Intel, NEC in advanced supercomputer technology pact

Technology leaders Intel and NEC have agreed to collborate on developing high performance computing (HPC) system technologies. NEC will bring these technologies to market in future supercomputers based on the Intel's Xeon processor.

The companies said, "NEC's expertise in this field coupled with the Intel Xeon processor's outstanding performance and its accelerating vector capabilities such as Advanced Vector eXtentions (AVX) will allow for higher performance supercomputers, satisfying customer demand for Intel architecture-based products."

A vector processor can perform a mathematical operation on several numbers simultaneously. NEC will also continue to sell their existing SX vector processor-based products.

"Intel's substantial investment in the Intel architecture, including the development of processors, chipsets, software compilers and other related products has expanded the usages of Intel Xeon processors in both the volume and high-end HPC market segments," said Richard Dracott, general manager of Intel's high performance computing group.

"Now with NEC further innovating on Intel Xeon processor-based systems, Intel is poised to bring Intel Xeon processor performance to an even wider supercomputing audience," Dracott said.

Fumihiko Hisamitsu, general manager of HPC Division at NEC said, "NEC's substantial experience in the development of vector processing systems, including vector pipeline management, memory sub-systems, and high speed interconnect technology is a natural fit for taking Intel architecture further into new markets.  NEC will enrich its HPC product portfolio through this collaboration as well as continuous enhancement of its vector supercomputer."

The initial focus of the companies' collaboration will be the development of hardware and software solutions to enhance the memory bandwidth and scalability of Intel Xeon processor-based platforms. Such enhancements are intended to benefit systems targeting not only the very high end of the scientific computing market segment, but also to benefit smaller HPC installations.

HPC or supercomputers are used by scientists, doctors, non-profit organizations and businesses such as oil and gas exploration to speed research and testing. Currently, about four out of five among the top 500 supercomputers have Intel processors inside.