2024-11-25 20:31:00
Hewlett Packard Enterprise presents “El Capitan” supercomputer, the world’s fastest exoscale and direct liquid cooled supercomputer
At the SC24A supercomputing show, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) announced the delivery of the world’s fastest new supercomputer. El Capitan was delivered to the United States Department of Energy’s (DOE) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The feat gives HPE the distinction of having built the only three exoscale systems in the world¹. With a performance of 1,742 exaflops² and reaching 58.89 gigaflops per watt³, the El Capitan, with direct liquid cooling and without fans, is also among the 20 most energy efficient systems in the world.
Highlights
• The world’s only three exoscale supercomputers, all built by HPE, occupy the top three positions on the list of today’s most powerful systems
• El Capitan, located at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, reaches 1,742 exaflops, making it the most powerful supercomputer in the world
• The fanless, direct liquid-cooled system is also ranked among the world’s 20 most energy-efficient supercomputers on the Green500 list
• AI-powered scientific research conducted on El Capitan will support U.S. national security efforts and could accelerate confidential, non-classified studies in areas such as energy security, climate change, power grid modernization and drug discovery
Or El Capitan Supercomputer
“El Capitan is another significant milestone in exoscale supercomputing, bringing impressive performance, energy efficiency, capabilities to accelerate AI-driven scientific discoveries and achieve advances in strengthening national security, as well as opening new opportunities in renewable energy”, comments Trish Damkroger, senior vice president and general manager of HPC and AI Infrastructure Solutions at HPE. “We are proud of this achievement, the result of a strong partnership, years of research and development with the US Department of Energy, the National Nuclear Security Administration, LLNL and AMD. We look forward to the future discoveries and engineering advances that El Capitan will enable.”
As the world’s most powerful supercomputer, El Capitan will enable the United States to maintain a competitive advantage in national security and will power the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Tri-Labs – LLNL, Sandia National Laboratories, and the of Los Alamos – to meet increasingly demanding requirements to ensure the safety, security and reliability of the nation’s nuclear arsenal and to carry out current and future efforts to modernize that arsenal. LLNL will also be able to utilize artificial intelligence (AI) models for confidential and non-sensitive workloads.
“We are pleased to have worked so successfully alongside our partners at HPE and AMD over the past five years to implement El Capitan,” says Rob Neely, director of LLNL’s Weapons Computing and Simulation Program. “This highly anticipated machine will allow us to perform the high-fidelity 3D modeling and simulation we need to effectively fulfill our national security mission.
We have a great team ready to unleash the power of this system — many of them supported by HPE in our Center of Excellence. I can’t wait to demonstrate our capabilities to our sponsors and supporters. We are also committed to investing in AI on El Capitan and will use the system for large-scale AI training and inference to make our calculations faster, more efficient and, of course, more accurate.
Having a ready capability for both modeling and simulation workloads and AI in a single system is exciting.”
Combating terrorism
El Capitan will also perform secondary objectives related to maintaining national security, such as nuclear non-proliferation and combating terrorism, as well as being used for discovery of new materials, analysis of nuclear data and high energy density science, such as research inertial confinement fusion performed at the National Ignition Facility. Insights gained from research conducted on El Capitan will also contribute to non-classified projects in the areas of energy security, climate change, power grid modernization, drug discovery and other fields.
The platform that powers El Capitan performance is based on advanced technology, anchored by HPE’s supercomputing solution, HPE Cray EX, powered by AMD Instinc MI300A APUs, which integrate CPU and GPU cores with high-bandwidth memory in a single package. HPE Slingshot interconnect and a custom storage solution are also part of this configuration. HPE Slingshot, a high-speed Ethernet-based network, serves as the backbone of El Capitan’s collective power, enabling large calculations to be performed across the system’s 11,000+ nodes. As part of this public-private partnership, LLNL and HPE co-developed a custom near-node local storage solution to reduce latency, dynamically configurable, and with a tiered structure integrated with a global, shared Luster file system. the computing nodes.
