Supercomputing in Europe Receives a Boost from GÉANT2

European supercomputing experts are receiving solid support from GÉANT2’s technical experts, with the creation of a dedicated network design team, staffed by participants from both projects.

At a workshop between GÉANT2 and the Distributed European Infrastructure for Supercomputing Applications (DEISA) project held in Münich in July 2005, the two projects agreed to create a dedicated design team in order to plan for DEISA’s future. This team will be preparing a cost analysis of the proposed overlay network, for use by DEISA as it continues to grow and add additional sites to its grid.

The power of supercomputing enables scientists to explore complex topics through detailed modelling and simulation. Supercomputers power research in areas such as weather forecasting, climate change, genetics and molecular modelling. DEISA is massively expanding the capabilities of supercomputing in Europe by linking its multiple partner sites in a gridbased on the GÉANT2 network. Utilising GÉANT2’s huge bandwidth, DEISA is thereby able to provide more power and capacity than ever before, allowing researchers to work faster and smarter.

The design team is due to deliver its report, which will be edited by DANTE, by the end of July 2005. It is hoped that the paper will form an important input into DEISA’s proposal to the European Commission for its next phase of work (entitled DEISA2).

The creation of the expert design team is yet another demonstration of GÉANT2’s commitment to network users, and to improving the level of service provided to researchers. GÉANT2 works with users to help them get the most out of the enormous potential offered by the new network.