79
Chapter 6
Industrial Applications on
Supercomputing in Italy
Sanzio Bassini and Claudio Arlandini
CONTENTS
6.1 e National HPC Policy and the Local Ecosystem 80
6.2 HPC National Academic and Business Support Centers:
Infrastructure and Services 80
6.2.1 Introduction 80
6.2.2 CINECA 81
6.2.2.1 CINECA Infrastructure 82
6.2.2.2 CINECA Services 83
6.3 Industrial (Potential) Users: Early Adopters and Promising
Market Segments 84
6.3.1 ENI 85
6.3.2 Dompé pha.r.ma 86
6.3.3 Luna Rossa Challenge 87
6.4 Pilots, Lessons Learned, Dos and Don’ts, and
Success Stories 87
6.4.1 Introduction 87
6.4.2 Pilots 88
6.4.2.1 e Italian Contribution to SHAPE 88
6.4.2.2 e Italian Contribution to Fortissimo 90
6.4.3 Lessons Learned 91
6.4.4 Dos and Don’ts 93
6.4.5 Success Stories 94
6.5 Conclusions 96
References 96
80 ◾ Industrial Applications of High-Performance Computing
6.1 THE NATIONAL HPC POLICY AND
THE LOCAL ECOSYSTEM
At the end of 2007, the working group ESFRI (European Science Forum for
Research Infrastructures) identied high-performance computing (HPC)
as a strategic priority for Europe. Also because of the implementation costs
related to constant growth, research infrastructures, such as the most
advanced computing facilities, oen require transnational or continental
contributions from many member states. A paradigmatic example of this
trend is PRACE, the transnational action supported by the European
Commission to design and implement the infrastructure for European
supercomputing.
Since the very beginning, Italy’s presence in this Consortium was
considered strategic because it was allowed to participate in the denition
of guidelines for the implementation of more powerful computing infra-
structure at the European level, thus allowing the country to aect the
policies of access and use of resources that would have become available.
anks to the authority granted by the Ministry of Education, University
and Research at CINECA, Italy was able to carry out, in accordance with
the evolution of the national scenario, a specic role in this initiative as
Principal Community Partner in line with the role of the major European
countries.
In 2012, CINECA installed a computing system of class Tier-0,
positioned at the top of the TOP500 List of the largest supercomputers in
the world.
6.2 HPC NATIONAL ACADEMIC AND BUSINESS SUPPORT
CENTERS: INFRASTRUCTURE AND SERVICES
6.2.1 Introduction
e Italian HPC ecosystem saw in the last 2 years a major reconstruction,
dictated by the economic situation of the country. e three University
Consortia sharing the institutional mission of supporting research and
support for technological innovation in Italy—CINECA, CILEA, and
CASPUR—merged in a unique entity, maintaining the name CINECA.
e aim was to rationalize government expenses and to strategically
strengthen the international competitiveness of Italy in the eld of
research and education by improving the eciency and synergy between
organizations and institutions.
Other minor infrastructure and research centers with HPC-related
activities do exist, mainly born in the past years with funding related to
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