In addition to processing power, El Capitan is also designed to prioritize energy efficiency, with a high-density design made possible by HPE’s innovative fanless direct liquid cooling architecturewhich has eight refrigeration elements.
HPE Leadership
As a global leader in supercomputing⁴, HPE delivers an optimized end-to-end solution, including software, storage and services, to help its customers drive scientific innovation and discovery in the age of AI.
¹ As verified by the TOP500 list, published in November 2024
² As listed in the TOP500 ranking of the most powerful supercomputers in the world: Link
³ As listed in the Green500 ranking, with the most energy-efficient supercomputers in the world: Link
⁴ Q4 2023 HPC Market Data Report, produced by Hyperion Research and reflecting the year 2023. Supercomputer Segment (May 29, 2024), Hyperion Research
Sobre a Hewlett Packard Enterprise
A Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) is a global edge-to-cloud company that helps organizations accelerate results by unlocking value from all their data, everywhere. Building on decades of reimagining the future and innovating to improve the way people live and work, HPE delivers unique, open and intelligent technology solutions. With offerings spanning cloud services, compute, high performance computing & AI, intelligent edge, software and storage, HPE delivers a consistent experience across clouds and edges, helping customers develop new business models, engage in new ways and increase operational performance. For more information, visit the official website.
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What role will AI play in the future applications of El Capitan beyond its initial uses?
**Interview with Rob Neely, Director of LLNL’s Weapons Computing and Simulation Program**
**Interviewer:** Thank you for joining us today, Rob. El Capitan has recently made headlines as the world’s fastest supercomputer. Can you share what this achievement means for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and national security?
**Rob Neely:** Thank you for having me. El Capitan is a significant milestone for us, not just because of its speed—performing at 1,742 exaflops—but also because it enhances our ability to conduct high-fidelity modeling and simulation. This capability is essential for fulfilling our national security mission, particularly in areas such as nuclear deterrence and non-proliferation.
**Interviewer:** You mentioned the importance of high-fidelity modeling. How will El Capitan support this?
**Rob Neely:** El Capitan enables us to perform complex simulations that are critical for understanding the dynamics of nuclear systems and other high-stakes environments. The combination of its processing capabilities and our commitment to AI integration allows us to model scenarios more accurately, which is vital for informed decision-making in national security.
**Interviewer:** AI seems to play a crucial role in El Capitan’s operations. Can you elaborate on its applications?
**Rob Neely:** Absolutely. We are investing heavily in AI capabilities on El Capitan. The system will support large-scale AI training and inference, allowing us to conduct faster and more efficient calculations. This will not only advance our modeling and simulation efforts but also support non-classified research in fields such as energy security and climate change.
**Interviewer:** Besides national security, what other applications will El Capitan have?
**Rob Neely:** El Capitan will also contribute to significant scientific research, including material discovery, examining nuclear data, and high energy density science like inertial confinement fusion. The insights gained from these studies can impact various domains, including drug discovery and power grid modernization.
**Interviewer:** HPE’s partnership in developing El Capitan is noteworthy. What does this collaboration mean for the future of supercomputing?
**Rob Neely:** Our partnership with HPE has been pivotal. Together, we have pushed the boundaries of supercomputing technology, particularly with the integration of advanced cooling systems and efficient storage solutions. This collaboration reflects our shared goal of enhancing computational capabilities while maintaining energy efficiency, which is becoming increasingly essential in today’s world.
**Interviewer:** what excites you the most about working with El Capitan in the coming years?
**Rob Neely:** I’m particularly excited about the potential discoveries and advancements in engineering that El Capitan will enable. Our team is eager to harness its power, not just for our own national security objectives but also to contribute to broader scientific knowledge that can benefit society as a whole. I look forward to demonstrating our capabilities and seeing the impact of our work.
**Interviewer:** Thank you, Rob, for sharing these insights. It’s clear that El Capitan is set to make a significant impact across many fields.
**Rob Neely:** Thank you for having me! I’m excited for what lies ahead.
