Quantum computing, the national research center in High Performance Computing (Hpc) proposed by infn with funding from the Pnrr was born
The National Research Center in High Performance Computing (HPC), Big Data and Quantum Computing, proposed by the INFN (National Institute of Nuclear Physics), was born. On July 19, the governing bodies of the ICSC Foundation were established , which will manage one of the five national centers envisaged by the PNRR "National Recovery and Resilience Plan". It has 51 founding members distributed throughout the national territory, coming from the public and private sectors, scientific research and industry. The goal is to create the largest Italian system dedicated to high-performance computing, big data management and quantum computing, a transversal infrastructure to support the main sectors that are currently strategic for the country with Hub at the Bologna Technopole. The National Centre will enter into full operation on September 1st. All the details. FUNDING FOR THE NATIONAL HPC RESEARCH CENTRE The center counts on a funding of almost 320 million euros from Next Generation EU funds as part of the Education and Research Mission of the PNRR coordinated by the Ministry of University and Research (MUR), to create an infrastructure to support the main strategic sectors for the country. In particular, of the total funding, over 100 million euros will be dedicated to staff, an investment that is considered a priority, with a female participation of at least 40%, and with almost 16 million euros reserved for doctoral scholarships and therefore for higher education and the career of young people. LA GOVERNANCE Yesterday the founding members of ICSC elected Antonio Zoccoli, president of the INFN, to the presidency of the Foundation, and the ten members of the Board of Directors: Emilio Fortunato Campana of the CNR, Paolo Maria Mancarella of the University of Pisa, Francesco Scarcello of the University of Calabria, Donatella Sciuto of the Politecnico di Milano, Simona Tondelli of the University of Bologna, Francesco Ubertini of CINECA, Matteo Laterza of UnipolSai , Elisabetta Oliveri of Autostrade per l'Italia, Andrea Quacivi of Sogei, Francesca Zarri of Eni. THE HEADQUARTERS AT THE TECNOPOLO IN BOLOGNA The operational headquarters will be the Bologna Technopole, the citadel of innovation in the Emilia-Romagna Region. The site already houses the Data Center of the European Weather Center (ECMWF) and will soon host the Leonardo supercomputer managed by Cineca, and the INFN Computer Center. AT THE CENTER THE LEONARDO SUPERCOMPUTER BY CINECA With its enormous computing power, which will allow it to perform more than 248 Petaflops or more than 248 million billion calculations per second, Leonardo will rank among the best supercomputers in the world. It will thus pave the way to the next frontier of supercomputing, performing more than a billion billion operations per second (exaflop). As Il Sole 24 Ore recalled, "launched in 2018, the project is the result of a joint investment of 240 million euros: 120 million allocated by the European Commission and 120 million funded by Italy through the Ministry of University and Research. The Cineca consortium has been identified as a hosting entity for the data center in which to host the Leonardo computing system. In the face of an agreement between Miur, Cineca, Infn and Sissa and in synergy with the Emilia-Romagna Region, the Italian data valley, where 70% of the national computing power is already concentrated". THE ROADMAP Finally, among the main stages for the National HPC Center there is the upgrade of the Leonardo supercomputer at Cineca and the INFN data center, the acquisition of a quantum computer to be placed at the Technopole, the completion of the GARR-T network (the new network with a capacity of over 1 Terabit / second) and some interventions for the creation of thematic satellite centers in other Italian locations. While, in 2024, the enhanced cloud infrastructure will be made available to users. • 22 July 2022