The European supercomputer MareNostrum 5, from Barcelona Supercomputing Center – National Center for Supercomputing (BSC -CNS), will incorporate an experimental platform dedicated to developing new technologies for the future generation of supercomputers.
In this way, the CNS, in addition to offering first level supercomputing services for researchers from all over Europe, expresses its commitment to contribute with its research so that future generations of supercomputers can incorporate technologies fully developed in Europe.
The launch of this experimental platform, the only one that has decided to finance the EuroHPC – Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC-JU), has been the main novelty that has been made known during the official ceremony attended by the Secretary of State for R & D & I and Universities, Ángeles Heras and the General Director of Networks of Communication, Content and Technologies (DG Connect) of the CE, Roberto Viola.
Viola has explained the EuroHPC-Ju roadmap for the exescale. This is the framework in which the BSC has been selected as one of the three centers that in 2021 will have pre-exascale computers co-financed by the European Commission. "I am proud to announce that today we have been able to fulfill our promise to work together with the countries that are part of the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking and to implement jointly high-level data and supercomputing infrastructures in the European Union," said Viola.
"These high performance systems in Europe will provide the high quality capabilities you need to keep pace with your competitors globally, helping scientists to tackle research projects of great relevance to our society in fields as diverse as change." climatic, personalized medicine, brain functioning or cosmology, among others.At the same time will contribute to accelerate innovation in important areas for the competitiveness of our economy, such as manufacturing, engineering or design of new materials and new medicines ", the general director has underlined.
For its part, the Secretary of State for Universities and R + D + I has stated that "Europe could not afford to lose positions in this strategic field, with this new world-class supercomputing infrastructure, Spain and Europe take a momentous step to maintain their leadership". In this regard, he assured that "MareNostrum 5 is a technological jewel that we will know how to make profitable in its multiple scientific and industrial applications".
The director of the CNS, Mateo Valero, who is the scientific coordinator for the development of the first accelerator (GPU), explains the initiative to incorporate an experimental platform in MareNostrum 5 from the conviction that "Europe, for security and sovereignty, can not continue with the high degree of dependence that it has with respect to computer technologies manufactured in other continents ".
"In the CNS – adds Valero – we firmly believe that the development of proprietary technology should be a priority for European researchers in computer science and we welcome the fact that the European Commission has also committed to this need during in recent years, "referring to the EC initiative to include the development of new technologies in the European road map of supercomputing, which is being carried out through the EuroHPC-JU initiative.
Valero recalls that "the great challenges of our society, such as the study of climate change and the development of new energies, such as fusion, require exascale computers, which are much more powerful than those we have now, with characteristics according to the new needs of researchers and energy consumption proportionally lower than today, so it is essential to continue research. "
MareNostrum 5
The new supercomputer will cost 223 million euros, which is the budget foreseen for its acquisition, its installation and to keep it operational for 5 years. 50% of this budget will be financed by the European Union and the other 50% by the states that will form the consortium supporting the proposal.
For the preparation of its candidacy, the CNS counted from the first moment with the political and financial support of the governments of Spain and Portugal, to which the governments of Turkey and Croatia were later added. Ireland, which gave its political support to the proposal, is considering joining the consortium. The employers of the CNS (the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, the Department of Enterprise and Knowledge of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia) have also supported the proposal from the outset.
About the Barcelona Supercomputing Center
The Barcelona Supercomputing Center – National Center of Supercomputing (BSC-CNS) is the leading center of supercomputing in Spain. His specialty is high performance computing, also known as HPC (High Performance Computing). Its function is twofold: to offer infrastructures and service in supercomputing to Spanish and European scientists, and to generate knowledge and technology to transfer them to society.
The BSC-CNS is a Severo Ochoa Center of Excellence, a leading member of the European research infrastructure PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe) and manages the Spanish Supercomputing Network (RES). The BSC is a public consortium formed by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities of the Government of Spain (60%), the Department of Enterprise and Knowledge of the Generalitat of Catalonia (30%) and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (10%) .