Russia (bbabo.net), - It is planned to create a supercomputer center "Lavrentiev" in the Novosibirsk Academgorodok by 2025. The head of the project, Rector of Novosibirsk State University, Academician Mikhail Fedoruk, told the correspondent about it.
What is the importance and significance of the project for both NSU and Akademgorodok as a whole?
Mikhail Fedoruk: The Lavrentiev Supercomputer Center is a complex infrastructure solution within the framework of the Akademgorodok 2.0 project, an integration core and assembly point of a competence center for high-performance and parallel computing, artificial intelligence, which is important for scientific research organizations of Akademgorodok can hardly be overestimated.
A unique situation has developed here, when several research centers at once have equipment and experience in supercomputing and artificial intelligence. A single infrastructure is needed on which these groups could perform tasks of a higher level. Working on a Lavrentiev-level supercomputer, researchers will be able to solve problems of a completely different scale, which require the combined efforts of several groups or even organizations at once.
Novosibirsk State University needs this project because it allows to complete the missing competencies in the field of computer computing, information technology, digital twins and artificial intelligence. The main goal is not just to deliver powerful high-performance hardware, but to gather and train people who own the most modern technologies. This is a question of Russia's technological competitiveness. Thus, the university annually recruits more than 500 students for undergraduate programs who plan to build a career in the IT industry. For such guys, courses on parallel computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, digital twins are mandatory, which, in turn, require significant computing power. Already, the solution of such a typical task for senior students as training a neural network on an Imagenet-type dataset requires a performance of about 40 teraflops. In a few years, demands for productivity will increase, as will the number of students ready to study modern information technologies. Accordingly, the SCC "Lavrentiev" is a supercomputer with a hybrid architecture that will provide both researchers and each student with the infrastructure necessary for the educational process.
In what form is it advisable to combine the resources of the institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Novosibirsk State University for the implementation of the project?
Mikhail Fedoruk: Interest in the infrastructure of the supercomputer center is shown by research groups in research institutes, high-tech companies of the Technopark, and at the university itself. Thus, the agreement on the creation of the Consortium "High-Performance Computing and Artificial Intelligence Technologies" was signed by: Novosibirsk State University, Institute of Computational Mathematics and Mathematical Geophysics (ICM&MG) SB RAS, Institute of Mathematics. S.L. Sobolev SB RAS, Institute of Catalysis. G.K. Boreskov SB RAS, Institute of Nuclear Physics. G.I. Budker SB RAS, Federal Research Center "Institute of Cytology and Genetics SB RAS", Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. S.A. Khristianovich SB RAS, Institute of Thermal Physics named after A.I. S.S. Kutateladze SB RAS, Institute of Hydrodynamics. M.A. Lavrentiev SB RAS.
At the current stage of work, additional roles in the consortium were assumed by NSU and ICM&MG SB RAS. The university plays the role of a platform that allows you to assemble a center of competence. The Institute of Computational Mathematics and Mathematical Geophysics plays the role of scientific and technical consultant in this project. Other leading institutes of the SB RAS, their industrial partners, as well as the Competence Center "Genetic Technologies" on the basis of the FRC ICG SB RAS and the Mathematical Center in Akademgorodok provide all the necessary partner assistance and form a pool of tasks for the supercomputer.
bbabo.Net