Federal Research Minister Karliczek and NRW Prime Minister Put JUWELS into Operation

Jülich, 18 September 2018 – JUWELS officially took up its work today at Forschungszentrum Jülich. It is currently the fastest supercomputer in Germany. Together with the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Forschungszentrum Jülich, Federal Minister of Education and Research Anja Karliczek and Prime Minister of the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) Armin Laschet symbolically put into operation the first module of this unique and novel “crown jewel” of the Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC). The Federal Government and the federal state of NRW are providing more than € 145 million up to 2025 for the development of world-class supercomputing at Jülich.

From compute-intensive simulations in climate research and neuroscience to the analysis of large data volumes or methods of artificial intelligence – modular supercomputer JUWELS (“Jülich Wizard for European Leadership Science”) is suitable for a multitude of applications. JUWELS is the successor to Jülich supercomputer JUQUEEN, which was once the fastest high-performance computer in Europe.

Einweihung per symbolischen Knopfdruck
NRW-Ministerpräsident Armin Laschet, Bundes­forschungs­ministerin Anja Karliczek und Prof. Wolfgang Marquardt weihen den Rechner ein.
Forschungszentrum Jülich / Wilhelm-Peter Schneider

As part of a German–French cooperation between Jülich researchers at JSC, the Munich software company ParTex, and French IT specialists from Atos, the innovative modular concept being implemented in JUWELS envisages a supercomputer that consists of several specialized components which can be dynamically combined according to need using one uniform software solution. Furthermore, JUWELS is one of the most energy-efficient computers in the world, thanks to its novel warm-water cooling system.

The first module alone makes JUWELS the current number one German computer on the TOP500 list of the fastest computers in the world. The system currently has a theoretical peak performance of 12 petaflop/s (12 quadrillion mathematical operations per second), which is equivalent to the performance of 60,000 state-of-the-art PCs. An expansion is planned for 2019, which will again increase its performance substantially.

The shareholders of Forschungszentrum Jülich, the Federal Government, and the state of NRW are providing a total of € 145 million in funding until 2025 for supercomputing at Jülich. The German government and the state of NRW are each providing approximately € 73 million, with the costs for the first JUWELS module amounting to approximately € 30 million.

“Using JUWELS, researchers can look into the future to a certain extent . Thanks to the tremendous computing power, they can simulate, for example, how water vapour disperses in the stratosphere and thus predict climate change more precisely. These simulations can help us tackle challenges such as climate change or even neurological disorders. This is why high-performance computers are of such great importance for science, industry, and society,” stressed Federal Research Minister Anja Karliczek.

In der Rechnerhalle des Jülich Supercomputing Centre
Von links nach rechts: Prof. Wolfgang Marquardt, NRW-Ministerpräsident Armin Laschet, Bundesforschungsministerin Anja Karliczek und JSC-Direktor Prof. Thomas Lippert.
Forschungszentrum Jülich / Wilhelm-Peter Schneider
Supercomputer JUWELS in der Rechnerhalle des JSC
Supercomputer JUWELS in der Rechnerhalle des JSC
Forschungszentrum Jülich / R.-U. Limbach

NRW Prime Minister Armin Laschet added: “This new high-performance computer is a pioneering, world-class computer in several regards: science requires access to supercomputers of the highest performance class to be internationally competitive. The JUWELS and JURECA supercomputers at Forschungszentrum Jülich are among the fastest in the world. This shows once more that excellent research is being conducted at the science location of Jülich and North Rhine-Westphalia. The state government therefore makes every effort to support the development of Jülich’s supercomputing centre.”

JUWELS is already in high demand among researchers all over Europe: some 87 projects have already been allocated computing time. It is fully booked for the next few months. The system can be used for simulations in brain research, for example as part of the European Human Brain Project, as well as for the development of new drugs or the design of the materials of the future. Earth systems researchers also use JUWELS to develop high-resolution climate models of the next generation. Many other applications come from the engineering sciences, the life sciences, and safety research as well as astronomy, physics, and chemistry.

Further information

Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC)

Supercomputer JUWELS (JSC)

Supercomputer JUWELS (Web Story)

Press Contact:

Dr. Regine Panknin
Corporate Communications
Tel.: +49 2461 61-9054
E-Mail: r.panknin@fz-juelich.de

Tobias Schlößer, Press Officer
Forschungszentrum Jülich
Tel. +49 2461 61-4771
E-Mail: t.schloesser@fz-juelich.de

Last Modified: 22.05.2022