Altair Case Studies Kyoto University's HPC Resources Power Japan's Research Community

	Kyoto University's HPC Resources Power Japan's Research Community Altair

Kyoto University's HPC Resources Power Japan's Research Community

Altair

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Machine Learning Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing
Applicable Industries	Electrical Grids Equipment & Machinery
Applicable Functions	Product Research & Development
Use Cases	Inventory Management Smart Campus
Services	System Integration
Challenge	Kyoto University, one of the largest and highest-ranked universities in Japan, has a mission to provide high-performance computing (HPC) tools for researchers all over the country. With over 200 teams and more than 1,600 users relying on its computing resources, the university supports research in a broad variety of areas including natural science, economics, space science, genetics, and civil engineering. However, the massive data growth and demand for computing power meant that HPC is always evolving, and Kyoto University’s Academic Center for Computing and Media Studies (ACCMS) needed to evolve with it. To elevate its HPC capabilities, the team commissioned Cray, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, to deliver three supercomputing systems. The workload management of these systems was orchestrated by Altair’s PBS Professional™, a part of the Altair PBS Works™ suite. Read More
About Customer	Kyoto University is one of the largest and highest-ranked universities in Japan, with a 150-year tradition of providing critical academic and scientific resources across Japan and worldwide. Its Academic Center for Computing and Media Studies (ACCMS) provides high-performance computing (HPC) tools for researchers all over the country. The university supports research in a broad variety of areas including natural science, economics, space science, genetics, and civil engineering. With over 200 teams and more than 1,600 users relying on its computing resources — around 60% outside university walls — Kyoto University has an important mission with global reach. Read More
Solution	The university's supercomputing capabilities were boosted when Cray installed the Cray® XC™ “Camphor 2” supercomputer and two Cray® CS™ systems, “Laurel 2” and “Cinnamon 2.” All three systems had PBS Professional installed and the university also added the Cray® DataWarp™ application I/O accelerator, with transparent cache mode integration by Altair. Camphor 2 includes the Cray-designed Aries™ interconnect and over five petaflops of peak performance. Customization and custom development were key features of the solution. Altair did custom coding to achieve service-level agreements (SLAs) and, after the supercomputing system was installed, developed a node allocator that worked in conjunction with the scheduler to find the best times and places to schedule jobs. The Kyoto University supercomputing ecosystem was built to handle a variety of workloads, many with memory-hungry operations and highly parallel vectorized codes. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Machine Learning

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing

Applicable Industries

Electrical Grids

Equipment & Machinery

Applicable Functions

Product Research & Development

Use Cases

Inventory Management

Smart Campus

Services

System Integration

Challenge

Kyoto University, one of the largest and highest-ranked universities in Japan, has a mission to provide high-performance computing (HPC) tools for researchers all over the country. With over 200 teams and more than 1,600 users relying on its computing resources, the university supports research in a broad variety of areas including natural science, economics, space science, genetics, and civil engineering. However, the massive data growth and demand for computing power meant that HPC is always evolving, and Kyoto University’s Academic Center for Computing and Media Studies (ACCMS) needed to evolve with it. To elevate its HPC capabilities, the team commissioned Cray, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, to deliver three supercomputing systems. The workload management of these systems was orchestrated by Altair’s PBS Professional™, a part of the Altair PBS Works™ suite.

About Customer

Kyoto University is one of the largest and highest-ranked universities in Japan, with a 150-year tradition of providing critical academic and scientific resources across Japan and worldwide. Its Academic Center for Computing and Media Studies (ACCMS) provides high-performance computing (HPC) tools for researchers all over the country. The university supports research in a broad variety of areas including natural science, economics, space science, genetics, and civil engineering. With over 200 teams and more than 1,600 users relying on its computing resources — around 60% outside university walls — Kyoto University has an important mission with global reach.

Solution

The university's supercomputing capabilities were boosted when Cray installed the Cray® XC™ “Camphor 2” supercomputer and two Cray® CS™ systems, “Laurel 2” and “Cinnamon 2.” All three systems had PBS Professional installed and the university also added the Cray® DataWarp™ application I/O accelerator, with transparent cache mode integration by Altair. Camphor 2 includes the Cray-designed Aries™ interconnect and over five petaflops of peak performance. Customization and custom development were key features of the solution. Altair did custom coding to achieve service-level agreements (SLAs) and, after the supercomputing system was installed, developed a node allocator that worked in conjunction with the scheduler to find the best times and places to schedule jobs. The Kyoto University supercomputing ecosystem was built to handle a variety of workloads, many with memory-hungry operations and highly parallel vectorized codes.

Impact #1	The university’s next step is to boost computing power with a new high-performance system that will accommodate an even wider range of applications, including machine learning. This will use advanced technologies such as containers and energy-efficient resource allocation. With state-of-the-art Cray computing architecture and the latest workload management technology from Altair, Kyoto University is equipped to provide robust HPC resources for users both in and out of the university for many years to come.

Impact #1

The university’s next step is to boost computing power with a new high-performance system that will accommodate an even wider range of applications, including machine learning. This will use advanced technologies such as containers and energy-efficient resource allocation. With state-of-the-art Cray computing architecture and the latest workload management technology from Altair, Kyoto University is equipped to provide robust HPC resources for users both in and out of the university for many years to come.

Benefit #1	Top 100 supercomputing power
Benefit #2	Industry-leading workload management
Benefit #3	Broad availability to researchers

Benefit #1

Top 100 supercomputing power

Benefit #2

Industry-leading workload management

Benefit #3

Broad availability to researchers

Download PDF Version

Overview

Kyoto University's HPC Resources Power Japan's Research Community

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit