Supercomputer Experts met at the First European Workshop on HPC Centre Infrastructures

The Swiss National Supercomputing Centre – CSCS in collaboration with CEA of France and BAdW-LRZ of Germany organized the first European workshop on HPC infrastructures on 2–4 September 2009, in Origlio, Switzerland. This event brought together for the first time experts in construction and operation of supercomputing facilities from Europe and around the world, including members of the PRACE project.

Infrastructure managers of High Performance Computing (HPC) facilities around the world are increasingly facing challenges in accommodating the requirements of current and future generations of supercomputer architectures. Power consumption and energy density push infrastructures, cooling technologies and operational budgets to the limit. Due to this development, building infrastructures have become a strategic asset of supercomputing centres.

The goal of the first European HPC Infrastructure Workshop was to initiate an exchange of knowledge and experiences in this area. 55 experts came together to discuss topics such as building design, facility management and operation, energy efficiency, cooling technologies and computer cooling designs. Speakers from APC, ASHRAE, CEA, CSCS, EYP, Green Grid, Intel, NCSA, RZ Integral, the University of Illinois and the Uptime Institute shaped this event with presentations of high technical quality. Participants also had plenty of opportunities to network and exchange ideas and information.

Based on the success of the workshop and the interest demonstrated by the attendees, a second European Workshop on HPC Infrastructures will be hosted next year by CEA in France.