Bull has been selected by CEA

Paris, 06 Dec 2004

Bull has been selected by CEA to provide their next generation of supercomputer, the most powerful computer in Europe and one of the fastest in the world.

With a power of over 60 teraflops, Tera10, a cluster of 544 Bull`s NovaScale servers, based on Intel Itanium architecture will be at the heart of CEA`s Simulation Program

DAM (Military Application Department) of the CEA - the French Nuclear Power Agency - has selected Bull to provide a supercomputer delivering a power of over 60 teraflops (sixty thousands billions of operations per second).

This supercomputer named Tera10 will increase CEA Military Applications Department`s present supercomputing power by the factor of ten. It will be used for its Simulation Program that guarantees the continuation of the French nuclear deterrent, following the cessation of nuclear testing.

Designed by Bull, Tera10 will integrate 544 NovaScale 6160 computing nodes, each including eight next generation Itanium processors codenamed Montecito. Montecito will be release next year and will feature dual-core technology. Quadrics, the leader in supercomputing network is to provide QsNetII high performance network to interconnect the NovaScale servers. The global configuration will feature 8,704 processors with 27 terabytes of core memory. Beyond power, Tera10 also requires a huge storage capacity for data produced by the Simulation Program. Therefore, its configuration also includes 54 NovaScale I/O servers managing one petabytes (one million of billions bytes) of disc space with a sustained throughput of 100 GB/s. It also includes two additional NovaScale servers for system management.

Tera10 will operate the Bull HPC software platform that includes the Linux operating system and Lustre, the global and parallel file system. This platform is based on an open source software integrated and optimized by Bull`s HPC competence center in Echirolles, France.

Tera10 will be fully deployed before end of 2005.By 2010, the CEA physicists will need a power of hundreds of teraflops. Bull and its partners are already working together in this perspective.

"Bull is proud to have been selected by CEA to equip its scientific computing complex in Bruy`eres-le-Ch^atel, the largest computer in Europe and one the most powerful in the world. With NovaScale, our new generation of servers, and related technologies, we are able to meet CEA`s Simulation Program computing power requirements." declared Gervais Pellissier, Managing Director of Bull. Jean Gonnord, Head of the digital and IT simulation project of CEA/DAM said " For our Simulation Program, we have selected Bull`s supercomputer for the global performance it provides. Its architecture based on standard components and open software delivers both scalability and power we require for our future development."

"Intel is very honored that CEA selected the Itanium processor family, and Bull`s NovaScale servers, to support this scientific project. In addition to its mission-critical commercial applications, Itanium architecture shows its leading-edge for complex scientific computing," added Abhi Talwalkar, Vice-President and General Manager Enterprise Platforms Group, Intel.

"Quadrics is very pleased that the QsNetII interconnect and software have been selected for the latest CEA supercomputer. We have developed an excellent relationship with Bull, resulting in a product that is unique both in terms of power and functionality" said Quadrics Chief Executive, Cristoforo Romanelli.

Bull NovaScale

Bull is at the leading edge of computer makers investing in the Intel Itanium Processor Family (IPF), which is the cornerstone of its server strategy. Last March 2003, Bull announced its new generation of high-end open servers, Bull NovaScale, based upon its FAME architecture and leveraging the Intel Itanium Processor Family. Using market-standard building blocks, the FAME architecture represents a technological breakthrough for high-end, mission-critical servers, delivering significant improvement in the price/performance ratio.

Nearly two years after their launch, Bull NovaScale servers have gained IT market recognition and won large customers. They are used notably as HPC (High Performance Computing) servers, as well as datawarehouse and data base servers, which are their primary targets.

Intel

Intel, the world`s largest chip maker, is also a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom.

Quadrics

Quadrics is a leading supplier of high performance interconnect and software products for massively parallel systems. Quadrics Ltd. is a subsidiary of Alenia Aeronautica, one of Europe`s leading corporations and part of the Finmeccanica Group (www.finmeccanica.com). Additional information about Quadrics is available from (www.quadrics.com)

Intel , the Intel logo and Itanium are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries NovaScale is a trademark of Bull S.A. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

Bull

Bull designs and develops servers, software and services for an open environment, integrating the most advanced technologies. In this respect, Bull`s range of NovaScale servers combines the openness of standards with the robustness of mainframes. It brings to its customers its expertise and know-how to help them in the transformation of their information systems and to optimize their IT infrastructure and their applications.

Bull is particularly present in the public sector, banking, finance, telecommunication, utilities and manufacturing sectors. Capitalizing on its wide experience, the Group has a thorough understanding of the business and specific processes of these sectors, thus enabling it to efficiently advise and to accompany its customers. Its distribution network spreads to over 100 countries worldwide.

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