6th PRACE Implementation Phase Project

PRACE-6IP is the sixth in a series of implementation phase (IP) projects by the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE). It is funded as part of the Horizon 2020 framework programme and was launched on 1 May 2019. Like its predecessors, PRACE-6IP is coordinated by Forschungszentrum Jülich. It has a budget of more than € 30 million and will run over a duration of 32 months with 30 partners. Over 220 researchers from 58 organizations – including PRACE partners and external institutions – in 26 countries will assist in further developing the PRACE Research Infrastructure and supporting PRACE users.

The PRACE-6IP kick-off meeting took place at the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia, on 28–29 May 2019, welcoming over 130 participants. The High-Level Support Teams (HLST) at the PRACE Tier-0 hosting sites were also invited and discussed the close collaboration in terms of user support and code-enabling activities to be performed within PRACE-6IP. A new activity and main focus of PRACE-6IP is the preparation for Exascale computing by developing forward-looking software solutions for exploiting massively parallel systems. An initial selection process identified eight promising projects which will be supported with more than 900 person months of effort from PRACE-6IP.

Furthermore, the project is designed to build on and seamlessly continue PRACE’s previous successes. These include coordinating and enhancing the operation of multi-tier HPC systems and services; continuing advanced training and expanding the network of PRACE Training Centres; promoting take-up by industry and new communities, including special offers for SMEs; and collaborating with the ETP4HPC, the EU-funded HPC Centres of Excellence, and other European and international organizations and projects, e.g. CERN and SKA, on future architectures, training, application support, and policies. The project will continue to organize well-known events such as PRACEdays, Summer of HPC, or the International HPC Summer School in order to promote and support innovative scientific approaches in modelling, simulation, and data analysis.

Contact: Dr. Florian Berberich

from JSC News No. 266, 14 June 2019