256 computing cores, 1024 gigabytes of RAM, and more than 190 Terabytes of storage connected to a high-performance network. These is the data of the new high-performance computing (HPC) cluster installed at IDIBELL.

The Department of Information Technology has led the implementation of a new high-performance computing cluster (HPC) thanks to the help of European Funds. This system will serve the Bioinformatics Unit and IDIBELL groups that wish to analyze large data sets. The power and performance of this equipment will make it possible to optimize resources and improve the consistency of research results.

By definition, High-Performance Computing (HPC) is the ability to process data and perform complex calculations at high speeds. “To put it in perspective, a laptop or desktop computer with a 3 GHz processor can perform about 3 billion calculations per second. While this is much faster than any human can achieve, it dwarfs compared to the HPC solutions that can perform quadrillions of calculations per second,” says Joan Bales from the Information Technology Department.

One of the features that have been worked on is the pre-installation of specialized software to shorten the preparation and set-up time and obtain results faster. The software includes different typologies: Quality assessment, Pre-processing, Alignment tools, Post-alignment tools, and Deep Learning tools. However, the service is open to the installation of newly requested software. In addition, it is a fully scalable infrastructure if more computing or storage power is required.

You can request access to the IDIBELL HPC Cluster by writing to: hpc@idibell.cat

Thanks to the support of:

The Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) is a biomedical research center created in 2004. It is participated by the Bellvitge University Hospital and the Viladecans Hospital of the Catalan Institute of Health, the Catalan Institute of Oncology, the University of Barcelona and the City Council of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat.

IDIBELL is a member of the Campus of International Excellence of the University of Barcelona HUBc and is part of the CERCA institution of the Generalitat de Catalunya. In 2009 it became one of the first five Spanish research centers accredited as a health research institute by the Carlos III Health Institute. In addition, it is part of the “HR Excellence in Research” program of the European Union and is a member of EATRIS and REGIC. Since 2018, IDIBELL has been an Accredited Center of the AECC Scientific Foundation (FCAECC).