India's Weather Forecasting Upgrade Stalled: Minister Rijiju Slams Atos Over Supercomputer Delay

Kiren Rijiju, the Earth Sciences Minister, has voiced his frustration with French IT company Atos due to significant delays in the delivery of two supercomputers crucial for enhancing India's weather forecasting capabilities.

Last year, the Earth Sciences Ministry placed an order worth $100 million with Eviden, a subsidiary of the Atos Group, for these supercomputers. The intention was to bolster the computational power of the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM).

Rijiju, in a video interview with PTI, stated, "I am more upset because the target we set was December... We have only four petaflop capacity. We want to install up to 18 petaflop capacity." The delay is impacting the nation's ability to improve weather predictions and climate research.

The minister further explained that Atos encountered financial difficulties, leading the company to request payment through its subsidiary. This has created a legal and financial hurdle.

Rijiju expressed his concern, saying the delay is causing him "worry" as the company has exceeded the original timeline. He added, "But I think we will sort it out soon," while emphasizing the government's commitment to ensuring a legally sound transaction.

"We are ready to release the money because we want the machine immediately. The only problem is the amount is not small. So if we pay now, if the company is bankrupt or something happens, who will bail out?" the minister questioned, highlighting the financial risks involved.

While the government is exploring options to expedite the delivery, Rijiju hopes for intervention from the French government, given the strong bilateral ties between the two countries.

He clarified, "From outside, everything's ready. It is only the problem with the main company. They want us to pay their subsidiary. We will pay only to a company whom we have entered an MoU with."

The supercomputing system, based on Eviden's BullSequana XH2000, is designed to deliver a combined processing power of up to 21.3 petaflops.

The supercomputer destined for IITM in Pune is expected to provide 13 petaflops of computing power specifically for atmospheric and climate research. This system will feature 3,000 CPU nodes using AMD EPYC 7643 processors and 26 GPU nodes powered by NVIDIA A100 Tensor Core GPUs. It will also incorporate the NVIDIA Quantum InfiniBand networking platform, 3PB all-flash storage, 29PB disk-based DDN EXAScaler ES400NVX2 storage, and Micron high-technology memory.

Currently, the computing capacity at NCMRWF stands at 2.8 petaflops, while IITM has a capacity of 4 petaflops. The new supercomputers are anticipated to significantly enhance the capabilities of both institutions.