(per) Four major projects of ETH Zurich will be able to occupy almost half the computing time at the CSCS in Manno in the next two years. They were the winning bids in the "Advanced Large Projects in Supercomputing" (ALPS) program that the CSCS has just launched. A total of eight research groups had bid for the Supercomputer Centre’s coveted computing capacity. The competition was open to all Swiss Institutions of higher education.

Modelling the weather and cell behaviour

Four ETH professors from different subject areas have obtained computing time at the CSCS. The geophysicist Andrew Jackson is going to study the origin of the Earth’s magnetic field and the magnetic fields of other planets. Viola Vogel is analysing the behaviour and functioning of cells under mechanical forces. Climatologist Christoph Schär will research climate change in Europe and in the Alps as well as possible future extreme weather conditions. Finally, Michele Parinello also succeeded in convincing the CSCS Selection Committee. He is investigating the role of protein interactions in Alzheimer’s disease and HIV/AIDS diseases.

The ALPS time credits are valid for two years. The studies will be carried out on the 1664-processor Cray XT3 and on the new IBM 768-processor p5-575 system. The plan is to use about 16 million hours of central processor unit (CPU) time to carry out the four projects. This number of CPU hours over two years corresponds to the capacities of about 900 laptops, which would need to operate continuously round the clock for two years.

Striving for breakthroughs

The criteria giving entitlement to occupy computer time are stringent. Researchers must be striving for scientific breakthroughs not only in their areas but also in the technique of supercomputing. In addition they must demonstrate clearly that they are able to carry out these projects only with the gigantic computing power of the CSCS. Furthermore the research groups must collaborate closely with the CSCS. The projects are selected by a scientific advisory council of the CSCS that has an international composition.