Lenovo and CMCC Collaborate on Powerful New HPC System for Climate Change Research

The Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC) in Lecce has announced a renewed collaboration with Lenovo for the installation of a powerful new HPC (High Performance Computing) system. This new system, named “Cassandra,” will provide increased processing capabilities and optimize energy use for climate change research at CMCC.

Cassandra is composed of 180 SD650 V3 nodes with two Intel Xeon Max 9480 CPUs, reaching a peak processing power of 1.2 PetaFlops. This represents a 100% increase compared to the current solution in operation at CMCC. The system also features Lenovo Neptune™ Direct Water-Cooling technology, which ensures better energy efficiency by keeping electricity consumption for system cooling 15% lower than similar air-cooled solutions.

CMCC plans to integrate the system with a dedicated AI workload solution based on Nvidia H100 GPUs. This new system is scheduled to be installed in the second half of the year and will support climate simulation models, ocean forecasting systems, and AI-based climate change applications.

The CMCC, founded in 2005, is a global reference point for climate-related research and is dedicated to studying climate change and its interactions with society and economic systems. HPC systems like Cassandra are essential tools for CMCC scientists to process data and predict how climate change will impact the planet and human activities.

Lenovo’s new supercomputer will be installed at the CMCC Supercomputing Center (SCC) in 2024, continuing a strong partnership between the two organizations. Lenovo’s CEO and Country General Manager Infrastructure Solutions Group, Alessandro de Bartolo, emphasized the importance of high-performance computing in addressing the complexity of climate research and highlighted Lenovo’s commitment to sustainable energy consumption levels.

The installation of the new supercomputer will be carried out by Ricca IT, a Lenovo certified business partner with expertise in HPC and AI fields. This collaboration reflects Lenovo’s dedication to providing cutting-edge solutions for research institutes and laboratories.

Overall, the collaboration between CMCC and Lenovo on the Cassandra supercomputer represents a significant advancement in climate change research and underscores the importance of high-performance computing in addressing global challenges.
The Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC) in Lecce has renewed its collaboration with Lenovo to install a powerful new HPC system named “Cassandra.” This system will support climate change research by providing increased processing capabilities and optimizing energy use. Cassandra is composed of 180 SD650 V3 nodes with two Intel Xeon Max 9480 CPUs and can reach a processing power of 1.2 PetaFlops, a 100% increase compared to the current system at CMCC. The system also ensures better energy efficiency with Lenovo Neptune Direct Water-Cooling technology, reducing electricity consumption for system cooling by 15%.

CMCC plans to integrate the system with a dedicated AI workload solution based on Nvidia H100 GPUs. Founded in 2005, CMCC aims to provide reliable and rigorous results for designing sustainable growth, protecting the environment, and developing adaptation and mitigation policies based on scientific knowledge. HPC systems are valuable tools for CMCC scientists to process data and predict climate changes and their effects on the planet and human activities.

The new Cassandra supercomputer will be installed at the CMCC Supercomputing Center in 2024, which is the largest computing facility in Italy dedicated to climate change research. Lenovo’s previous HPC system, Juno, is already in operation at the center. Lenovo’s CEO, Alessandro de Bartolo, emphasized the importance of high-performance computing in addressing the complexity of research and ensuring sustainable energy consumption levels. Prof. Giovanni Aloisio, Director of the CMCC Supercomputing Center, praised Lenovo for providing cutting-edge solutions that have enabled important results in climate simulations.

The installation of the new supercomputer will be carried out by Ricca IT, a Lenovo certified business partner with expertise in HPC and AI fields. The collaboration between CMCC and Lenovo highlights the importance of advanced computing technologies in climate change research and the commitment to sustainability in energy consumption.