18.07.2022
Vienna Scientific Cluster receives funding for new supercomputer
Vienna Scientific Cluster will lead the project MUSICA aimed to build a multi-site HPC infrastructure which will be coupled with a quantum computer.
The Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) has approved the project MUSICA (Multi-Site Computer Austria) worth €20 million. Within this project, a consortium of six Austrian universities will expand the high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure and enter the highly innovative field of quantum computing.
The MUSICA consortium consists of the same partners as VSC. These are TU Wien, University of Vienna, TU Graz, University of Innsbruck, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences Vienna, and Johannes Kepler University (JKU) of Linz. This consortium will implement MUSICA with the technical lead of VSC.
What makes the intended system special is its division across several locations. The three data centers to house MUSICA are VSC (TU Wien), University of Innsbruck and JKU Linz. To ensure a smooth operation of the shared infrastructure, all the parts of the supercomputer in Vienna, Innsbruck and Linz must be compatible with each other and be as identical as possible. The system software will be optimized in such a way that jobs can be easily moved from one site to the other. Thus a better failure safety shall be achieved. The infrastructure should be ready for operation in 2025.
Supercomputing meets Quantum
MUSICA is the first research project to receive funding within Quantum Austria — an initiative financed by the European Union's NextGenerationEU development plan and implemented by the FFG and the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). Through Quantum Austria, the federal government aims to ensure Austria's competitiveness and European cooperation in strategically important advanced computing technologies.
Quantum computers act as accelerators to supercomputers, bringing their performance to a completely new level to what we have seen before. As the MUSICA computer will have the necessary power and architecture to be interconnected with a quantum computer, it will facilitate innovation, development, and help researchers find solutions to complex problems in science, technology, and society.
News posting of TU Wien (German)
(Announcement first posted on 18.07.2022.)