Bull, DataDirect Networks, Quadrics and Cluster File Systems announce unmatched I/O performance of Bull's high performance solutions with the Lustre file system
Bull's High Performance solutions, integrating DataDirect Networks storage systems, Quadrics interconnect and the Lustre file system, are designed to satisfy the highest demands in terms of performance
Paris, Pittsburgh,
November
9, 2004 -
Bull NovaScale® servers have set new I/O performance records with LustreTM, as a result of its strong cooperation with DataDirect Networks, Quadrics and Cluster File SystemsTM. Bull here demonstrates its ability to deliver powerful solutions for high-performance computing.
Outstanding performance
A single Bull NovaScale® 5080 server, powered by two DataDirect Networks S2A8500 storage appliances, broke the 2.5 Gigabytes/sec sustained throughput mark using Cluster File Systems' Lustre object-based file system.
The Object Storage Server (OSS) and compute nodes running the Lustre file system client were connected via a multi-rail Quadrics interconnect, delivering the unmatched throughput.
The breakthrough performance of the gateway and storage appliances, known as Object Storage Server (OSS), paves the way for the next generation of supercomputing. The tremendous performance achieved on an Intel® Itanium®-2-based NovaScale server overcomes the usual restriction in scalability of the individual file servers throughput. The combination of DataDirect Networks S2A 8500s with multi-rail Quadrics network and with multiple-OSS parallelism supplied by Lustre gives global file systems a petabyte capacity to be supplied at 100's of Gigabytes per second, setting the stage for an order-of-magnitude leap in supercomputing.
The architecture of the Bull NovaScale® server, the scalability of Lustre, the performance of the QsNetII network and the bandwidth of the S2A are the keys to reaching this performance level. In addition to their excellent computing power scalability, the Bull NovaScale® servers also have a very strong I/O architecture improving computing centre productivity.
"The ability to effortlessly combine SAN and NAS provided by our S2A storage appliances is helping our customers achieve an order-of-magnitude performance gain in their scalable file server NAS applications for high-performance computing," said Dave Fellinger, CTO of DataDirect Networks. "We are pleased that the combination of our S2A storage appliance, of Bull NovaScale servers running Linux, and the Lustre parallel file system result in a balanced, reliable and robust SAN/NAS system architecture that will enable our customers to build systems undreamed of only a few years ago," he added.
"This achievement confirms that Lustre is the file system of choice for extreme High Performance Computing. We optimize Lustre's performance features on Bull NovaScale® servers to achieve this unbelievable throughput, and Bull's customers will benefit from this close collaboration," said Peter Braam, President and CTO of Cluster File Systems.
"Cluster File Systems and Bull have shown with this demonstration that high-speed interconnects such as QsNetII deliver not just application performance, but also real gains in file system bandwidth," said Moray McLaren, Quadrics' Research and Development Manager.
"Bull has chosen to work with Cluster File Systems and with DataDirect Networks to build its high end storage solutions for clustered file systems. With Lustre and S2A storage appliances powering our Bull NovaScale® servers, we can offer our customers both computing power and the I/O bandwidth required by the largest of the HPC applications," said Jean-François Lavignon, Bull HPC manager.
For more information about Bull NovaScale®, download the "IDC Insight: Bull fills out NovaScale line" at http://www.bull.com/novascale/idc_report/index.php
About DataDirect Networks, Inc.
DataDirect Networks is the world's leading provider of networked storage and clusters for HPC and Rich Media. Providing SAN, SAN/NAS convergence, and cluster solutions for Government, Research Labs, Defense, Life sciences, Broadcasting, Digital Production, Oil and Gas industries. For more information, contact DataDirect Networks at (818) 700-7600 or visit www.datadirectnet.com.
About Cluster File Systems, Inc.
Cluster File Systems, Inc. (CFS) has quickly established itself as the recognized leader in high-performance, scalable cluster file system technology. Extensive experience, innovative insights, and proven engineering have enabled CFS to dramatically surpass the scalability limits of modern computing. The company's premier LustreTM cluster file system currently powers clusters with thousands of nodes and hundreds of terabytes of data, delivering groundbreaking parallel I/O and metadata throughput on some of the world's largest Linux-based supercomputers. CFS provides Lustre technical support, training, and engineering services, and is actively working with storage and cluster vendors to develop the next generation of intelligent storage devices. The Lustre file system for Linux is Open Source software developed and maintained by CFS.
About Quadrics
Quadrics (www.quadrics.com) is a leading supplier and developer of high performance networking products and software for parallel systems. QsNet product families are based on internally developed ASICs, firmware and software technologies. Quadrics' scalable, high performance solutions combine the industry-leading QsNet interconnect with standard microprocessor and operating system platforms. QsNet enables large clusters of these processing units to be connected together. With extremely high bandwidth and ultra-low latency, it is a crucial component for building scalable systems.
Quadrics has its HQ in the UK and local presence in the US and Italy. Quadrics Ltd. is fully owned by Alenia Aeronautica, one of Europe's leading corporations and part of the Finmeccanica Group (www.finmeccanica.com).
The world's leading vendors and system integrators as well as major supercomputing centres such as Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratory have selected Quadrics.
Lustre, the Lustre logo, Cluster File Systems, and CFS are trademarks of Cluster File Systems, Inc in the United States. Quadrics® is a registered trademark of Quadrics Ltd.
Top500 is a trademark of Top500.org.
About Bull
Bull designs and develops servers, software and services for an open environment, integrating the most advanced technologies. In this respect, Bull's range of NovaScale servers combines the openness of standards with the robustness of mainframes. It brings to its customers its expertise and know-how to help them in the transformation of their information systems and to optimize their IT infrastructure and their applications.
Bull is particularly present in the public sector, banking, finance, telecommunication, utilities and manufacturing sectors. Capitalizing on its wide experience, the Group has a thorough understanding of the business and specific processes of these sectors, thus enabling it to efficiently advise and to accompany its customers. Its distribution network spreads to over 100 countries worldwide.
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