Hyperion triples the power of its predecessor with more than 14,000 cores and 150 TB of RAM, serving the entire research community in the Basque Country.
This morning, the Regional Minister for Education, Jokin Bildarratz, visited the Hyperion supercomputer at the Supercomputing Centre of the Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), accompanied by the Deputy Regional Minister for Universities and Research, Adolfo Morais, and the President of the DIPC, Pedro Miguel Etxenike. Following its expansion, Hyperion has become the third most powerful supercomputer in Spain and now provides services to researchers within the Basque Science, Technology and Innovation Network. The user network comprises the nine Basic Research and Excellence Centres (BERC according to its initials in Spanish), Basque Country universities, as well as Cooperative Research Centres such as CIC nanoGUNE or CIC biomaGUNE, health research centres such as Biogipuzkoa, and technology centres such as Tecnalia.
Since 2017, the Department for Education has invested €5,925,000 in acquiring and improving equipment for supercomputing. The cost for constructing and commissioning Hyperion is 2.8 million.
Hyperion is currently used in various projects, including simulations of galaxy formation, material behaviour, quantum technology development, artificial intelligence, and computational chemistry. Supercomputers are designed to assist research staff by breaking down complex problems into smaller, more manageable ones. The final solution is obtained by combining the results of each of these, resulting in a shorter processing time.
According to Txomin Romero, director of the Supercomputing Centre, Hyperion boasts over 14,000 cores and 150 TB of RAM, making it three times more powerful than its predecessor, the Atlas supercomputer. It serves over 500 scientists in our ecosystem.
The construction of Hyperion is part of the Basque Government's Department for Education's overall strategy to provide the scientific community with the necessary tools and infrastructure to carry out their work. Thanks to the commitment, similar to the work done by Hyperion at the DIPC, BERC Biofisika Bizkaia currently houses the most advanced high-resolution electronic cryo-microscope model available, and BCBL has installed innovative magnetoencephalography equipment to record cortical activity.
IKUR strategy
Hyperion aligns with the generation of new knowledge through the four strategic areas identified in the IKUR Strategy: Neurosciences, Quantum Technologies, Neutrionics (neutron and neutrino physics), Supercomputing, Artificial Intelligence, as well as in other significant areas of research within the Basque research community such as Astrophysics, Cosmology, Climate Science, and Materials Science with advanced properties.
Source: GV-EJ