IBM Unveils Power9-based AI Supercomputer

Designed to push the frontiers of computing chip and systems performance optimized for AI workloads, an 8 petaflop IBM Power9-based supercomputer has been unveiled in upstate New York that will be used by IBM data and computer scientists, by academic researchers and by industrial and commercial end-users. Installed at the New York State-IBM Research AI Hardware Center in Albany, NY, the system -- called AiMOS (Artificial Intelligence Multiprocessing Optimized System) – was the most powerful to debut on last month's Top500 supercomputer ranking, it's listed as the world's 24th most powerful computer, the most powerful to be housed at a private university and – according to the Green500 listing – the third most energy efficient. It was built using the same IBM Power Systems technology as the Top500's nos. 1 and 2, systems, the US Dept. of Energy's IBM Summit and Sierra supercomputers, based on IBM Power9 CPUs and Nvidia GPUs. AiMOS is the result of a collaboration between IBM, RPI and two New York state programs, Empire State Development (ESD) and NY CREATES. Named for Rensselaer co-founder Amos Eaton, AiMOS will serve as a test bed for computation, modeling and simulation of hardware "designed to push the boundaries of AI performance," IBM said.