AFTER MONTHS OF PREPARATION, ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE CANADA,
IN COLLABORATION WITH SHARED SERVICES CANADA, WILL BE SWITCHING TO
A NEW HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING INFRASTRUCTURE ON TUESDAY, JANUARY
21, 2020, BEGINNING WITH THE 12 UTC MODEL RUNS.
AS PART OF A PLANNED 30-MONTH UPGRADE CYCLE, THE EXISTING IBM-CRAY
SOLUTION, CONSISTING OF DUAL CRAY XC-40 SUPERCOMPUTERS AND CS-400
PRE- AND POST-PROCESSING CLUSTERS, WILL BE REPLACED BY TWO PAIRS OF
XC-50 SUPERCOMPUTERS AND CS-500 CLUSTERS PROVIDING A 2.5X INCREASE
IN PERFORMANCE OVER THE PREVIOUS SOLUTION. ADDITIONALLY, THE TAPE
ARCHIVAL SYSTEM, ALONG WITH HIGH-PERFORMANCE NETWORK AND STORAGE
COMPONENTS, WILL ALL BE REPLACED WITH EXPANDED CAPACITY AND
PERFORMANCE COMMENSURATE WITH THE UPGRADED COMPUTE SOLUTION.
THIS UPGRADE REAFFIRMS OUR STRONG FOUNDATION OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE
COMPUTING, IN ANTICIPATION OF THE NEXT SERIES OF TECHNOLOGY
TRANSFERS FROM RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT TOWARDS OPERATIONS. SUCH
UPGRADES ARE THUS ESSENTIAL IN ORDER TO PROVIDE CONTINUALLY IMPROVED
WEATHER AND ENVIRONMENTAL PREDICTION SERVICES TO CANADIANS,
GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, AND OTHER USERS AND PARTNERS.
ALTHOUGH WE DO NOT EXPECT ANY MAJOR ISSUES, USERS NOTICING ANY
MISSING PRODUCTS FOLLOWING THE SWITCHOVER SHOULD NOT HESITATE TO
CONTACT US TO ENSURE THE PROPER DISSEMINATION OF PRODUCTS AND
UNINTERRUPTED DELIVERY OF SERVICES.