Paderborn Center for Parallel Computing

Welcome to the Paderborn Center for Parallel Computing (PC2). We are a central scientific institute of Paderborn University with the mission to advance interdisciplinary research in parallel computing and computational sciences with novel methods and innovative computer systems. As a National High-Performance Computing Center we provide HPC infrastructure and services for academic users. We are members of the national HPC association NHR, Gauß Alliance, and the regional HPC.NRW competence network of North Rhine-Westphalia.

→ About PC2

 

News

Redesign of Website

We have completely restructured and updated our website and migrated it to the university's new corporate design.

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Photo (Paderborn University, Johanna Pietsch): The contracts for the new HPC system have been signed. (front from left to right) Judith Schröter (Lenovo) and Simone Probst (Paderborn University), (back from left to right) Prof. Dr. Christian Plessl (Paderborn University) and Oliver Kill (pro-com).

Contract awarded for next supercomputer at Paderborn Center for Parallel Computing

Paderborn University is set to receive a high-performance computing (HPC) system from pro-com Datensysteme GmbH, featuring AMD's next-generation processors, 740 Lenovo compute nodes, and over 5 petabytes of IBM Spectrum Scale storage. This energy-efficient system, costing about 14 million Euros, will be used for nationwide research starting in 2025, and will enhance the university's current Noctua 2 system with double the computing…

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Seasons Greetings

We wish all our customers, cooperation partners and students happy holidays and look forward to continuing our collaboration in 2023.

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Events

08.05.2024 - 08.05.2024

Besucherführung im HPC-Rechenzentrum der Universität Paderborn

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02.11.2023 - 03.11.2023

NHR-Computational Physics Symposium 2023

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20.10.2023 - 20.10.2023

PC2 User Day 2023

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More events

Systems, Services and Infrastructure

We operate multiple, HPC systems (x86-Linux clusters) with high-bandwidth interconnect, parallel file systems, and persistent storage systems. Our current main HPC systems are Noctua 1 (Cray CS500) and Noctua 2 (Atos/Bull Sequana XH2000) that provide more than 150,000 CPU cores, 160 GPUs, 80 FPGAs, high-speed parallel file systems, and multiple PB for storage and archival of research data. The systems can be accessed using traditional remote SSH access with workload management for batch operation but we also offer access via JupyterHub for interactive use and explorative data analysis. Our modern HPC data center facility is specifically tailored to reliable operating HPC systems while achieving the highest level of energy efficiency and sustainability.

→ Learn more about what we offer

System Access

Our services are available to any researcher from a Germany university. For collaborations in our scientific and technological focus areas we also provide access to selected international researchers. Access is granted based on the submission and peer review of a project proposal that describes the planned research and computing resource demands. Smaller scale projects are evaluate on a rolling basis with short turnaround times. Larger scale projects are evaluated as part of the nation-wide joint resource allocation process by the NHR association. On a positive evaluation, access is provided free of charge.

→ Submit your application for system access

Support

Our documentation offers extensive guidance on using the HPC infrastructure, with email support and expert advice available for additional assistance.

→ Get help and documentation

Training and Consulting

We accompany and support our users in all phases of their computational research projects, from the submission of the computing time request, to the effective use of scientific software, the automation of workflows and the archiving of research data. Our regularly offered training program ranges from basic courses on the use of HPC systems to advanced techniques of optimization for parallel programs for software developers. In addition,  we offer comprehensive documentation, email support and regular consultation hours.

To specifically support researchers in the focus areas of our center, we offer in-depth, topic-specific workshops, summer schools and hackathons. Selected research projects are also supported by intensive support within the framework of collaborations, for example to develop improved methods together with users or to explore new technologies.

→ Improve your skills and your HPC experience

Research

Our infrastructure is available for research in all application areas. To provide in-depth support and scientific expertise in selected domains, we have specialized in atomistic simulations in solid state physics and chemistry. In these areas we also contribute to the development of new, highly scalable simulation methods and implement them in open source software and libraries. Our technological focus is on massively parallel and particularly energy-efficient HPC using hardware accelerators based on FPGA and GPU.

→ Learn more about our research and the results of our users

Teaching

The broad application of computer-aided methods and the combination of model- and data-driven processes for modeling, simulation and analysis in scientific applications can be found in numerous departments of the university. We support these activities in teaching with our infrastructure and also contribute to the range of courses and further qualification opportunities, especially for young scientists.

→ Learn more about lectures, project groups and theses

Contact

Paderborn Center for Parallel Computing (PC2)

Room X1.105
Paderborn University
Mersinweg 5
33100 Paderborn