Automating Business Process via MuleSoft Composer | Bangalore MuleSoft Meetup...
Customer Case Study - PIK
1. The Potsdam Institute for
Climate Impact Research
takes on smarter climate
research
The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) is a pioneer
in interdisciplinary climate research. PIK scientists use climate model-
Overview
ing to study global climate change and its impact on ecological,
The Need economic and social systems. High-performance computing (HPC) is
To perform comprehensive calculations critical to this type of modeling. One of the challenges involves
within challenging climate models as drawing conclusions about small-scale weather changes and short-term
scientists study extreme weather condi-
weather patterns, since brief storms or periods of drought are too short
tions and their impacts
for computer models that are normally used to calculate long-term
The Solution weather developments.
To implement an IBM Cluster 1350 solu-
tion based on IBM System x iDataPlex
technology—ranked #244 in the Pushing the limits of high-performance
TOP500 list and #59 in the Green500 list
computing
What Makes it Smarter During a recent project on extreme weather simulation, PIK
Achieves 30 times the performance of researchers had to examine short-lived weather events, using
previous computers, uses 25 percent comprehensive calculations to draw conclusions about when and where
less power than conventional solutions,
extreme weather events would occur and what their impacts could be.
and delivers industry-leading energy
efficiency These calculations made very high demands on the institute’s IT
systems, pushing their existing high-performance computers to
The Result their limits. As a result, the institute decided to install a new HPC
“With IBM, we are raising the bar every
time when it comes to performance and
computing cluster.
energy efficiency. This is the only way
that climate impact research makes Potential technology providers had to demonstrate, using benchmarks,
sense.”
that their solutions would meet the institute’s demanding require-
— Karsten Kramer, Manager, IT ments. PIK chose an IBM Cluster 1350 supercomputer with 30 times
Infrastructure and Services Group, the processing speed of the IBM POWER4™ system that was being
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact
Research replaced. Based on IBM System x® iDataPlex™ technology, the new
2. system ranked #244 in the June 2009 TOP500 list of the world’s
highest-performing supercomputers,1 and #59 in the x86 cluster
Business Benefits
category in the June 2009 Green500 list of the world’s most energy-
● Enables PIK scientists to perform the efficient computers.2 The Cluster 1350 is administered via two
comprehensive calculations demanded IBM System x3650 servers using the Extreme Cluster Administration
by challenging climate computer
simulations
Toolkit (xCAT).
● Helps reduce the total cost of owner-
According to Karsten Kramer, Manager of the IT Infrastructure and
ship through ease of maintenance and
by supporting open source software Services Group at PIK, “With IBM, we are raising the bar every time
options when it comes to performance and energy efficiency. This is the only
● Provides horizontal scalability to easily
way that climate impact research makes sense.”
accommodate future data growth,
protecting the organization’s IT invest-
ment over the long term
Powerful processing combined with energy
efficiency
● Combines high-performance comput-
The new supercomputer integrates Intel® data processing and Voltaire
ing with industry-leading energy-
efficiency features in a high-density InfiniBand switches, providing extreme processing density, a more
architecture that makes best use of efficient power supply, and improved cooling. Processors are cooled via
valuable data center space water-cooled cabinet doors. Since iDataPlex cabinets are not as
deep as standard cabinets, less air current is needed to cool the nodes;
the blowers therefore operate at lower speeds, which also reduces
power consumption. iDataPlex also requires less energy than compara-
ble x86 systems, decreasing cooling demand per megaflop of process-
ing power.
“Thanks to the IBM supercomputer, we were able to reduce power
consumption by 25 percent compared to conventional solutions,”
Kramer reports.
Smarter Research Boosting climate impact research with green HPC solutions
Instrumented Captures and integrates weather data into “ensemble simula-
tions” that simulate an extreme weather event 20 to 50 times
with slightly different input values
Interconnected Connects data across the climate model process, from the
importing of records and processing of calculations to
the storage and backup of enormous results files
Intelligent More precisely predicts weather events that have so far
proven to be incalculable—extreme, short-term weather
phenomena such as torrential rain or drought
3. Industry-leading solutions for high-performance
Solution Components data storage and backup
After completing climate model calculations, the system uses
Software IBM Tivoli® Workload Scheduler LoadLeveler® to ensure that large
● IBM General Parallel File System data records can be quickly stored on the hard drives, enabling users to
● IBM Tivoli® Storage Manager run more jobs in a shorter time. A storage area network (SAN) with
● IBM Tivoli Workload Scheduler four IBM System Storage™ DS5300 enterprise storage systems is also
LoadLeveler®
connected to the supercomputer, with IBM General Parallel File
● IBM AIX®
System (GPFS™) providing 200 TB of usable data storage. The GPFS
● IBM AIX HSM Client
distributes the data to different disk drives, thus guaranteeing an
Hardware extremely high data flow rate.
● IBM Cluster 1350
● IBM System x® iDataPlex™ PIK controls backups and hierarchical storage management (HSM) via
● IBM Power® servers three IBM Power® servers running IBM AIX®, Tivoli Storage
● IBM System Storage™ DS5300 Manager, and AIX HSM Client. To protect existing storage invest-
● IBM System x3650 ments, they also upgraded an existing IBM TotalStorage® 3494 tape
Services archive to IBM S1130 disk drives.
● IBM Global Technology Services
Full deployment support from IBM Global
Technology Services
Because of significant space and cooling constraints, the institute
turned to IBM Global Technology Services (GTS) to help with solu-
tion installation. GTS handled project planning and implementation
and provides ongoing comprehensive maintenance and support.
Powering more accurate conclusions in critical
climate studies
The IBM supercomputing cluster makes it easier for PIK scientists to
calculate highly complex simulations using the newest scientific
“Systems for climate models. Current weather data and results from international research
projects can be integrated into the calculations. Based on this data,
modeling are becoming scientists can draw more accurate conclusions about extreme weather
increasingly effective conditions and take into account small-scale changes and short-term
and more efficient. One activity. Conclusions concerning the climate and the ways it is
influenced are therefore more accurate. This research can help reduce
reason is innovative risks for humans and the environment.
solutions from IBM.”
“The systems for climate modeling are becoming increasingly effective
— Karsten Kramer, Manager, IT
Infrastructure and Services Group, Potsdam
and more efficient,” Kramer says. “One reason is innovative solutions
Institute for Climate Impact Research from IBM.”
For more information
Contact your IBM sales representative or IBM Business Partner. Visit
us at: ibm.com/deepcomputing
For more information about the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact
Research, visit: www.pik-potsdam.de
