Test facility and services

• Computational Vademecums (parametric solutions) & Simulation Apps development is a unique expertise of the ICI-Lab.
• ICI-Tech offers a massively parallel framework for scientific high performance computing: massively parallel adaptive APIs and higher order finite elements and meshing, industrial, academic and teaching software applications.

ICI SUPERCOMPUTING CENTER

ICI SuperComputing Centre is the 3rd french fastest Tier2 class machine as a regional supercomputing facilities, hosting an efficient BULLx DLC Parallel Scalar Supercomputer running 6384 nodes with a 280 Tflop/s peak performance.

The supercomputer, which was installed at Centrale Nantes at the end of 2015 as part of the Connect Talent project in the Pays de la Loire region, is one of the most powerful in France. Giving access to unprecedented levels of precision, this state-of-the-art equipment is a real game changer which will release new potential for innovation.

Intensive numerical calculation is an indispensable tool for both research and industry: it reduces the cost of testing, facilitates optimization and promotes creativity and the search for new solutions. The means of calculation are also an indicator of the research and development of a region, or a nation.

A 24-hour calculation on a conventional PC takes only a few minutes on a supercomputer.

High Performance Computing (HPC) consists of using software for acquisition, modeling or analysis on supercomputers of several thousand processors capable of executing several billion operations per second to model complex phenomena, process or characterise large volumes of data. It is also a set of servers designed to run long-term processes to massively and intensively calculate programs. These supercomputers can be seen as a large number of machines (computing servers) linked together by very high-speed networks.

Known as LIGER (“Loire” in Latin) because part-financed by the "Connect Talent" programme of the Pays de la Loire region.
Built by BULL / Atos.
Hosted and administered by the High Performance Computing Institute.
Parallel scalar supercalculator with a total peak power (Rpeak) of the order of 280 Tflop/s (200 Tflop/s as per LINPACK)
266 dual x86 nodes (Intel Xeon with 12 cores at 2.5GHz) of 6384 cores
Cumulative system memory of over 32TB, including 252 so-called "thin nodes" with 128GB of RAM (5.33GB/core)
Bullx DLC Direct Liquid Cooling technology for optimal energy efficiency.

NB there is a global ranking of the 500 most powerful computers, the TOP500 (top500.org). The most powerful machine is Chinese, the SUNWAY TAIHULIGHT in Wuxi, with more than 10,000,000 cores. At 6384 cores, LIGER does not feature in the top 500. With the upcoming extension to more than 11,000 cores, a positioning between the 300th and 400th places is anticipated for the June 2017 ranking. The most powerful French supercomputers are at Total, CEA or Météo France and are reserved for internal use.