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AMD gets new order from CNPC subsidiary

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-01-21 11:11

International chip maker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) got a boost recently, seeing its Opteron-based servers are favored at a recent public bidding program for HPC cluster by CNPC BGP.

AMD, together with its partners, will help build up a 4-set 150-node parallel computer cluster system for CNPC BGP to meet its high performance computing need in oil exploration.

It is disclosed that all the servers will be provided by Sun Microsystems, one of AMD’s strategic partners. The 150 servers, configured as Sun Fire X2200M2 and Sun Fire X4200M2, will be based on 300 AMD Quad-Core Opteron Processors. The HPC cluster is mainly used to run GeoEast, a seismic data processing software proprietarily developed by BGP.

As a subsidiary held by CNPC, BGP is a world leading geophysical service contractor, providing oil exploration, seismic processing explanation, oil geological research, geophysical prospecting research and other service for global oil companies.

To provide better services for its clients, BGP has urgent demand for computer cluster technology, high-performance computing, graphic processing, as well as critical requirements on energy consumption, system scalability and I/O throughput capability.

AMD Opteron processor features Direct Connect Architecture, integrated memory controller and high-speed HyperTransport　technologies. It can reduce memory latency, expand data transmission bandwidth and enhance computing efficiency and performance.

Thanks to the innovative PowerNow! technology and power-saving DDR2 memory, Opteron processor can reduce the total power consumption of HPC cluster, thus bringing about higher performance-per-watt. In addition, the common core strategy in different generations of AMD processors and Direct Connect Architecture empowers the system with flexibility and scalability.

The innovative Direct Connect Architecture gives AMD Opteron processor obvious advantages in both performance and power advantage when conducting high-performance computing applications, according to AMD technical staffers,.

That helped the company gain the trust of BGP which has been using Opteron processor in quantity since 2004 to build its high-performance computer cluster for large-scale seismic data processing.

Currently, BGP has a rough total of 2000-node computer clusters based on Opteron processors, providing seismic processing service, as well as special services like 3-d pre-stack migration, 3-d post-stack migration and post-inversion to global oil giants.

AMD Opteron processor has strong track record in high performance computing. In the Top500 supercomputer list published in November 2008, AMD found its involvement in seven of the Top 10.

IBM Roadrunner, which defended its No.1 title, is based on both IBM PowerXCell and AMD Opteron processor, while No.2 Cray Jaguar uses over 45,000 AMD Quad-Core Opteron processors, according to the chip maker. With its peak performance reaching 1,380 trillion times per second, Jaguar becomes the first X86-based supercomputer that breaks Petaflop in the world.