Eviden expands LNCC Santos Dumont supercomputer capacity fourfold to meet growing needs of academic community

Santos Dumont will assist in cutting-edge research initiatives, especially in oil & gas sector

Sao Paulo, Brazil and Paris, France – April 11th, 2024 – Eviden, the Atos Group business leading in advanced computing today announces that it has signed a new $19.4 million contract with The National Laboratory for Scientific Computing (LNCC) to extend the compute capacity of its “Santos Dumont” supercomputer. Based on Eviden’s BullSequana XH3000 architecture, this extension will see Eviden expand the capacity by 4 times, securing the supercomputer’s rank as the most powerful in Latin America for academic research.

The LNCC needed to modernize Santos Dumont to meet the growing computation demands of the academic community and assist in its cutting-edge research initiatives, especially in the oil and gas sector. Installed in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, and with the expansion of 17 Petaflops, the supercomputer will now operate with a total processing capacity of approximately 18,85 quadrillion operations per second, an increase of approximately 575% compared to the original 2015 specification of 1.1 Petaflops plus the expansion of 2019 which added 1,85 Petaflops based on the Sequana X1000 architecture.

“We’re thrilled to continue our long-standing partnership with LNCC and further enhance the capabilities of the Santos Dumont supercomputer. This contract underscores Eviden’s commitment to empowering academic research and supporting cutting-edge initiatives in Brazil. With our BullSequana XH3000 architecture, we’re ensuring that LNCC has access to the most advanced computing power available, solidifying Santos Dumont’s position as the leading supercomputer in Latin America.” Said Luis Casuscelli, Director of Big Data and Cyber ​​Security at Eviden in South America, Atos Group.

Fábio Borges, Director at The National Laboratory for  Scientific Computing (LNCC) said “Thanks to Petrobras, we have the resources necessary to significantly bolster cutting-edge research and development projects, driving advancements in science and technology worldwide. Thanks to Eviden, we now have access to a state-of-the-art supercomputer that empowers Brazilian researchers to conduct large-scale scientific experiments and simulations, advancing our capabilities in various fields of study, enabling groundbreaking discoveries and innovations.”

In total around 434 projects have been conducted with Santos Dumont in strategic areas such as oil and gas exploration, and coal and renewable energy, but also on studies for the development of medicines and vaccines against COVID-19, drug development for HIV and climate studies.

Eviden will provide 5 BullSequana XH3000 racks, to deliver exceptional performance, combining energy efficiency and advanced cooling – its patented Direct Liquid Cooling technology – for reliability, sustainability and low cost of operation. This will be boosted by 60 CPUs, 62 GPUs (2 x Intel Sapphire Rapids and 4 x Nvidia Hopper HGX H100) and 36 Grace Hopper GPU with DDN storage. Eviden will provide its Software Suite, including Smart Management Center, Smart Performance Management Suite, Smart Energy Management Suite and Smart Data Management Suite.