Workshop: Cloud services for HPC users
A twinning workshop was organized on April 19th, 2022 with the aim of exchanging best practices and approaches to provide HPC cloud services to users from academia and industry. The workshop took place in Smolenice, Slovakia.
eINFRA and experience from the Czech Republic
Experts from CESNETwere invited to share their experiences with both NCCs in this area. CESNET is an association of universities of the Czech Republic and the Czech Academy of Sciences. It operates and develops the national e-infrastructure for science, research and education which encompasses a computer network, computational grids, data storage and collaborative environment. During the workshop, representatives of the CESNET presented such topics as:
M. Ruda: Introduction, CESNET and Metacentrum: large-scale distributed computing infrastructure and services.
D. Antoš: CESNET and Metacentrum: operation and development of data storage as a part of the national infrastructure for science and research.
Cloud services as an (un)necessary part of the HPC provider portfolio – is it profitable?
Branislav Jansík from IT4Innovations and the head of the Czech competence center Tomáš Karásek presented the requirements of users for access to cloud services. It is the motivation, requirements and expectations of users, as well as the benefits and barriers from the point of view of the HPC service provider, have been the subject of a longer discussion. Participants also debated alternative platforms, "easy-access" services, microservice, HPC "market".
Both National Competence Centers plan to integrate HPC cloud services into their portfolios using the open-source platforms OpenNebula and OpenStack. CESNET representatives who have experience with both tools shared their benefits and technical support options.
The more general debate concerned in particular the issue of systematic and long-term support for the development and operation of HPC systems as a necessary component of the national research infrastructure.
Call for Business Experiments – Support for SMEs in the Implementation of HPC Solutions 28 Jun - We draw your attention to the second open call under the FFplus project, which focuses on supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in addressing specific business challenges through High Performance Computing (HPC). The aim of the call is to carry out so-called “business experiments” designed to demonstrate that the use of HPC technologies can solve real-world problems and have a positive impact on business.
When Technology Meets Inclusion: A Vision for a Fair Society 25 Jul - In recent days, an inspiring meeting took place between Lucia Maličková, project manager at the National Supercomputing Center and the National Competence Centre for High-Performance Computing (HPC), and Ján Bihari, visionary, founder of Tibi Digital, and thought leader in the field of Roma community digitalization.
Recording of the Webinar: Simulating Societies through AI and Digital Twins 23 Jul - Nestihli ste náš webinár „Digitálne dvojčatá spoločnosti: Simulácie poháňané výpočtami na HPC“? Záznam je už dostupný online. Webinár priniesol inšpiratívne pohľady na to, ako umelá inteligencia, kognitívne modelovanie a multiagentové simulačné technológie pomáhajú vedcom porozumieť a predikovať komplexné spoločenské javy, ako sú šírenie dezinformácií, radikalizácia či spoločenská súdržnosť.