Patrick Burghardt visits FAIR and GSI
20.07.2020 |
Patrick Burghardt, State Secretary in the Hessian Ministry for Digital Strategy and Development and CIO of the Federal State of Hesse, was a guest at GSI and FAIR. His visit focused on the energy-efficient high-performance computer center Green IT Cube and the progress of the FAIR project. He was accompanied by the Hessian Co-CIO Roland Jabkowski.
The guests were welcomed by Professor Paolo Giubellino, Scientific Managing Director of GSI and FAIR, Dr. Ulrich Breuer, Administrative Managing Director, and Jörg Blaurock, Technical Managing Director. Furthermore, the head of the IT department at GSI and FAIR, Dr. Thorsten Kollegger, the head of technology transfer, Dr. Tobias Engert, and Carola Pomplun from the press and public relations department were also participating for GSI and FAIR.
Central topic of Patrick Burghardt's visit was sustainable digitalization. