Cenaero inaugurates the supercomputer Lucia

Submitted by kmailleu on Tue, 11/29/2022 - 10:23

Cenaero strengthens its activities thanks to supercomputer Lucia

On November 15th 2022, Cenaero inaugurated supercomputer Lucia. Hosted in Charleroi, Belgium within the A6K ecosystem, this new high-performance computing tool operated by Cenaero will allow to intensify fundamental and applied research.

With this new supercomputer, the Walloon region strengthens and consolidates its leadership in terms of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence.

Supporting research and industry

Just like its use in the field of fundamental research, high-performance computing (HPC) has been developing considerably within the industry. Now, HPC has applications in numerous sectors: automotive, aeronautics, energy, finance, telecommunications, health, chemistry, biotechnology, agri-food, multimedia, environment…

High-performance computing and digital simulation have become indispensable tools for business competitiveness. Manufacturers are increasingly relying on this type of supercomputer in order to perform R&D activities with the aim of introducing innovative products to the market.

Would you like to know more about this? Discover the user testimonials in the Cenaero video entitled "HPC au service de la recherche et de l'industrie !" (☞ link to the video).

Lucia replaces supercomputer Zenobe

Thanks to its performance, Lucia appears in the Top 500 (Lucia occupies the 245th place worldwide in the November 2022 ranking of the Top500) of the most powerful computers worldwide. It replaces Zenobe, a supercomputer launched in 2014.

Lucia’s computing power is 12 times higher than the one of its predecessor Zenobe.

This new computing tool allows to create the link with the world’s top supercomputers, including the one hosted in Finland for which Belgium is a partner through the European consortium EuroHPC (with the financial support of the Walloon Region).

Some key facts about Lucia

  • Supercomputer
    • Computing power: 4 aggregate Pflops (i.e. 4 million billion operations per second)
      • 300 CPU nodes delivering 1,1 Pflops
      • 50 GPU nodes delivering 2,72 Pflops
      • 2 GPU nodes dedicated to artificial intelligence and delivering 0,19 Pflops
    • Memory: 121 aggregate storage TBytes
    • Storage volume: 3 PBytes of disk space and 4 PBytes of archiving space
    • Manufacturer: Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
    • Technology: Apollo by HPE
  • Infrastructure
    • Hosted at A6K (Charleroi, Belgium)
    • Power consumption: 400 kW
    • Operational: from February 2023 onwards
    • Integrator: Axians, a brand by VINCI Energies

Information and technical specifications: salesatcenaero [dotcenaero] be

More information: https://www.cenaero.be/fr/lucia-inauguration