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National HPC facilities

The universities and DeiC are collaborating on the establishment and operation of a national HPC landscape, which will ensure the necessary and sufficient computing power for Danish research now and in the future. The universities handle operations and development, while DeiC has a coordinating role.

The national HPC landscape consists of five different types of supercomputers and a user interface.

DeiC Interactive HPC

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DeiC Interactive HPC
Foto: DeiC

For DeiC Interactive HPC, formerly also known as Type 1, the focus is on interactive computing resources and easy access for new users. In the national context, this type is a new type of facility that is targeted users who don't have much experience with calculations on large facilities. Typically, when the individual researcher's own computer is not sufficient due to lack of computing power, storage or memory.

Experienced users can, among other things, use this type of system to work with R statistics, but also for prototyping and idea development, just as it could be the students' first encounter with HPC systems. It is expected that this type of HPC will help increase the use of HPC in research for a number of new users.

The facility is operated by a consortium consisting of SDU, AAU and AU. It is the eScience Center at SDU and CLAAUDIA at AAU that provide the computing ressources, while AU handles the support and helps new users get started.

DeiC Interactive HPC receives users now.

Learn more about how to access DeiC Interactive HPC here and read more about activities and services here.

DeiC Throughput HPC

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DeiC Throughput HPC
Foto: DeiC

This type of facility typically has a large number of cores which can be a mix of cost-effective and calculation-efficient units. DeiC Throughput HPC, previously known as Type 2, also has the ability to handle large amounts of data and focus on high security. In relation to calculations within health science, technical simulations, chemistry, physics and bioinformatics in a broad sense, there will often be requirements for HPC systems with a focus on high "throughput performance".

The facility is operated by a consortium consisting of AU, DTU and KU. The computer resources are provided by Computerome 2, which is jointly owned by DTU and KU, by GenomeDK at Aarhus University, and by Sophia, which is run by DTU.

DeiC Throughput HPC is already ready to receive the first users.

Get access to DeiC Throughput HPC here.

DeiC Large Memory HPC

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DeiC Large Memory HPC
Foto: DeiC

This type of HPC focuses on problem solving, with a structure that can't be easily or efficiently distributed between many computer nodes. This is a type of system that is characterized by typically relatively few cores with access to a large globally addressable memory area. The application is for example in certain areas of classical chemistry, physics, signal processing with for example handling of large matrix problems and quantum chemistry.

DeiC Large Memory HPC, also known as Type 3, is operated by SDU and is also receiving users.

Learn more about DeiC Large Memory HPC here.

DeiC Accelerated HPC

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DeiC Accelerated HPC
Foto: DeiC

DeiC Accelerated HPC, formerly known as Type 4, is a type of facility whose primary computing capacity comes from accelerators of various kinds. The primary purpose of establishing DeiC Accelerated HPC is to provide an opportunity to test alternative accelerator solutions and research the use of future HPC solutions. The system is not as such a production facility, but more an HPC laboratory. However, it will be open to researchers who can utilize this technology to perform computational tasks on the computer.

The facility is under construction and is expected to be ready for operation at the end of 2021. The facility is being developed and will be operated by KU. Behind the project is a collaboration between ITU, RUC and KU.

LUMI Capability HPC

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LUMI Capability HPC
Foto: DeiC

Type 5 is the European pre-exascale supercomputer LUMI. LUMI is an abbreviation for "Large Unified Modern Infrastructure", and will be located in CSC's data center in Kajaani, Finland. LUMI is one of three pre-exascale supercomputers to be build as part of the European EuroHPC project.

DeiC coordinates the Danish participation in EuroHPC and Danish researchers' access to resources at LUMI. Behind LUMI is a consortium of 8 countries. The countries are Finland, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland.

LUMI is financed by 50 pct. from the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking and 50 pct. from the consurtium countries. Denmark may use 3 pct. of the resources on LUMI.

Project 5 - development of a common access system

To support the construction of the national HPC landscape, DeiC's board has also launched a project, which right now goes by the name Project 5. The project's purpose is to create a unified online platform that will give researchers simple and secure access to the four computer types, as well as managing the resource distribution at the individual facilities.

Behind the project is a consortium with SDU, AU and DTU, which will collaborate with DeiC and the parties behind the operation of the 4 types to develop the platform.

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Nationale HPC anlæg
Foto: DeiC

The background of the national HPC landscape

The report Future national HPC landscape - recommendations from the Working Group for Future National HPC Landscape

Revised
30 Mar 2023