High Performance Computing in Academia and Industry - An Example for a Private Public Partnership in HPC

Abstract

High Performance Computing (HPC) has undergone major changes in recent years [1]. A rapid change in hardware technology with an increase in performance has made this technology interesting for a bigger market than before. These changes have also had a massive impact on the usage of HPC in industry. Changes in architecture have had an impact on how industry uses HPC and for what types of applications. The dramatic increase in performance with a drop in prizes has changed the role of HPC as a tool in industry. The High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS) has collaborated with various industrial companies in a private public partnership for high performance computing over the last years. This contribution describes the collaboration and the changes it had to undergo in order to keep track with the changing requirements. The paper further comes up with the most important lessons learned from such a long term collaboration with industry in the field of high performance computing.