Feb. 4, 2022 — The Rector of the University of Granada (Universidad de Granada), Pilar Aranda, has presented a new computer in the Supercomputing Service of the Center for Computer Services and Communication Networks (CSIRC). Called Albaicín, the supercomputer delivers 822 teraflops of peak performance. The Feb. 1 dedication event was also attended by the Vice-Rector for Research and Transfer, Enrique Herrera; and the delegate of the Rector for the Digital University, Begoña del Pino.

The University of Granada remains a national benchmark in high-performance computing (HPC), with a computer among the 10 most powerful in Spain, and as a regional leader in supercomputing applied to multidisciplinary research. From the teams located in the facilities of the Maecenas Building of the UGR, services are provided to 125 research groups and more than 500 researchers from the 7 Andalusian public universities: Granada, Seville, Jaén, Pablo de Olavide, Almería, Huelva and Cádiz. These groups work in varied fields: biomolecular structures, atmospheric models, stellar dynamics, nanoparticles, electromagnetism, learning models and artificial intelligence, statistical studies and many other areas that require massive data processing.

The Rector’s delegate for the Digital University and Professor at the Department of Computer Architecture and Technology, Begoña del Pino Prieto, points out that supercomputing is a “crucial element for promoting research, innovation, high-level transfer and specialized training.” Its nature is strategic in the UGR, within the lines established by the Digital Agenda for Europe and the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.

A professor of the Department of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence and former delegate of the Rector for the Digital University, Óscar Cordón García, reviews the cutting-edge development of the University of Granada in the field of supercomputing as “an area that began to develop 30 years ago years and has been updated according to the needs and the wide demand.” Specifically, while seeking to satisfy the demand and the continuous improvement of the quality of research, in November 2017, the previous delegate requested financing for the new supercomputer through the project “Acquisition of High-Performance Scientific Computing Infrastructure for the Network of Andalusian Supercomputing.”

Capabilities

The Albaicín computer includes the latest components in computer technology and computer interconnection. The system has 170 nodes, manufactured by Huawei, that include 9,520 processing cores of the latest generation of Intel processors. The interconnection between all the computing and storage components is carried out through a non-blocking Infiniband network with very low latency, with Mellanox equipment and 200 Gbps HDR technology. Additionally, this new computer will increase the mass storage network.

The IT department head of the CSIRC-Research and Supercomputing Systems, Jesús Rodríguez Puga, puts the deployment of resources and power at Albaicín into context, comparing it with the other two distributed memory supercomputers owned by the UGR: UGRGrid (active since 2007 and which in its day was part of the list of the 500 most powerful computers in the world) and Alhambra (active since 2013). “Albaicín multiplies the power of UGRGrid by 200 and that of Alhambra by 20. This represents a jump from the current 36 teraflops offered by the UGR, to the 822 that it will reach with Albaicín,” explains Rodríguez Puga.

Being a team dedicated to research, these capabilities are key in the complex processes behind many scientific projects. “The 9,520 centers in the Albaicín are capable of reducing extremely complex scientific procedures that could last 25 years to just 24 hours,” explains Jesús Rodríguez Puga.

This quantitative and qualitative increase that the supercomputer brings to research is reflected, for example, in the projects of the professor of the Department of Atomic, Molecular and Nuclear Physics of the UGR Blanca Biel Ruiz, who in her quantum simulations of two-dimensional materials needs these supercomputing capabilities. “Now we are also studying biomolecules and are focused on analyzing mutations in the bases that make up nucleic acids such as RNA or DNA, with the aim of detecting possible diseases. Having supercomputing in this line of work is essential,” highlights Biel.

From the Department of Theoretical Physics and Cosmos at the University of Granada, Professor Carlos Abia Ladrón de Guevara also uses supercomputers in his studies on the chemical composition and evolution of stars in the final phase of their existence. “Right now we are calculating the interaction that planets and stars can have, and how these planets can modify the evolution and surface chemical composition of stars. To simulate these collisions, very powerful equipment is required,” specifies Abia.

In the future, as the delegate of the rector for the Digital University, Begoña del Pino Prieto, explains, the Supercomputing Service potentially prepares the UGR to host high-level scientific facilities, such as the IFMIF-DONES particle accelerator or the different projects that They intend to position Granada as the headquarters and national and international reference of artificial intelligence.

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Source: Universidad de Granada