DDN, one of the leading AI and data management software and hardware company, has recently announced the installation of its SFA18K series in second-tier storage system of Fugaku, the world’s most powerful supercomputer as declared by Top500. Reportedly, Fugaku is being jointly developed by RIKEN Center for Computational Science and Fujitsu Limited and is estimated to commence  operations in 2021.

It has been claimed that SFA18K series is DDN‘s latest offering with excellent throughput, high density and lower power consumption. Moreover, a joint testing conducted by DDN Japan and Fujitsu has affirmed that a configuration of twenty-five SFA18KXE and five SFA18KE devices can fulfill second-tier storage system requirements of Fugaku of minimum 150 PB capacity and at least 1.5 TB/s of throughput. As per credible sources, Fugaku’s second-tier storage, SFA18KE and SFA18KXE will be utilized as compute nodes for Object Storage Servers which in turn will provide an access to data storage units.

Director of RIKEN Center for Computational Science, Satoshi Matsuoka, has stated that apart from storage capacity, Fugaku also faces requirements pertaining to extremely advanced performance, costs and application methods for wide range of I/O. With in-built flash memory of 16 petabytes Fugaku, integration of SFA18KE hardware with Fujitsu’s FEFS file system will provide control. In addition, Matsuoka has claimed that availability of I/O and management software by DDN will take computing performance to Fugaku’s own world-class level and will set a new benchmark not only for supercomputers, but also for cloud infrastructures influencing advanced AI in future.

While on the other hand, corporate executive officer, Head of Platform Development Unit, Fujitsu Limited, Naoki Shinjo has stated that RIKEN and Fujitsu have successfully mastered storage needs of Fugaku allowing it to deliver high performance and versatility. In line with this, installation of DDN’s SFA18K series for Fugaku’s second-tier storage (FEFS) will enable them to implement Fugaku’s stable operation, supporting to their idea of sustainable society through innovation, Shinjo claims.

Source credits: https://insidehpc.com/2020/11/ddn-installs-30-sfa18k-series-hpc-storage-hardware-for-fugaku/