Bull unveils newest supercomputers

Supercomputing specialist Bull has introduced a new line of commercial high-performance systems.

The French firm said that its new systems would introduce the 'supernode' platform. The four-socket server nodes can be expanded to support up to 128 cores and 2TB of memory.

The company said that the new systems, also known as the bullx S-series, were based on a project the company undertook in cooperation with the French Atomic Energy Authority. Bull is aiming the systems at traditional high-performance markets such as aeronautics, physics simulation and engineering calculations.

Designed to function as part of larger supercomputing clusters, the S-series modules will be offered in either a full 3-unit rack mount case or as L-shaped 1.5 unit casings designed to interlock in a 3-unit space.

The S-series nodes will also utilise Intel's recently-introduced Xeon 7500 series processors. The new chips are being touted by Intel as offering breakthrough performance in the 64-bit x86 processor space.

"Our message to businesses and research establishments is, refuse to compromise, and open up new horizons for your organisation, while at the same time minimising the risks and reducing your carbon footprint," said Bull vice president of products and systems Philippe Miltin.

"For Bull, innovation has to be unlimited and unconstrained, our bullx supernodes are a concrete example of this principle."