A supercomputer It can process large amounts of data millions of times faster than a normal computer. For that, requires using more than one CPUwith one or a group of processors and a block of memory.
In Chile, the most powerful supercomputer is installed in the National Laboratory for High Performance Computing (NLHPC)housed in the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of the University of Chile, which has just renovated one of its clusters for Leftraru Epu (Lautaro 2 in Mapudungún), with which his computing capacity reached 9,956 cores and a processing capacity of 479 Tflops.
Leftraru Epu joins Guacolda in the task of developing the calculations used in national research, in areas such as bioinformatics and the astroinformaticsthe study of climate change and the air quality, among other. Both universities and research centers, as well as the State and industry, apply to use it.
To do it, researchers postulate through the portal reservas.nlhpc.cl. “Each application is evaluated based on 4 criteria: the quality of the proposal, the curriculum of the main researcher, the experience in using supercomputers by the user and whether the program to be executed is suitable for a high-performance computing environment. ”explains Ginés Guerrero, director of the NLHPC. Their contributions are also considered, both academic, undergraduate and postgraduate theses and patents, as well as the financial contribution they may make, since the laboratory operates with limited funds.
Once the researcher obtains a quota to use Guacolda-Leftraru Epu, you can do it remotely from anywhere in the world. A resource management system is responsible for distributing the use of the supercomputer to ensure that it is done optimally and does not collapse when everyone tries to log in at the same time.
Far from the most powerful supercomputers in the world
Having such a powerful computer allows you to perform calculations millions of times faster. than with a normal computer. “That is obviously an important leap and allows you to solve problems that would otherwise be totally unfeasible,” explains Guerrero.
It is key, for example, in areas such as meteorology, which requires making projections from which decisions will be made, but also in the search for new materials and even medicines. “One does not realize that supercomputers are everywherebut really everything that surrounds us often exists thanks to the fact that a supercomputer has made some simulation that allows it,” says the director of the NLHPC.
“The applications go beyond the scientific, they directly impact the well-being of citizens,” emphasizes Ginés Guerrero.
Although Guacolda-Leftraru Epu quadruples the power of the national supercomputer, we are still far from the most powerful in the world. Frontierhe Oak Ridge National Laboratory supercomputer in Tennessee, USA, has a processing capacity of 1206 PFlop and 8,699,904 CPU and GPU cores combined. While in Latin America there are eight supercomputers more powerful than the Chilean one, seven of them in Brazil and one in Argentina. Both appear among the 500 most powerful according to the TOP500 ranking.
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“Chile would need to have a machine on the order of five times more powerful than the one we currently have to be able to enter that ranking.. We are quite far from being able to enter there,” says Ginés Guerrero. Increasing the power five times would still be far from the top positions.
“From my point of view, we are happy with this purchase and it was necessary, but we are already with the machine quite used. We just opened it and the use there is is super high. Soon we will reach 100% again and have waiting lists. The machine is not capable of satisfying the growing demands of the Chilean scientific community and, in general, of the State and the industry,” he assures.
More investment for high-performance computing
Leftraru Epu required an investment of $1.15 billionobtained from the Major Equipment Fund of the National Research and Development Agency (ANID) and contributions from the Mathematical Modeling Center of the University of Chile, the institution that promoted the high-performance computing program in 2009.
This investment is not enough to keep the system updated, nor the specialized human capital necessary to operate it. “Chile must make an investment that goes far beyond what it is currently making to increase these capabilities, and not only increase it, but also maintain it over time,” says the director of the LNHPC.
“It must be taken into account that It is not just buying the infrastructure, because this infrastructure has to be renewed. The Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) renews the Mare Nostrum every four years or so, in our case, thinking about five years would be wonderful. These machines have to be renewed every few years, because they quickly become obsolete, there are machines that are much more powerful and much more energy efficient as well,” he adds.
