CSCS PRACE

PRACE-1IP kick-off meeting in Garching, Germany

On  30-31 August 2010 the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (Leibniz-Rechenzentrum, LRZ) in Garching near Munich hosted the kick-off meeting of the First Implementation Phase Project of PRACE (PRACE-1IP). The Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe, PRACE (www.prace-project.eu), is a unique persistent pan-European Research Infrastructure for High Performance Computing. PRACE is a project funded in part by the EU’s 7th Framework Programme.

Thomas Eickermann of Jülich Supercomputing Centre welcoming the participants to the kick-off:

Switzerland is being represented in PRACE by CSCS who is contributing to the following working packages:

  • WP2 Evolution of the Research Infrastructure
  • WP3 Dissemination and Training
  • WP8 Support for the procurement and commissioning of HPC services
  • WP9 Future Technologies

The main objective of the PRACE-RI is to provide Computational Scientists and Engineers with a leading edge supercomputing infrastructure and corresponding world-class support for its most effective use. This infrastructure will guarantee European researchers access to the best facilities in a highly competitive world. Furthermore, it will give Europe the autonomy and independence to decide on suitable directions to address the many social issues we face worldwide today based on our own verifiable research from our own e-infrastructures. It complements the permanent PRACE Research Infrastructure, which is established and maintained through national funding for the supercomputer hardware and the hosting facilities they require. The proposed activity is essential for maintaining the state-of-the-art in all aspects of a cross-operational nature: from coordinated system selection and design, coherent management of the distributed infrastructure, software deployment, porting, scaling, optimising applications and promoting and advancing application development and the skills required to do so. This project will be fully in line with the objectives of the PRACE RI organisation and will specifically address those matters that are directly relevant to the Research Infrastructure, its future directions, its use and its users.

It foresees the speedy cost-effective and optimal utilisation of the PRACE RI and in the future, through its continual renewal, to maintain world-wide leadership. It builds upon the results of the PRACE Preparatory Phase project and intensifies as well as expands the Networking and Service Activities targeting the users and their communities. It will integrate many aspects of the DEISA project, in particular the organisation of Tier-1 access (i.e. focuses on the continuation of a permanent process to evaluate promising technologies for future multi-Petaflop/s to Exaflop/s technologies and also engagement in collaborations to develop new technologies with industrial partners.