MN-1, a private supercomputer used exclusively by Preferred Networks, Inc. (PFN, Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, President and CEO: Toru Nishikawa) has recorded a LINPACK ¹  performance of about 1.39 PetaFLOPS ².  As a result, MN-1 is ranked 12th in the world and 1st in Japan among industrial supercomputers in the TOP500 List (http://www.top500.org), which shows the most powerful supercomputers as of November 2017. When including supercomputers for research purposes, it is listed as 91st in the world and 13th in Japan.   

About PFN’s private supercomputer MN-1   ³ 

MN-1 is equipped with a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) platform from NTT Communications Corporation (NTT Com, Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, President and CEO: Tetsuya Shoji) and NTT PC Communications Incorporated (NTTPC, Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, President and CEO: Motoo Tanaka), and contains 1,024 of NVIDIA ^(R) ’s Tesla ^(R) multi-node P100 GPUs. It utilizes Mellanox’s Infiniband interconnect to make high-speed distributed deep learning possible using ChainerMN ⁴, a distributed deep learning package developed by PFN.    

Using MN-1, PFN will further accelerate its research and development activities in various fields that require a huge amount of computing resources such as transportation systems, manufacturing and bio/healthcare.

1.  A benchmark to compare practical operation speed of computers

2.  A unit measuring computer performance. Peta is 1,000 trillion (10 to the power of 15) and FLOPS is used to count floating-point operations per second. So, 1 PetaFLOPS means that a computer is capable of performing 1,000 trillion floating-point calculations per second.

3.  Preferred Networks launches one of Japan’s most powerful private sector supercomputers
https://www.preferred.jp/en/news/pr20170920

4.  Preferred Networks achieved the world’s fastest training time in deep learning
https://www.preferred.jp/en/news/pr20171110

■ About Preferred Networks, Inc.

Founded in March 2014 with the aim of promoting business utilization of deep learning technology focused on IoT, PFN advocates Edge Heavy Computing as a way to handle the enormous amounts of data generated by devices in a distributed and collaborative manner at the edge of the network, driving innovation in three priority business areas: transportation, manufacturing and bio/healthcare. PFN promotes advanced initiatives by collaborating with world leading organizations, such as Toyota Motor Corporation, FANUC CORPORATION, and the National Cancer Center. (https://www.preferred.jp/en/)

＊Chainer ^(R)  is the trademark or the registered trademark of Preferred Networks, Inc. in Japan and other countries. Other company names and product names written in this release are the trademarks or the registered trademarks of each company.