The justification for layoffs, paralysis of projects, reduction in income… in short, destruction of the scientific system, has been reduced in recent months to three words: “There is no money.” But although it may be difficult to believe, things that do not cost a cent are not executed either, since they depend on simple acts of administrative monitoring.
This is what happens with the Clementina XXI supercomputer (which is named in honor of the first one the country had), which we will see. Acquired in 2021 by the former Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation at a cost of five million dollars, which was financed with a loan from the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), it is housed in the Data Center of the National Meteorological Service ( SMN), modernized by the Ministry of Defense to house this equipment with an investment of close to two million dollars to make it available to the entire local scientific and technological community, reserving 10% of the time of use of its great computing power for the SMN.
In addition to improving forecasts, Clementina XXI could be used for genomics studies, drug design, new materials, oil and gas basin modeling, and more
The contract for the acquisition of the machine stipulated that payment would be made in three installments: one at the time the tender was awarded, the second upon delivery of the machine, and the final installment when it was approved for use. This last payment includes operating expenses for the next three years, maintenance and spare parts. But one detail remained: in order to be able to use this machine together with the previous one that the SMN had, as planned, in order to increase the calculation capacity for forecasting, it was necessary to install a medium voltage electrical system, since currently It works with one similar to the one that reaches family homes. “The plan was to bring it to medium voltage, as if it were an industry, which allows it to have a much greater electrical capacity, and to be able to increase computing capacity in the future,” says physicist Pablo Mininni, coordinator of the National Computing System of High Performance (Sncad).
But although the SMN complied with all the electrical adaptation that corresponded to it, and the companies involved, Lenovo and Intel, were interested in having the procedure completed as quickly as possible, only yesterday the medium voltage transformer that Edenor had to provide arrived.
“Now we are waiting for them to install it as quickly as possible, because the equipment cannot be used like this,” says Mininni. Lenovo and Intel are waiting because they want to finish charging and also, in a month the new tests for the ‘top 50’ will be done, so if you can have the entire machine working it would enter a better position in that category.”
As Mininni explains, the former Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation was closely monitoring the progress of this project, calling Edeno, explaining its relevance and ensuring that the agreed deadlines were met. “Since the change in management, that stopped and the company [Edenor] He began to work with other times – he details –. Just in the last month I had a meeting with Paula Nahirñak’s secretaries [subsecretaria de ciencia y tecnología]who already come from previous administrations and showed the best good will, and I asked them to [la funcionaria] “Repeat those steps, that is, call back periodically to make sure they meet the deadlines, because we are already six months late.”
The person in charge of these efforts in the previous government was the physicist Juan Pablo Paz, former vice minister of Science, Technology and Innovation. “The supercomputer was started up, the Lenovo company was finishing the installation of the last components of the equipment that had been brought from Europe and the SMN was in charge of the civil works,” he underlines. The computer cost five million dollars and the civil work is budgeted at approximately 1,800,000 dollars, which was paid by the Ministry of Defense, in whose orbit the SMN is located. The only thing missing from the civil works was the commissioning of a medium voltage panel. It was connected temporarily and that allowed the computer to operate at half power. With this test, it was placed and thus appears in the official ranking that was published in November of last year, 196th in the world among those with the greatest computing power. It is the first time that Argentina has a computer among the 500 most powerful and it was expected that when it worked at full power it would be a little higher, probably among the 100 most powerful. That’s what Lenovo promised. The point is that from that moment until now nothing at all was done regarding the electrical supply. And it is a procedure in which you do not have to invest anything. It’s hard to believe it. In theory everyone is interested in getting this started, but six months have passed, six months!, and the computer is not working. It’s a crime. Six months paralyzed for a machine of that size, of that quality and of that cost is a lot of money thrown into the trash. It makes me very sad, very indignant, because it is a beautiful project, and it is resolved by picking up the phone and doing micromanagement.”
Despite everything, the SMN continued the project and the expert in charge of the infrastructure, systems and communications area, Pablo Loyber, someone crucial for this project, remains in his position.
“It’s about making a phone call once a week so that the company meets its deadlines,” Mininni concludes. It is a job that I have been doing, but that a secretariat has to do. The last deadline they had given was 20 days ago to install the transformer, but they only brought it yesterday. The important thing now would be for the installation to be done. Once Edenor turns it on, the machine can be available to the scientific system very quickly.”
