With the installation of a Lenovo High Performance Computing system and the use of Lenovo Neptune liquid cooling technology, the University of Pisa accelerates research activities and reduces energy consumption by up to 40%.
MILAN, 2024. – The University of Pisa (UniPi) will have the largest university supercomputer in Italy at its disposal thanks to the deployment of a Lenovo High Performance Computing (HPC) system that brings the number of racks on the site to 104, with the aim of supporting new challenges in the field of scientific research and teaching, while supporting the digital transition of the area. The adoption of Lenovo Neptune for water cooling makes it possible to reduce energy consumption by up to 40%, representing excellence also from the sustainability point of view.
UniPi has a leading position in the development of digitization processes, which are increasingly strategic for training, research and technology transfer. Thanks to the expansion of the supercomputer, UniPi will receive an additional boost to explore cutting-edge topics such as 5G, AI and quantum computing.
Lenovo’s new HPC system installed in the UniPi data center consists of 16 SD650 V3 nodes with two Intel® Xeon® Max 9480 CPUs, the first x86 processor with high-bandwidth memory (HBM), The solution also ensures better energy efficiency, compared to similar air-cooled solutions. The use of Lenovo Neptune™ Direct Water-Cooling water technology, in fact, is able to capture up to 98% of the heat produced by the supercomputer and liquid cooling saves the energy used for the fans and also, thanks to the greater efficiency, the temperature of the CPUs does not reach critical values, avoiding the reduction of the maximum frequency of the cores.
Among the main factors that led to the choice of Lenovo solutions there was the adaptability of the system that was adopted by the research center for technological enhancement. The new HPC system, in fact, has not changed the original project, designed to have the lowest possible environmental impact, and evolve towards a sustainable data center. The adaptability of Lenovo’s standard HPC system has also made it easier and faster to install in the UniPi data center. With this new solution, the supercomputer is thus able to support the latest generation HPC and AI workloads for the next few years while limiting energy consumption.
“We are proud to be able to contribute to the installation of the largest supercomputing center within an Italian university. And to do so with one of our most cutting-edge solutions, from the point of view of data center sustainability, such as Lenovo Neptune” – commented Alessandro de Bartolo, CEO and Country General Manager Infrastructure Solutions Group at Lenovo. “At Lenovo, we believe that HPC and AI can help humanity solve biggest challenges, and expanding this facility will enable researchers to take researchers to the next level in globally competitive projects for science and engineering research.”
