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ECMWF operates several large computing
systems. The following diagram shows the main components and how
they are connected together.
ECMWF Computer System |
The IBM Supercomputer |
The major subsystems and a history
of supercomputer use at ECMWF are described in more detail here.
From its beginning, ECMWF has used large supercomputer systems. In 1977, the
Centre's scientists had access to machine number one in the CRAY
1 series. In June 1977 before the opening of the permanent headquarters
at Shinfield Park in Reading, ECMWF contracted for delivery of its
own supercomputer, a CRAY 1-A.
The CRAY 1-A was a single processor
computer capable of a sustained performance of 50 Megaflops (50
million arithmetic operations per second).
ECMWF's current High Performance Computing Facility (HPCF) comprises two
identical but independent IBM Cluster 1600 supercomputer systems. The computational
basis of the HPCF is IBM's POWER6 microprocessor. The total combined performance of this HPCF is
approximately 20 TFLOPS (sustained), which is four million
times that of the CRAY-1A. More details of this system can be found
here.
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