Where we are now
We’ve recently progressed to the purchase stage. Following a detailed procurement process, MTI won the tender with Dell hardware and service and support from Cambridge Research Computing. The tender was academic-led and approved by the Research IT Steering Group to ensure the system meets the University’s research needs for the next five years.
Aire’s implementation taught us valuable lessons, and we’re approaching Calder’s deployment with a clearer understanding of what works in practice.
What this means for you
Calder represents a significant step up in capability. You can look forward to:
- Shorter queue times and faster job completion
- Increased scratch storage space
- Enhanced GPU capacity for computational and AI workloads
- Improved reliability and support
Timeline
We’re aiming to have Calder operational by Spring 2026.
Technical specifications
Here’s how the technical specifications for Calder measure up against Aire:
| Component | Aire | Calder |
|---|---|---|
| CPU systems | • Total: 9,072 Cores • AMD Dual 84 core 2.2 GHz (9634 Genoa-X) • 52 x 768 GB Memory Nodes • 2 x 2.25 TB Memory Systems | • Total: 12,228 Cores • AMD Dual 64 core 3.2 GHz (Turin EPYC 9555) • 98 x 768 GB Memory Nodes |
| GPU systems | • Total: 84 GPUs • 3x NVIDIA L40S 48 GB GPUs (PCIe) per Node • AMD 24 core 2.9 GHz (9254 Genoa-X) • 28 Nodes | • Total: 56 GPUs • 8 x NVIDIA H200 141 GB GPUs (PCIe) per Node • AMD Dual 64 core 3.2 GHz (Turin EPYC 9555) • 7 Nodes |
| Storage | • 130 TB NVMe Scratch • 3.6 PB Lustre Scratch | • 50 TB NFS Storage • 5.4 PB Lustre Scratch |
| Network | • 100 Gb/s OmniPath • 25 Gb Ethernet | • 100 Gb/s InfiniBand • 25 Gb Ethernet |
And here’s how Aire and Calder compare to ARC 3 & 4:
| Resource | Increase |
|---|---|
| CPU Cores | 179% |
| CPU Tflops (Single Precision) | 473% |
| GPU Tflops (Single Precision) | 2775% |
| Scratch Storage Capacity (PB) | 455% |
| High Speed Network Bandwidth (Gbps) | 179% |
| Total Tflops (Single Precision) | 1647% |
Cover image attribution: Pampuco, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
