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.
Lecture on HPC, AI and Career Opportunities 15 Mar - At the Faculty of Commerce of the University of Economics in Bratislava (EUBA), a guest lecture was held on 10 March 2026 focusing on current trends in high-performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI), and career opportunities in the digital environment.
AI and Supercomputers in Practice: A Lecture for TUKE Students 13 Mar - On 5 March 2026, an expert lecture by Dr. Lucia Malíčková from the National Supercomputing Centre (NSCC) took place at the Technical University of Košice (TUKE), titled “Can Supercomputers and Artificial Intelligence Be Useful?”. The event was held in lecture hall PK7 in a hybrid format (both online and in person) and was attended by 110 TUKE students.
Accountability by Design: Turning AI Standards into Practice and Certification 12 Mar - Exploring how the EU AI Act translates harmonized standards into real-world AI testing and certification.
Discover how the EU AI Act moves from regulatory text to technical implementation — and what this means for organisations developing and deploying AI systems.