Germany is home to Europe’s fastest supercomputer following the launch of the SuperMUC computer at the Leibnitz Computing Centre in Garching on 20 July.
The SuperMUC can calculate at a speed of 3 petaflops—or three quadrillion calculations per second. It is the fourth fastest in the world, behind machines in the United States and Japan. It is also one of the most energy-efficient, according to the Leibnitz Institute, as it will use about 40 per cent less energy than previous supercomputers.
“The SuperMUC is the third German high-performance computer which is open for European users from science and business,” said German research minister Annette Schavan. “This means that the German supercomputing network is the best in Europe.”
SuperMUC will cost about €135 million to construct and operate over the “next few years”, the German research ministry said. The costs are shared between the central and Bavarian governments.
The launch coincides with the 50th anniversary of the computing centre’s creation. Part of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, the centre has 120,000 users, including computer science students at Munich’s universities.
The Leibnitz centre and two other computing centres in Jülich and Stuttgart form the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing, which is Germany’s contribution to the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe.