📋 Tender Overview
At the end of last year the Spanish government approved 115 million euros until 2029 for the National Center for High Performance Computing. The project is co-financed by the EU as part of the Joint Undertaking for European High Performance Computing GU EuroHPC. The goals include the acquisition and commissioning of the MareNostrum5 supercomputer and the associated research infrastructure.On December 22nd 2020 the Council of Ministers approved the signing of an agreement between the Ministry of Science and Innovation Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacin the Government of Catalonia and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia Universitat Politcnica de Catalunya - UPC to finance the Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputacin BSC CNS between 2020 and 2029. During this decade the Ministry of Research will provide 60 of the total funding up to 115.1 million euros.In particular funds will be provided for the acquisition and commissioning of the MareNostrum5 supercomputer and the associated research infrastructures the adaptation of the data processing center for use in high-performance computing the acquisition and commissioning of an electrical substation and the operating costs that are incurred for these new infrastructures over and above the ongoing costs of the consortium are required. In addition to the 115.1 million euros in government funding the agreement provides for a loan from the Research Ministry to the BSC-CNS in the amount of 47.9 million euros which is to be repaid over the period from 2023 to 2029.BSC-CNS is the pioneering center for high-performance computing in Spain. It participates in the European initiative PRACE - Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe and acts as the coordinator of the Spanish supercomputing network RES which consists of nodes spread across the country and offers advanced computing services at a central level. It was selected by the European Commission through EuroHPC to host one of the three pre- exascale supercomputers. The MareNostrum5 supercomputer would have a throughput of around 200 petaflops which would be 18 times the core of the current MareNostrum 4 the current main computer of the center.
