Arctur becomes founding member of HPC5

21. 3. 2012 / Industry Arctur, in partnership with 10 other organizations from the Italy-Slovenia cross-border region, have commenced work on establishing the High Performance and Cloud Computing Cross-Border Consortium (HPC5).

“In this new age, it’s clear that whoever out-computes will out-compete.” [Matthew Faraci]

In the last couple of years, HPC-driven innovation has become a prerequisite for scientific and industrial leadership and economic advancement. The use of HPC has spread from pure scientific applications and has become a key enabling technology and competitive differentiator in numerous industrial sectors. Furthermore, while previously only the largest institutions with substantial financial resources were capable of accessing HPC resources, HPC has recently become an indispensable tool for SMEs as well.

Unfortunately, the adoption by industry within the border region between Italy and Slovenia is trailing behind the levels found in other advanced European regions. In the long term, that lack of HPC capabilities and know-how could become a serious productivity, competitive and innovation obstacle to advanced vertical niches which generate high social and economic value. Unless action is taken, the societal and economic benefits which can be derived from HPC and cloud computing will stall.

The partner network HPC5, which along with Arctur includes  Cogito, Conecta Research, eXact-lab, General Micro Electronics, Info.era, Sontius, Spin, Turbo Institute, Vahta and Xlab, has made it its mission to create the most innovative, creative and powerful centre for HPC and cloud computing services in the region.

With support from regional and European funds and backing derived from the ICON project under the Italy-Slovenia Cross-Border Cooperation Programme, HPC5 plans to establish and build several HPC competence centres on the border between Slovenia and Italy. HPC and cloud computing hubs, the centres will provide established firms and researchers with advanced HPC and cloud computing services, while at the same time providing an incubator for young firms in advanced vertical segments such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, fluid dynamics etc to enable them to grow with the support of the consortium’s infrastructure and competences.

In order to prevent the region from being left behind, HPC5 will strive to stimulate demand for their infrastructure and competences and stimulate regional growth. It will achieve this by attracting talented individuals and innovative firms to the region and developing regional talent and skills.

Surprisingly, there are currently no operational optical connections between Slovenia and Italy. This is why HPC5 has also made it their mission to break this barrier which exists between Slovenia and Italy to enable advanced communication and data transfer between the two countries.