Brookhaven National Lab Selects DDN

DDN (DataDirect Networks, Inc.)  announced Brookhaven National Laboratory, one of 10 national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the US Department of Energy (DOE), has selected DDN’s A³I AI400X all-NVME flash appliance storage for fast experimental design for its Computational Science Initiative (CSI). 

With the AI storage solution, the laboratory plans to expand its project portfolio and Advanced Computing Lab (ACL).

ACL will leverage the AI400X to provide a collaborative environment for scientists and technologists from government laboratories and academia agencies. Designed as a focal point for development, testing and testbed deployment, it helps to address big data questions and challenges in data-intensive applications within nuclear and particle physics, biology, nanoscience, sustainable energy, environmental science, and homeland security.

With the ongoing consolidation of its computing infrastructure, the lab will provide an opportunity for scientific user capabilities to other research centers via an enhanced data analysis ecosystem. Such technology that facilitates fast data transfer from experimental instruments to the ACL’s analysis system and storage will provide prime use cases for A³I with NVIDIA DGXsystems.

The AI400X, connected to the NVIDIA DGX-2TM, enhances CSI’s system capabilities for AI workloads in the datacenter. Delivering the fastest performance for AI workflows at any scale, it provides up to 48GB/s of throughput, more than 3 million IO/s and up to 256TB of usable NVMe capacity in a 2U form factor.

AI400X keeps AI compute systems, often GPU based, fully saturated with I/O, ensuring maximum utilization while managing tough AI data operations.

“Brookhaven National Laboratory’s research and capabilities continue to expand in high-performance computing, applied mathematics, data science, and Quantum Information Science,” said James Coomer, SVP of products, DDN. “By partnering with Brookhaven National Laboratory and the implementation of the AI400X, we will help propel advances at the frontiers of science throughout the nation and across the world.“

Read the Brookhaven National Laboratory article that details how the growth of its compute capabilities for fast analysis of data gleaned from scientific experiments aims to facilitate new collaborations at the lab and beyond.