Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center (PSNC) was established by decision of the College of Rectors of the City of Poznan and affiliated to the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Poznan on 23rd October 1993.
The purpose of establishing PSNC was to coordinate the use of metropolitan network and supercomputers in Poznan by units represented in the College of Rectors of the City of Poznan. In the following years PSNC’s activity effectively led to the launch of a pilot national POL-34 network, and then to the creation of a programme to build a national network Polish Optical Internet within the PIONIER programme. Subsequent structural projects PLATON, NewMAN, MAN-HA and 100net provided funding for the development of the network at the national level and implementation of advanced services and applications for its users.
Starting from launching the first CRAY Y-MP EL supercomputer, PSNC has also been systematically developing high-performance computing services based on supercomputers, which for a total of 10 years have been present among 500 strongest supercomputers in the world. Thanks to that, since 2008, PSNC represents Poland in the PRACE consortium and Polish scientists have the possibility to use the strongest supercomputers in Europe. Launched in 2015, the Eagle supercomputer was continuously on the TOP-500 list and apart from using it for scientific calculations, it is the foundation of PSNC-Huawei Innovation Centre. Nowadays we have the Altair system, which is nearly five times bigger and can be used for applications concerning artificial intelligence, big data analytics in nuclear physics, quantum chemistry and biology, as well as engineering simulations and COVID-19 research.
The development of competence and increase in the number of staff (in 2000, the PSNC had more than 60 employees, and today we already have 444 employees), as well as modern infrastructure, have allowed, since 2001, to effectively acquire projects in competitions of European Framework Programmes and national research programmes. To date, PSNC has implemented over 381 such projects.
Milestones
2024
- Signing of a contract for the installation of a EuroQCS quantum computer based on ion traps – the very first European machine of that kind under the HPC Joint Undertaking initiative
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Presentation of the first ever Multi-QPU, Multi-GPU and Multi-CPU use case created under collaboration with NVIDIA and ORCA Computing
- Altair from the PRACE-LAB project and Proxima from the PRACE-LAB2 – Poznań HPC installations in the prestigious TOP500
- PSNC’s Lustre system in the top 10 of IO500 at SC24
2023
- Joining the IBM Quantum Innovation Center at the PSNC of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, the Center for Theoretical Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Informatics of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
- PSNC and EuroHPC JU sign an agreement for the hosting and operation of EuroHPC quantum computers.
- 30th anniversary of the Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center.
2022
- PSNC joins IBM Quantum Network, creating the first Quantum Innovation Center in Central and Eastern Europe – IBM Quantum Innovation Center in Poznan.
- Launch of the Quantum Key Distribution technology transmission link between Poznan and Warsaw as part of the NLPQT (National Laboratory of Photonics and Quantum Technologies) project.
- Selection by EuroHPC JU of PSNC, the coordinator and initiator of the Polish Euro-QCS-Poland project, as the owner and operator of the first EuroHPC quantum computer.
2021
- Appointment of Dr. Eng. Cezary Mazurek, to the Economic Council of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan.
- Purchase and implementation of a system based on quantum communication and quantum key distribution technology as part of the NLPQT project (National Laboratory of Photonics and Quantum Technologies).
- Launch of the Altair supercomputer purchased with EU funds under the PRACE-LAB project from the Polish Research Infrastructure Map.
2020
- Appointment to the Wielkopolska Team for the Safety of Children and Youth of Dr. Eng. Cezary Mazurek.
- 5th Crystal Brussels Award for IBCH PAS PSNC for the years 2014-2020.
- Launch of the project PIONIER-LAB – National Platform for Research Infrastructure Integration with Innovation Ecosystems, led by PSNC.
2019
- Initiation of the “Aerosphere. Airport of Things” project – laboratories for unmanned aerial vehicles in Kąkolewo.
- IBCH PAS PSNS receives Crystal Brussels Prize for 20 years of scientific cooperation with the European Union.
- Obtaining the status of Digital Innovation Hub – HPC4Poland.
- Official launch of FutureLab – PSNC Future Laboratories Intelligent Space.
- Establishment of the PSNC-Huawei Innovation Center.
- CBPIO official opening.
- Orzeł/Eagle supercomputer ranks 79th on the TOP500 list.
- PRACE and PIONIER-LAB projects on the Polish Road Map of Research Infrastructure.
- Laying the foundation stone for the Polish Optical Internet Research Center (CBPIO).
- Establishment of the NVIDIA CUDA Research Center.
- PSNC becomes Poland’s representative in the European PRACE consortium.
- Establishment of the Microsoft Innovation Center.
- Establishment of the PIONIER Consortium – launch of the PIONIER Network.
- Accession to the first EU projects under the 5th Framework Programme.
- Establishment of the Polish Optical Internet program and PIONIER Network pilot.
- Launch of the POL-34 Network.
- SGI Power Challenge XL ranks 468 on the TOP 500 list.
1994
- The College of Rectors of the City of Poznan establishes the Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center.
- The first supercomputer at PSNC – Cray Y-MP EL.
- Launch of the POZMAN Network – Poznań Metropolitan Area Network.