Nationwide Grid Electrical energy Distribution (NGED) has energised the UK’s strongest AI supercomputer, finishing a brand new 5 MW connection to Bristol’s distribution community in simply three weeks.
The Isambard-AI system, which has been developed by the College of Bristol, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and NVIDIA, is billed as 100,000 instances sooner than a typical laptop computer and now ranks eleventh within the world TOP500 record of high-performance computer systems. Its development was backed by £225 million of Authorities funding and shall be put to work in a variety of duties – from drug discovery to local weather modelling.
It was key to get a sturdy grid connection for the Isambard-AI system because it attracts roughly the identical electrical energy as 2,000 properties. To feed that demand, NGED engineers laid a number of hundred metres of underground cable from the first substation at Emersons Inexperienced and constructed a devoted high-voltage substation on the Bristol & Bathtub Science Park. The corporate says it’s the first supercomputer it has related within the South West of England.
Stephen Blackwell, NGED’s Bristol Head of Operations, commented, “Isambard-AI is a nationally essential step ahead in AI-research infrastructure and is the primary supercomputer grid connection now we have enabled within the area.
“We’ve got labored at tempo to allow energisation, collaborating with the college, the Division for Science, Innovation and Expertise and others to make this occur, and within the course of serving to to spice up the nation’s AI capabilities.”
Unlocking next-generation analysis
Isambard-AI is operated by the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing and turns into the flagship system within the UK’s push for ‘sovereign’ AI capability. It pairs 5,448 NVIDIA Grace Hopper Superchips with HPE’s Cray EX structure, delivering greater than 200 petaFLOPS of peak efficiency whereas promising power effectivity positive aspects over earlier generations of {hardware}.
Professor Simon McIntosh-Smith, Director of the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing and co-founder of Isambard-AI, famous, “Securing a 5MW grid connection was a essential step for the challenge. It allows us to launch Isambard-AI and open up its full potential of next-generation supercomputing, while paving the way in which for innovation, expertise growth, and financial development throughout the area and past.
“Isambard-AI locations Bristol on the centre of the AI revolution, spearheading AI innovation and scientific discovery in essential areas equivalent to drug discovery and local weather analysis.”
What occurs subsequent?
The system is now totally operational and obtainable to tutorial, governmental and industrial customers by the UK Analysis and Innovation (UKRI) framework. NGED says the brand new high-voltage infrastructure has capability for future enlargement ought to the College of Bristol scale the cluster additional.
