Barcelona will have the most powerful supercomputer of the world in 2012

Friday, 23 April 2010 11:35

Barcelona 2012 will have one of the four supercomputers that form the PRACE project, a European scientific infrastructure that wants to build the world's most powerful supercomputer. This computer will work in network with the other three and will be installed at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC).

Supercomputers are indispensable tools for solving scientific and technological complex problems in all areas of science. In 2007, European representatives signed an agreement that gave rise to the initiative PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe), the objective of which is the creation of a European infrastructure for high performance computing. Specifically, it aims to create a permanent system of computing that is composed of several networked computers to enable European researchers working at the highest international level.

After the opening in Barcelona of the European Conference on Research Infrastructures (ECRI 2010), held last March, the Minister Garmendia confirmed that Spain would have its own seat or "node" of the PRACE project through Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), which since 2004 houses the MareNostrum, the most powerful computer in Spain.

The objective of the coming years is to multiply the calculation capabilities of the current computer, which next year will move to another larger building in order to add new equipment to increase the power up to 100 times. The new supercomputer will cost 60 million euros, of which 50% is provided by the Catalan Government (Generalitat de Catalunya), and will work with the other three supercomputers located in Germany, France and Italy, with the aim of forming the world's most powerful computer.