments.
Intel also announced new software releases and collaborative efforts designed to make it easier to extract the full performance potential from current and future Intel hardware.
This innovation will help to address the dual challenges of extreme scalability and mainstream use of HPC systems while providing the foundation for a cost-effective path to superb computing.
Knights Hill will be built using Intel’s 10mm process technology and integrate Intel Omni-Path Fabric technology.
Industry investment in Intel Xeon Phi processors continues to grow with more than 50 providers expected to offer systems built using the new processor version of Knights Landing, and many more systems using the coprocessor PCle card version of the product.
Intel equally disclosed that the Intel Omni-Path Architecture is expected to offer 100 Gbps line speed and up to 56 per cent lower switch fabric latency in medium-to-large clusters than InfiniBand alternatives.
The Intel Omni-Path Architecture will use a 48 port switch chip to deliver greater port density and system scaling compared to the current 36 port InfiniBand alternatives.
Providing up to 33 per cent more nodes per switch chip is expected to reduce the number of switches required, simplifying system design and reducing infrastructure costs at every scale.
Charles Wuischpard, Intel Vice President (Data Centre Group) and General Manager (Workstations and HPC), said the company is excited about the strong market momentum and customer investment in the development of HPC systems based on current and future Intel Xeon Phi processors and high-speed fabric technology.
He added that the integration of these fundamental HPC building blocks, combined with an open standards-based programming model, will maximise HPC system performance, broaden accessibility and use, and serve as the on-ramp to exascale.
Expected benefits of the system scale include
• Up to 1.3x greater port density than InfiniBand – enabling smaller clusters to maximise single switch investments.
• Use up to 50 per cent fewer switches than a comparable InfiniBand-based cluster of medium- to large-size and up to 2.3x higher scaling in a two-tier fabric configuration using the same number of switches as an InfiniBand-based cluster. This allows for more cost-effective scaling for very large cluster-based systems.
Recent high-profile Knights Landing deals include the Trinity supercomputer, a joint effort between Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories; and the Cori supercomputer, announced by the National Energy Research Scientific Computing (NERSC) Center of the United States Department of Energy.
DownUnder GeoSolutions, a geosciences company, recently announced the largest commercial deployment of current-generation Intel Xeon Phi coprocessors.
The National Supercomputing Center IT4Innovations also announced a new supercomputer that will become the largest Intel Xeon Phi coprocessor-based cluster in Europe.
