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Rittal’s Balanced Cloud Centre optimised for resource-intensive tasks in HPC applications

With its BCC (Balanced Cloud Centre) container, Rittal offers a platform for HPC capabilities despite space constraint. A major advantage of the container solution, in combination with the cloud service, is its exceptional mobility.
Photo by RITTAL GmbH

Sophisticated simulations and renderings require powerful IT resources – either on site, or from the cloud. For these high performance computing (HPC) applications, Rittal offers mobile, standardised, and turn-key on- or off-premises solutions. Plus, hand-in-hand with its partners, Rittal can provide enterprises with secure, cost-efficient HPC as a service (HPCaaS). In short, Rittal enables innovative data centre solutions for HPC for diverse scenarios.

Wherever significant processing power is required – e.g. for 3D renderings for filmmaking, simulations for new car models, or research analytics – high-performance computing (HPC) applications come into play. These, in turn, require specialised data centre designs that concentrate vast computational capabilities into a confined environment. However, densely packed IT components generate considerable heat, and need power supply and cooling systems that work reliably and effectively despite space constraints. The result is either a stand-alone mobile data centre, or services provisioned from the Lefdal Mine facility in Norway.

Mobile data centres: big data on the road

Rittal offers a mobile solution for HPC applications – a rapidly deployable turn-key cloud data centre in a container. This features standardised modules, e.g. UPS systems, and cooling units with outputs of up to 200 kW – ideal for resource-intensive tasks.

As Bernd Hanstein, Vice President, Product Management, IT at Rittal explains, “The mobile container allows enormous volumes of data to be transferred securely and simply from point A to point B – as a result, Rittal can enable flexible HPC services for any scenario.”

Rittal offers its BCC (Balanced Cloud Centre) container for HPC platforms. Specifically, a BCC consists of five special cloud hardware ‟BLOBs” (binary logic objects), comprising five to ten IT racks – plus components such as servers and storage systems. For CPU-hungry applications, HPC BLOB hardware can be deployed. And where vast storage and memory are required, for example for complex analytics, Big Data BLOBs are available. These can be implemented as an on-premises solution, or provisioned from the cloud. A major advantage of the BCC container solution, in combination with the cloud service, is its exceptional mobility. Data generated across the globe can be safely and easily transferred from the point of origin to the nearest data centre. This is particularly advantageous for big data analyses conducted at remote sites (such as edge computing).

Operations: reliable and cost-efficient

The Lefdal Mine data centre (LMD) is a unique HPC facility. As its name suggests, it was formerly a mine, and comprises 120,000 square metres of tunnels and chambers on the west coast of Norway. LMD benefits from natural protection through the rock formation, and highly controlled, secure physical access. Plus, the data centre is powered exclusively by renewables: it enjoys efficient, cost-effective cooling thanks to sea water available from a nearby fjord. Rittal is currently supplying modular data centre containers for LMD. Moreover, the enterprise, together with its partners, offers HPC as a service (HPCaaS).

For more information, please visit www.rittal.com.