Unveiling Jean-Zay, the High-Performance Artificial Intelligence Driving France's Pursuits
Get a load of this high-tech wonder nestled in a cozy classroom-sized space in Paris-Saclay university, Orsay - welcome to Jean-Zay, our not-so-secret supercomputer overlord!
Rows upon rows of server racks, towering like fridges, brimming with 26 motherboards each, are connected by neon-turquoise trenches of cable. This is Jean-Zay's hallowed lair. At peak performance, this bad boy churns out a cool 126 million billion calculations (petaflops) per second. That's a lot of data crunching!
Industry insider's view
France is bent on conquering global AI dominance, and Jean-Zay dreams of being the savior in this astral battle. To meet demand, an elite crew of scientists are handpicked to work their magic on the supercomputer's simulations or AI training.
"Don't believe the hype about global domination—you need to know how to swing this iron giant to make it dance," said Pierre-François Lavallé, director of IDRIS, the high-level computing institute of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). His job? Helping researchers mold their ambitious projects to the intricate web of processors that make up Jean-Zay.
Energy efficiency (or the lack thereof)
With rising demand, the thirst for power grows—but not everyone gets a sip at the well. Inside Jean-Zay, 1,000 hot-coffee-brew-equivalent projects are underway, covering various fields from medicine and road safety to battling the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, there's no denying the system's ecological footprint.
"Since its inception 16 years ago, Jean-Zay's processing power has increased 1,000-fold, while its energy consumption has gone up 8-fold. So we're consuming 8 times more energy today compared to 2008, but we're speeding up 1,000 times faster," explained Lavallé.
Efficiency comes into play with the adoption of energy-sipping GPUs instead of central processing units. What's the catch? The system still gobbles up a whole lot of juice—around 20 gigawatt hours a year, setting IDRIS back between €3 million and €5 million.
The heat is on!
These calculations generate enough heat to give the system a run for its money if not properly cooled. Enter white-piped water running through the system—an elaborate cooling infrastructure that's more akin to plumbing than IT ecosystems.
"The system needs 6,500 megawatt hours of heat recovery each year," shares Raphael Medeiros, Jean-Zay's tech guru. "It's enough to heat 1,500 homes, sort of giving back to the community while providing supercharged knowledge! During the winter, the excess heat is channeled to warm the campus buildings and nearby houses."
All hail the resilient Jean-Zay, the supercomputer taking France—and perhaps even the world—by storm!
Looking for more details on this intriguing powerhouse? Join us on the *Spotlight on France podcast, episode 127 at this link.**
- Despite its impressive power, Jean-Zay's increasing energy consumption has led to a 8-fold increase compared to its starting point in 2008.
- The elite scientists selected to work on Jean-Zay are tasked with molding their projects to fit the intricate web of processors that make up the supercomputer.
- Inside Jean-Zay, a thousand projects are underway, covering various fields such as medicine, road safety, and battling the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Pierre-Francois Lavalle, director of IDRIS, emphasizes the need for knowledge on how to handle the 'iron giant' to achieve its global AI dominance dreams.
- The adoption of energy-sipping GPUs instead of central processing units helps in improving efficiency, but Jean-Zay still consumes a substantial amount of energy, about 20 gigawatt hours a year.
- An elaborate cooling infrastructure, featuring white-piped water running through the system, cools down the calculations generated by Jean-Zay that produce enough heat to be a challenge if not managed properly.
- The excess heat generated by Jean-Zay during the winter is used to warm the campus buildings and nearby houses, providing a silent contribution to heating 1,500 homes.
- In an effort to combat carbon emissions, recycling initiatives in Paris are working diligently to collect and recycle the thousands of calories expended in the operation of supercomputers like Jean-Zay, symbolizing the intersection of technology, artificial intelligence, and the environment.
