Scientific research centre in the Netherlands reduces costs for HPC environment by around 20 per cent

Benefits

•   Customer lowers costs for HPC environment by around 20 per cent

•   Scientists deliver pioneering research thanks to HPC reliability 

•   Donders maximises value of IT by standardising on Dell

•   Customer gains IT partner that understands its business needs

•   IT helps ensure excellent performance using responsive support 

•  Green efficiency•  HPC•  Standardisation

“ We’ve standardised our infrastructure on Dell to maximise the value of our IT investment.” Erik van den Boogert, Head of the Technical Group, Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging

Customer profile

Company: Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging

Industry: Biotechnology & Science

Country: Netherlands

Employees: 160

Website: www.ru.nl/donders

Business needTo meet a growing demand for data processing, Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging looked to create a high performance computing (HPC) environment.

SolutionThe centre created a scalable HPC infrastructure using Dell™ Precision™ workstations with Intel® Xeon® processors. It chose Dell ProSupport to enhance performance during the solution’s lifecycle.

Like many publicly funded research organisations, the Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging has to keep a tight rein on costs, and faces the constant challenge of providing a growing number of researchers with the equipment they need. The pressure is most intense for the IT department, which has to deliver the computing power to process increasing amounts of scientific data.

Erik van den Boogert, Head of the Technical Group at the Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, says: “Ensuring the right price for the performance we need is always our biggest challenge.” To meet the demand for data processing, van den Boogert hoped to create a scalable high performance computing (HPC) environment. But he didn’t want to take the traditional route and deploy racks of servers to provide the environment’s computing power. Instead, he looked for a more cost-effective alternative. “Because we didn’t have issues with space and our cluster would be relatively small, I had more options. My plan was to build the HPC infrastructure using workstation computers,” he says.

Donders gains HPC solution that maximises IT investment

After a detailed evaluation of possible environments, the Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging found the ideal HPC solution with Dell. “It was a fairly simple process. We rated workstations from Lenovo, HP and Dell in many areas and looked at the results,” says van den Boogert. The Dell solution performed best in a number of categories, including data

analysis performance benchmarking, energy consumption, heat dissipation and the amount of slots for graphics cards. In addition, van den Boogert believed the workstations would enable him to standardise the centre’s entire desktop infrastructure on a single solution. “I wanted to use the workstations firstly as nodes in the HPC cluster and then later move them into the wider desktop infrastructure for researchers to use as personal computers,” he says. “I saw it as a great way to maximise the value of our IT investment – and I could make it work with Dell.”

IT reduces costs for HPC environment by around  20 per cent

Donders successfully created a HPC solution, which delivered a high level of computing power and came within the institute’s limited budget. “We reduced the cost of our HPC information by around 20 per cent

The Donders Institute is a centre for brain, cognition

and behaviour research at the Radboud University

Nijmegen, in the Netherlands. The institute is also home

to the Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging,

which currently supports around 160 scientists, whose

work regularly appears in leading scientific journals

such as Neuroscience. The centre’s research varies

widely, and includes studies into conditions such as

Parkinson’s disease, dyslexia and stress.

“ We can easily provide researchers with the computing performance they need to continue their pioneering work, thanks to the scalability of the Dell solution.” Erik van den Boogert, Head of the Technical Group, Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging

Technology in practice

Services

Dell ProSupport

– Next Business Day Onsite Service

Hardware

Dell™ Precision™ T3500 workstations with Intel® Xeon® processors 5600 series

Software

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

by choosing a solution based on Dell workstations,” says van den Boogert. The centre built a 55-node HPC infrastructure using Dell™ Precision™ T3500 workstations featuring Intel® Xeon® processors 5600 series, which the IT team deployed and configured at the main datacentre. “It was straightforward to build our HPC infrastructure using Dell. They’re some of the easiest workstations I’ve used,” comments van den Boogert.

The workstations, which run Red Hat Enterprise Linux software, include a number of key features that make them ideal for supporting HPC infrastructures. For example, they offer Intel® Turbo Boost technology, which automatically increases processor frequency on-demand. In addition, the workstations conform to worldwide guidelines, including Energy Star® 5.02, which means they perform to a higher standard than European Union regulations. Van den Boogert says: “The workstations’ Intel processing technology was an important factor in our decision. Intel is our preferred choice for HPC infrastructures. We know the Intel architecture well and value its performance and energy efficiency, helping us to promote greener IT.”

Scientists deliver pioneering work thanks to HPC reliability

The centre can continue to support the work of a growing number of people using the HPC infrastructure based on Dell. “We expect the number of scientists using the HPC environment to increase by around 15 per cent in the next couple of years. We can easily provide researchers with the computing performance they

need to continue their pioneering work, thanks to the scalability of the Dell solution,” says van den Boogert.

Researchers use the infrastructure mainly for statistical analysis of neuroimaging data with open-source software. The IT team also uses open-source software and scripts written internally to manage the environment. “I have no concerns regarding the performance of our HPC infrastructure, because of the stability of the underlying Dell solution,” comments van den Boogert. The solution’s reliability has enabled the IT team to focus on strategic projects rather than day-to-day management of the environment. “We are a small team with busy schedules. The dependability of our Dell solution helps us get more work done,” he says.

Donders maximises IT investment with standardised infrastructure

Van den Boogert has found a single solution to meet the needs of both the HPC infrastructure and individual scientists and members of staff who require a desktop computer. The Dell Precision workstations currently operate as nodes on the HPC environment for up to a year and a half, after which they’re swapped out and re-used as personal computers. “The process works really well,” says van den Boogert. “We’ve standardised our infrastructure on Dell to maximise the value of our IT investment. We now have an environment – based on industry standards – that helps us avoid the costs and inefficiencies of proprietary solutions.”

“ We reduced the cost of our HPC information by around 20 per cent by choosing a solution based on Dell workstations.” Erik van den Boogert, Head of the Technical Group, Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging

20%

 Costs for HPC  environment reduced by

Value of IT maximised by standardising 

on Dell

Thanks to the power of the workstations, scientists and personnel can work efficiently with the most processing-intensive desktop applications. In addition, van den Boogert has the ideal platform for rolling out Windows® 7. “I expect us to realise the full potential of Windows 7 for increasing productivity due to our commitment to Dell solutions,” he says.

Customer gains IT partner that understands its business needs

The Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging expects the performance of its HPC infrastructure to continue improving in line with developments in software applications and the needs of scientists. “I have a lot of confidence in Dell because it listens to its customers and uses this information to develop its products and services,” says van den Boogert. His comments are based on his attendance at a number of Dell HPC events. “I feel that my experience means something to

Dell and what I say will help ensure Dell solutions continue to meet our business needs. I’m very happy with our relationship,” he says.

Responsive support helps ensure excellent IT performance

The centre chose Dell ProSupport to provide an advanced level of service over the lifecycle of the infrastructure. It selected the Next Business Day Onsite Service, which means a Dell technician can be onsite to give support the next working day if required. Thanks to the reliability of the solution, van den Boogert hasn’t needed to work with Dell ProSupport on any performance issues. However, he has contacted the team for advice. He says: “I had a question regarding some hard disks, and quickly found someone with the technical expertise to answer my questions. With Dell ProSupport, I get people who can speak to me at the technical level I need.”

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© May 2011, Dell Inc. Dell is a trademark of Dell Inc. Intel and Intel Xeon are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. This case study is for informational purposes only. DELL MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS CASE STUDY. Reference number: 10009344

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