New Dutch supercomputer opens in Amsterdam
A new Dutch supercomputer was inaugurated in Amsterdam, at Science Park. The supercomputer, named Snellius, is operated by SURF, the organisation for ICT in Dutch research and member of the EGI Federation.
Snellius can perform up to 14 billion calculations per second! This makes it the most powerful high-performance computing system in the Netherlands and it means that researchers will now be able to tackle even more scientific challenges, and faster.
“Researchers' need for computing power, data storage and processing is growing exponentially”, says Walter Lioen, Research Services Manager at SURF. "The system must be suitable for all fields of science, from astronomy and research into climate change to medical and social sciences. In addition, it will be possible to expand the supercomputer flexibly in the future."
Speaking at the opening, Ingrid van Engelshoven, Minister of Education, Culture and Science adds: "This national supercomputer offers the possibility to perform complex calculations that give us more insight into how to tackle major issues. This essential scientific infrastructure is an enormous gain for science and for the Netherlands as a knowledge country. My compliments to SURF and the scientific community."
Queen Máxima of the Netherlands was present at the event to inaugurate the new supercomputer.