40 years of supercomputing in Karlsruhe
The first supercomputer named “Cyber 205” was acquired by the then University of Karlsruhe in 1983. It had a computing power of up to 800 MegaFLOPS. For comparison: The performance of today’s average PC is already measured in GigaFLOPS, which is a thousand times more. The current “High Performance Computer Karlsruhe” (HoreKa) of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) reaches 17 PetaFLOPS, equivalent to the performance of more than 150,000 laptops or about 21 million Cyber 205 units. On Thursday, September 14, 2023, KIT will celebrate 40 years of high-performance computing in Karlsruhe. (Source: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology – Press Releases)
Please note: The text has been translated using a machine translation tool and may contain inaccuracies.
When it started operation in mid-2021, HoreKa, the current supercomputer of KIT, was among the 15 most powerful computers in Europe and ranked 52nd on the list of the 500 fastest computers in the world (TOP500). In terms of energy efficiency, it even ranked 13th in the international supercomputer ranking (Green500). “Today, researchers take for granted the use of high-performance computers to gain a more detailed understanding of highly complex natural and technical processes,” says Professor Martin Frank, Director of the Steinbuch Centre for Computing (SCC) of KIT from the Helmholtz Research Field Information, “like in material sciences, earth system sciences, energy and mobility research, engineering, life sciences, and particle and astroparticle physics.”
More than 30 supercomputers have already been operated at KIT
The significance of the Karlsruhe location for academic supercomputing is based on continuous development: Since 1983, KIT and its predecessor organizations, the University of Karlsruhe and the Karlsruhe Research Center, have operated more than 30 high-performance computers. Already in the 1960s, computing centers had been set up there, with computers available for researchers and students.
The powerful large-scale and universal computers were repeatedly replaced by newer, stronger models. In 1983, the first supercomputer was installed at the computing center of the University of Karlsruhe – a Control Data Cyber 205 machine. As this machine quickly reached its capacity and the demand for computing power steadily increased, new high-performance computers were regularly procured. The Cyber 205 was initially followed by various other computers from the VP and VPP series. “A milestone was the S600/20 computer, which in 1993 took the top position in Germany in the first TOP500 edition,” reports Frank.
KIT/Felix Mescoli, 11.09.2023
The original press release can be found at:
40 Jahre Supercomputing in Karlsruhe (only in german)
Localization in the Helmholtz Research Field Information:
Helmholtz Research Field Information, Program 1: Engineering Digital Futures, Topic 1: Enabling Computational- & Data-Intensive Science and Engineering; Topic 2: Supercomputing & Big Data Infrastructure
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Martin Frank
Steinbuch Centre for Computing (SCC)
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Phone: +49 721 608-29267
E-Mail: martin.frank@kit.edu
Contact for this press release:
Dr. Felix Mescoli
Press Officer
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Phone: +49 721 608 41171
E-Mail: felix.mescoli@kit.edu
