UK’s Fastest AI Supercomputer, Powered by Intel and Dell Technologies, to Drive Research

A New Dawn for UK’s Scientific Research Communities

“Dawn Phase 1 represents a huge step forward in AI and simulation capability for the U.K., deployed and ready to use now. The system plays an important role within a larger context, where this co-design activity aims to deliver a Phase 2 supercomputer in 2024 which will boast 10 times the level of performance. If taken forward, Dawn Phase 2 would significantly boost the U.K. AI capability and continue this successful industry partnership,” said Dr. Paul Calleja, director of Research Computing Services at the University of Cambridge.

Dawn Phase 1 and the already announced Isambard AI supercomputer³ will join to form the AIRR, a U.K. national facility to help researchers maximize the potential of AI and support critical work into the potential and safe use of the technology. Dawn, supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will vastly increase the country’s AI and simulation compute capacity for both fundamental research and industrial use cases, accelerating research discovery and driving growth within the U.K. knowledge economy.

The new supercomputer is based on Dell PowerEdge XE9640 servers⁴. With its versatile configuration options and liquid cooling technology, the server system is well-equipped to handle the demands of AI and HPC workloads. Direct liquid cooling technology provides a more efficient and cost-effective solution than traditional air-cooled systems.

“Collaborations like the one between the University of Cambridge, Dell Technologies and Intel, alongside strong inward investment, are vital if we want compute to unlock the high-growth AI potential of the U.K. It is paramount that the government invests in the right technologies and infrastructure to ensure the U.K. leads in AI and exascale-class simulation capability. It’s also important to embrace the full spectrum of the technology ecosystem, including GPU diversity, to ensure customers can tackle the growing demands of generative AI, industrial simulation modelling and ground-breaking scientific research,” said Tariq Hussain, head of U.K. Public Sector, Dell Technologies.

Each PowerEdge XE9640 server in this system combines two 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors and four Intel Data Center GPU Max accelerators to deliver strong performance and high efficiency for solving real-world scientific problems. The Scientific OpenStack from UK SME StackHPC provides a fully AI- and simulation-optimized cloud supercomputing software environment. This is combined with the oneAPI open software ecosystem and optimized frameworks that help developers speed up AI and HPC workloads and enhance code portability across multiple hardware architectures.

Technical details and performance numbers for Dawn Phase 1 will be released in mid-November during the Supercomputing 23 (SC23) conference in Denver, Colorado.

More: Cambridge Open Zettascale Lab High Performance Computing Primer | 4th Gen Xeon Scalable Processors (Press Kit) | £300 million to launch first phase of new AI Research Resource (UK Research and Innovation News)

About Dell Technologies

Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL) helps organizations and individuals build their digital future and transform how they work, live and play. The company provides customers with the industry’s broadest and most innovative technology and services portfolio for the data era.

¹ _{Based on Cambridge Open Zettascale Lab’s own performance analysis compared to the Top500 List June 2023, based on theoretical peak FP16 FLOPS throughput.}
² _{https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/future-of-compute-review/the-future-of-compute-report-of-the-review-of-independent-panel-of-experts}
³ _{https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2023/september/isambard-ai.html}
⁴ _{https://www.dell.com/en-us/blog/dell-poweredge-xe9640-gpu-diversity-density-and-cooling/}

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