National Laboratory for High Performance Computing (NLHPC)

National Laboratory for High Performance Computing (NLHPC)

Director: Ginés Guerrero

The NLHPC is aimed to install in Chile a computing capacity that would meet the national scientific demand for high performance computing (HPC), offering high quality services and promoting its use in problems of both basic and applied research, with emphasis on industrial applications. In recent years, the development of applied science and industry has been directed by the sophisticated use of information and communication technologies (ICT), a process in which HPC has played an important role.

In Chile, some areas of science, as well as some industrial sectors, have reached a level of maturity that to maintain its global competitiveness, requires the use of HPC-related technologies.

Identifying the opportunities that the availability of the HPC technology will bring to the country, the majority of the research universities in Chile, led by the Center for Mathematical Modeling (CMM) at University of Chile (UChile), proposed to CONICYT the creation of the National Laboratory for High Performance Computing (NLHPC). The NLHPC is formed by the Universidad de Chile (Sponsoring Institution), and as Associated Institutions (AI) the universities Universidad Católica del Norte (UCN), Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María (UTFSM), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC), Universidad de Santiago (USACH), Universidad de Talca(UTalca) and Universidad de la Frontera (UFRO), in association with REUNA.

The NLHPC will consolidate a distributed HPC infrastructure connected via high speed networks -provided by REUNA- to a central processing node that will be housed at the Center for Mathematical Modeling (CMM), at the School of Engineering and Sciences (FCFM ) – Universidad de Chile, a center of excellence in scientific research, with extensive experience in managing large collaborative projects.

NLHPC Mission

To consolidate a national facility for HPC by offering top quality services and advanced training to answer the national demand for scientific computing, developing links between research groups, the industry and the public sector.

NLHPC Vision

We visualize the NLHPC as a highly competitive center with a range of research services in world-class-quality high performance computing.

General objective

NLHPC will serve as a critical IT partner to large-scale research projects based on HPC

Specific objectives

  • To develop and support powerful and reliable computing and network resources enabling national researchers to have access to HPC capacity to solve computing- and data-intensive scientific problems.
  • To stimulate and participate in the creation of a national high-speed network for the transmission of research data.
  • To use and explore innovative architectures and techniques to accelerate scientific computing.
  • To trigger new industrial initiatives in HPC.
  • To help educate the next generation of scientists and engineers in HPC.
  • To increase social awareness of the role of HPC in contemporary society and technological development.