Airbus has announced that it is to receive a new generation of HP Performance Optimised Data Centres (PODs) in Toulouse and Hamburg.
The POD deal was initially struck in 2011, and the new machines, optimised for high-performance computing, boost Airbus’ aircraft development to 1,200 Tflops.
The upgrade also reduces the energy each Tflop needs by nearly 50% over the existing POD solution.
"We are pleased to build on our supercomputing partnership with HP," said Guus Dekkers, CIO of Airbus.
"Over the next five years, HP will continue to enhance our PODs by boosting capacity and raising energy efficiency while providing increased availability, resilience and security. This will further support Airbus engineering teams in aircraft development."
Each of Airbus’ 12-meter-long containerized HP PODs reportedly delivers the equivalent of nearly 500 square meters of data centre space and contains all the elements of an HP Converged Infrastructure: blade servers, storage, networking, software and management as well as integrated power and cooling.
"Organisations like Airbus need creative scenarios to cater for future business needs," said Peter Ryan, senior vice president & general manager, HP Enterprise Group EMEA.
"HP will continue to provide the newest, most powerful technology and operations to support Airbus’ HPC for the next five years."
Boeing, the main commercial airline rival to Airbus, outsold the French firm in the first half of this year. Boeing delivered 342 commercial jets by the end of June, with Airbus only managing to sell 303.
