Tera-100

Tera-100
Name	Tera-100
Developer	Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives
Release	2010
Status	Decommissioned
Location	France

Tera-100 Tera-100 was a French supercomputer inaugurated in 2010 at the Cadarache site operated by the Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives for use by institutions such as CEA, EDF (Électricité de France), Airbus, and research organizations like CNRS and CEA List. The system formed part of European high-performance computing efforts alongside projects involving PRACE, GENCI, CRAY Inc., and collaborations with companies such as Bull SAS and Intel Corporation. Tera-100 supported computational tasks connected to programs involving ITER, CEA DAM workflows, and industrial simulations linked to Ariane 5 development and nuclear safety assessments influenced by incidents such as Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

Overview

Tera-100 was commissioned to maintain French competitiveness in exascale roadmaps and to serve national priorities including energy research at CEA Grenoble, aeronautics development with Safran partners, and climate modeling comparable to communities using ECMWF, Met Office, and NOAA. The project aligned with European initiatives like PRACE and policy frameworks including directives discussed at European Council meetings; it positioned France among nations operating machines similar to JUGENE in Germany and HPCx in the United Kingdom. Managed by GENCI, procurement involved suppliers such as Bull SAS who provided integration and system support.

Architecture and Hardware

Tera-100's architecture combined multi-core processors from Intel Corporation with interconnect technology influenced by designs from InfiniBand Trade Association members and system engineering practices used by Cray Research and Bull SAS. The machine's compute nodes used Intel Xeon processors paired with high-bandwidth memory hierarchies reflecting trends seen in systems like Blue Gene/P and Roadrunner (computer). Storage subsystems implemented parallel file systems inspired by deployments at Los Alamos National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory facilities, integrating management software similar to tools used by IBM and NetApp customers. Cooling and facility infrastructure leveraged techniques employed at CEA Cadarache and comparable centers such as Jülich Research Centre and Barcelona Supercomputing Center.

Performance and Benchmarks

At peak, Tera-100 delivered performance measured in teraflops, evaluated on benchmarks akin to the TOP500 Linpack test and application kernels used by communities contributing to SPEC suites and HPC centers like NERSC. Its Linpack results were reported in lists maintained by institutions such as Top500.org and compared with machines like Jaguar (supercomputer), Sequoia (supercomputer), and Frontera (supercomputer). Performance tuning employed compilers and tools from Intel Corporation, parallel programming models from MPI Forum implementations, and profiling utilities similar to those used at Argonne National Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Development and Deployment

The procurement and deployment of Tera-100 involved stakeholders including GENCI, CEA, industrial partners such as Bull SAS and component vendors like Intel Corporation and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise. Project management drew on experiences from European contracts overseen by entities such as European Investment Bank and coordination with research agencies including CNRS and INRIA. Installation at the CEA Cadarache site required collaboration with regional authorities such as Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and logistics partners used by projects like ArianeGroup. Training and user onboarding mirrored programs run by PRACE and national training initiatives at institutions like Université Paris-Saclay.

Applications and Use Cases

Tera-100 supported simulations and computational workloads in fields represented by organizations such as CEA, EDF (Électricité de France), Airbus, and research groups at CNRS and INRIA. Use cases included numerical modeling for fusion research connected to ITER, computational fluid dynamics relevant to Airbus design cycles and projects like A380, seismic and structural analysis akin to studies by BRGM, and multiphysics simulations paralleling efforts at CEA List. Workloads integrated software packages developed by communities such as OpenFOAM, climate models used at Met Office centers, and codes maintained by collaborations with NASA and ESA researchers.

Legacy and Successors

Tera-100 influenced subsequent French and European initiatives including later procurements managed by GENCI, successor systems at the CINES and IDRIS centers, and roadmap planning for machines in partnership with PRACE and European Commission research programs. Its operational lessons informed deployments of successors comparable to systems like Curie (supercomputer), Joliot-Curie, and national efforts contributing to international projects involving EuroHPC JU. The program contributed to capabilities leveraged by institutions such as CEA, CNRS, and EDF (Électricité de France), and informed industry collaborations with Bull SAS and Atos.

Category:Supercomputers