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.
How to Communicate Science and Technology Effectively: Our Team’s Experience 22 Aug - Our team has long been dedicated not only to the development of high-performance computing, but also to the effective communication of the results and opportunities we bring to industry, academia, and the next generation of researchers. We consider this a key part of our work – a modern scientific and technological institution today cannot operate in isolation but must be able to clearly and transparently communicate the value and impact of its activities.
HPC and MATLAB: A Strong Partnership for Accessible Supercomputing 19 Aug - Minulý týždeň sa uskutočnilo zaujímavé pracovné stretnutie, na ktorom sa Lucia Malíčková, zastrešujúca Národné superpočítačové centrum a Národné kompetenčné centrum pre HPC, stretla s Martinom Foltínom zo spoločnosti HUMUSOFT s.r.o., oficiálneho distribútora MathWorks. 
Webinar: How a Large Language Model is Created for a Low-Resource Language 14 Aug - Pozývame vás na náš ďalší odborný webinár, ktorý sa zameria na pokroky v oblasti umelej inteligencie pre slovinský jazyk. Podujatie sa uskutoční online v polovici septembra a ponúkne jedinečnú príležitosť nazrieť do zákulisia vývoja veľkého jazykového modelu prispôsobeného pre jazyk s obmedzenými zdrojmi. Prednášajúcim bude Domen Vreš z Univerzity v Ľubľane, Fakulty informatiky a počítačových vied, ktorý sa dlhodobo venuje výskumu v oblasti spracovania prirodzeného jazyka a umelej inteligencie.