Supercomputer Ranked as UK Academia’s Greenest

The University of Southampton’s new supercomputer which is now live is named UK academia’s ‘greenest’ computer in this year’s Green500 List, a ranking of the world’s most energy-efficient supercomputers.

The Green500 List also ranks it as the second most energy-efficient UK-based supercomputer overall – covering both academia and commercial markets.

Custom-designed and built by supercomputer and storage integrator OCF and using IBM’s iDataPlex server technology, the supercomputer uses just one watt of power to generate speeds in excess 299.52 megaflops of performance. It will be used by leading-edge researchers across the University to make highly complex computations in fields ranging from cancer research to climate change.

Professor Philip Nelson, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Southampton, comments: "It’s good to know that the University of Southampton not only has one of the fastest supercomputers in the world, but also one of the greenest. While our researchers are investigating new responses to climate change, designing new transport systems and exploring the origins of life on earth, it’s important that we limit our impact on the planet."

“Obtaining significant supercomputer processing performance, whilst at the same time keeping an eye on energy consumption and the related costs has become a primary challenge for many organisations investing in a supercomputer,” says Barry Evans, technical director, OCF plc. “Using innovative technologies from companies such as IBM is key to making those energy consumption cost reductions happen.

"IBM is actively engaged with universities like Southampton throughout the world working to put the latest technology into the hands of leading researchers," said Ben Warwick, IBM. "As we push supercomputers to new heights of performance, IBM is committed to ensuring that energy efficiency keeps pace. Energy efficiency - including performance per watt for the most computationally demanding workloads - is a core design principle
in developing IBM systems."