The Institute of Information Sciences (IZUM) from Maribor can boast of the Vega supercomputer since March 2022. In the implementation of the project worth more than EUR 17 million — co-financed by the EU from the European Regional Development Fund, the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports, and the EuroHPC joint venture — NTR engineering participated as a consortium partner alongside Atos and ART.SIS.
The Vega supercomputer is by far the most powerful supercomputer in Slovenia and one of the most powerful in the world. It handles more than 6.8 petaflops per second, based on the ATOS BullSequana XH2000 infrastructure, and enables extremely fast data transfer (500 Gbit/s) to other supercomputer centers and permanent storage (24 PB).
At NTR Inženiring, we were in charge of all the necessary infrastructure for the operation of the supercomputer — including an electrical energy supply system and a technical cooling system. The Vega supercomputer consumes up to 830 kW of electricity, and thanks to our system, the electricity required for cooling does not exceed 50 kW in all seasons. The entire annual PUE is less than 1.06.
To achieve such effective technical cooling, we designed a direct water cooling system with adiabatic cooling of external cooling units. The system uses waste heat to heat the IZUM building, with plans to extend this to surrounding buildings as well. This circular system ensures efficient and sustainable use of resources and reduction of the carbon footprint.
The entire system of supply infrastructure, its control and management, is the result of domestic knowledge and experience. The efficient cooling system has ensured that the Vega supercomputer is not only one of the most powerful, but also one of the most energy-efficient supercomputers in the world. NTR was subsequently recommended for the implementation of the supply infrastructure for the supercomputer at DHMZ in Zagreb.
