“Swiss National Supercomputing Centre”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

The Swiss National Supercomputing Centre ({{lang-it|Centro Svizzero di Calcolo Scientifico}}; CSCS) is the national high-performance computing centre of Switzerland. It was founded in Manno, canton Ticino, in 1991.^[1] In March 2012, the CSCS moved to its new location in Lugano-Cornaredo.^[2]

The main function of the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre is a so-called National User Lab. It is open to all Swiss researchers and their assistants, who can get free access to CSCS' supercomputers in a competitive scientific evaluation process. In addition, the centre operates dedicated computing facilities for specific research projects and national mandates, e.g. weather forecasting. It is the national competence centre for high-performance computing and serves as a technology platform for Swiss research in computational science.^[3] CSCS is an autonomous unit of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) and closely collaborates with the local University of Lugano (USI).

Building

The building at the new location Lugano-Cornaredo has a pillar-free machine hall of 2000 m² and can be powered with up to 20 MW electricity. Water for cooling the supercomputers is taken from Lake Lugano in 45m depth and pumped over a distance of 2.8 km to the centre. Thus, little energy is consumed for providing the cooling and the computer centre achieves a high energy efficiency with a PUE < 1.25.^[4]

Supercomputers

Supercomputer procurements at CSCS can be categorised into two phases: In the first phase from 1991 to 2011, the centre focused on proven technologies in order to facilitate user access to its services. This strategy was centred on the SX vector processor architecture of NEC.^[5] The IBM SP4, installed 2002, was the first production system of CSCS with a massively-parallel computer architecture.^[6] The procurement of the first Cray XT3 in Europe in 2005^[7] marked the beginning of the second phase. Since then, CSCS concentrates on early technologies, preferably before they become a generally available product.^[8]^[9]^[10]

Current computing facilities

Previous computing facilities

National Supercomputing Service

Run as a user lab, CSCS promotes and encourages top-notch research. Simulations created on supercomputers yield completely new insights in science. Consequently, CSCS operates cutting-edge computer systems as an essential service facility for Swiss researchers. These computers aid scientists with diverse issues and requirements - from the pure calculation of complex problems to analysis of complex data. The pool of national high-performance computers is available to its users as a so-called user lab: all researchers in and out of Switzerland can use the supercomputer infrastructure.

Dedicated HPC Services

In addition to the computers of the User Lab, CSCS operates dedicated compute resources for strategic research projects and tasks of national interest. Since 2001, the calculations for the numerical weather prediction of the Swiss meteorological survey MeteoSwiss take place at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre. In January 2008, the first operational high-resolution weather forecasting suite in Europe was taken in production on a massively-parallel supercomputer at CSCS.^[11] Another dedicated computer resource operated by CSCS is the Swiss tier-2 computer cluster for the Computing Grid of the CERN LHC accelerator.

CSCS also provides storage services for massive data sets of the Swiss systems biology initiative [//www.systemsx.ch/ SystemsX] and the [//www.c2sm.ethz.ch Centre for Climate Systems Modelling C2SM] at ETH Zurich.

Research and development

For supporting the further development of its supercomputing services, CSCS regularly evaluates relevant new technologies (technology scouting) and publishes the results as white papers on its website.

In 2009, CSCS and the University of Lugano jointly launched the platform [//www.hp2c.ch/ HP2C] with the goal to prepare the application codes of Swiss researchers for upcoming supercomputer architectures.^[12]

Notes and references

1. ^[//www.ethistory.ethz.ch/rueckblicke/departemente/dinfk/entwicklung/weitere_seiten/cscs/index_EN/popupfriendly ETH History: Swiss Scientific Computing Center, Manno (CSCS)]. Last accessed 13 August 2012
2. ^[//www.cscs.ch/newsroom/cscs/2012/movetolugano/index.html CSCS moves into new computer centre in Lugano]. CSCS news of 12 March 2012. Last accessed 9 August 2012
3. ^[//www.cscs.ch/fileadmin/Documents/media/fact_sheets/20120401_Fact_Sheet_CSCS_Over_CSCS_English.pdf Factsheet: CSCS - driving innovation in computational research in Switzerland]. Last accessed 9 August 2012
4. ^[//www.cscs.ch/fileadmin/Documents/media/fact_sheets/20120401_Fact_Sheet_Building_English.pdf Factsheet: Innovative new building for CSCS in Lugano]. Last accessed 9 August 2012
5. ^[//www.hoise.com/primeur/00/articles/weekly/CL-PR-08-00-2.html Swiss Supercomputing Centre delivers scientific excellence on NEC SX-5]. Interview 20 July 2000. Last access 13 August 2012
6. ^[//www.hoise.com/primeur/02/articles/weekly/AE-PR-04-02-4.html IBM selected to build Switzerland's largest supercomputer]. Press release of 26 February 2002. Last accessed 13 August 2012
7. ^[//investors.cray.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=98390&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=691850&highlight= Red Storm Over Switzerland: CSCS Will Be First in Europe to Make New Cray XT3 System Available for Science]. Press release of 5 April 2005. Last accessed 13 August 2012
8. ^[//www.cscs.ch/nc/newsroom/news_detail/index.html?tx_ttnews%5Bpointer%5D=3&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=583&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=29&cHash=d0a9f41e10e2c1445b5a43bda5b6e7f1 First Cray XE6 Supercomputer installed at CSCS]. CSCS news of 28 July 2010. Last accessed 13 August 2012
9. ^[//investors.cray.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=98390&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1530491 Swiss National Supercomputing Centre Orders First Next-Generation Cray XMT Supercomputer]. Press release of 28 February 2011. Last accessed 13 August 2012
10. ^[//www.hpc-ch.org/wp/2011/09/09/amd-ships-first-“bulldozer”-processors-to-cscs-and-other-super-installations/ AMD Ships First "Bulldozer" Processors to CSCS and other High End Installations]. HPC-CH blog entry of 9 September 2011. Last accessed 13 August 2012
11. ^[//enterthegrid.com/primeur/07/articles/monthly/AE-PR-10-07-53.html New Supercomputer "Buin" inaugurated at the CSCS - Quantum leap in weather forecasting]. Press release of 17 September 2007. Last accessed 13 August 2012.
12. ^[//www.ethrat.ch/sites/default/files/ETHR_FS_HPCN_E_101025.pdf Factsheet: Supercomputing - a key to greater competitiveness]. Information of ETH Board. Last accessed 13 August 2012.