Frost & Sullivan 2020 Global Product Leadership Award for High-Performance Computing Solutions

NEC received the Frost & Sullivan 2020 Global Product Leadership Award for High-Performance Computing Solutions. The award was given for the SX-Aurora TSUBASA Vector Card. Frost & Sullivan choose their award winners with the help of a detailed evaluation process across two dimensions for each category. These dimensions consist of Product Portfolio Attributes and Business Impact. Both these categories include five sub-categories. The SX-Aurora TSUBASA Vector Card excels in many of the criteria in regards to High-Performance Computing.

Addressing Unmet Market Needs

“The SX-Aurora TSUBASA is based on vector engine technology and addresses the industrial and energy market customer needs of high performance computational processingby providing cutting edge low latency accelerated computing. The product has been carefully designed so that anapplication can beallocated to the entire vector engine for processingwhile operating system (OS)-based tasks are performed by the vector host (i.e., an x86 server). Furthermore, NEC has ensured that the vector technology is compatible with Linux OS, thus providing end users with an open-environment for programming.” [1]

Unmatched Product Quality and Reliability

The SX-Aurora TSUBASA delivers high levels of processing speeds in different fields of application thanks to its vector technology. Due to its PCIe form factor it is flexible in regards to its usage in different server types (tower-based, rack mount, water-cooled, supercomputing, …). With the higher programming languages C, C++ and Fortran being supported, porting and optimizing applications is an easy task, without the need to rewrite the entire code. As the runtime environment as well as the development framework is integrated into a normal x86-based Linux system, a well-known environment for system administrators and software developers is presented.

Future-Proof Product Design

Despite the trend of previous decades to work on parallel processing NEC kept working on vector computing. Over the years the supercomputing systems from the SX-2 in 1983 up to the SX-ACE in 2013 powered up some of the most powerful supercomputers in history, e.g. the Earth Simulator. The first installation in 2002 was ranked number one on the Top 500 list and was based on the SX-6. 640 nodes scored a LINPACK benchmark performance of 35.86 TFLOPS. This can now be achieved with 12 SX-Aurora TSUBASA Type 20A cards within 2 nodes. With this design the SX-Aurora TSUBASA is no longer bound to an all-in-one rack solution but can be used within different types of towers or servers (1U, 2U, 4U) in varying numbers matching the individual needs of different customers. The cards are available with air and water cooling solutions, which makes it even more flexible. The latest top model 20A operates at 1.6GHz with a core performance of 307 GFLOPS, a processor performance of 3.07TF and a memory bandwidth of 1.53TB/sec using 48GB of HBM2 memory.

Accelerating Time to Business Value

“[…] Frost & Sullivan notes NEC’s capability to accelerate computational outcomes amid shifting industry dynamics. In line with its vision, NEC endeavors to carry the mantle of HPC into present-day digitalization breakthroughs such as artificial intelligence, image analysis, chemical analysis, plant control, and malware detection. NEC plans to achieve this task by combining traditional HPC with AI and Machine Learning technology, positioning it uniquely to accelerate faster computational processing which continues to pivot every year. The company is uniquely positioned to accelerate faster computational processing, which continues to pivot positively every year.” [1]

Customer Onboarding Pathway

NEC offers an on premise entry trial machine with a usage of up to sixty days. Besides that there is the SX-Aurora TSUBASA Wing Trial program in which the users can test a remote cloud access and experience the SX-Aurora TSUBASA processing capabilities.

Offering Strong Growth Potential

“Frost & Sullivan finds NEC to be an industry visionary and pioneer due to its unique ability to enable HPC and accelerate the digital transformation of industrial and energy markets. Moreover, Frost & Sullivan is keeping close tabs regarding the pathways with which NEC is leveraging its AI and Machine Learning technology in tandem with its high-performance computing legacy. […] According to Frost & Sullivan analysis, industrial and energy market incumbents with computational processing needs should partner with NEC to leverage the company’s SX-Aurora TSUBASA. Overall, Frost & Sullivan rates NEC’s capability to deliver optimal digitalization outcomes and high-touch customer support far higher than competitors and finds NEC’s SX-Aurora TSUBASA a best-in-class HPC solution for the industrial and energy markets.” [1]

Conclusion

“While many high-performance computing solutions serve the industrial and energy markets, NEC’s SX-Aurora TSUBASA is truly differentiated due to its vector-based approach. SX-Aurora TSUBASA’s pioneering architecture, reliable performance guarantee, and low latency processing have the potential to deliver long-lasting digitalization outcomes that far exceed customer expectations. Moreover, the company builds value into its solution through high bandwidth, superior processing capacity, advancing AI and Machine Learning technologies in tandem with high performance computing. For its iron-clad value proposition, holistic platform with best-in-class features, close client relationships, and strong overall position, NEC is recognized with Frost & Sullivan’s 2020 global Product Leadership Award for high-performance computing solutions.”

[1] For the full report please visit: https://ww2cdn.frost.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/NEC-Award-Write-Up-Final.pdf