Czech Republic's ŠKODA Auto to Expand Datacenter to 15 PFlops

Sept. 20, 2018 — ŠKODA AUTO is expanding the data centre at its headquarters in Mladá Boleslav into the largest privately owned computing and data storage centre in the Czech Republic. Once the expansion is completed, the data centre will have a computing capacity of 15 petaFLOPS [Ed. note: precision not specified], which equates to 15 quadrillion computing operations per second. Thus, it is capable of extremely challenging high-performance computing (HPC). To further improve energy efficiency, ŠKODA AUTO will use heat generated by the computers’ cooling system to heat offices.

The ŠKODA data centre is the largest commercial computing and data storage centre in the Czech Republic. Over an area of almost 1,700 m2, the computing and storage units will be housed in 500 racks using 210 km of electrical cable.

Klaus-Dieter Schürmann, Board Member for Finance and IT at ŠKODA AUTO, explained, “To ensure maximum security of the data and biggest possible computing capacity, ŠKODA AUTO needs a data centre with state-of-the-art computing and storage capacity. The expansion of the data centre is proof that ŠKODA AUTO is no longer just a car manufacturer, but is also one of the leading service providers for mobility in the Czech Republic.”

The computing performance of the data centre in Mladá Boleslav will gradually become higher. Computing capacity of the high-performance computing will be ten times that large than now. Future capacity will be up to 15 petaFLOPS (floating-point operations per second), which equates to 15 quadrillion computing operations per second with energy consumption of 10 MW. This makes it the Czech Republic’s largest corporate private computing and data storage centre. Over an area of almost 1,700 m2, the computing and storage units will be housed in 500 racks using 210 km of electrical cable. Every hour, more than 4,200 m3 of water mixed with glycol will flow through the cooling circuit. As part of the company’s Green Future environmental strategy, the heat generated by the cooling system will be used to heat offices.

The expanded data centre will act as data storage. The company’s Technical Development and Production departments will also use the centre’s capacities for virtual-reality representations, visualisations and simulations. ŠKODA AUTO developed the software for some of these technologies itself. In the future, data from connected cars will also be stored here.

As one of the fastest-growing divisions in the company, ŠKODA’s IT department is constantly seeking talented employees, who can work on the development of the information and computing systems. Applicants can expect a state-of-the-art work environment equipped with the latest technology and a team of select experts in their fields. Currently 44 IT position are available, 80 positions are to be filled till the end of the year.

The consistent digitalisation of the company is one of the cornerstones of the 2025 Strategy. With this strategy, ŠKODA AUTO has defined the core areas for the future development of the company. In addition, the focus has been placed on how to convert the profound change facing the automotive industry into continued growth using topics such as electromobility, autonomous driving and connectivity.

Source: Volkswagen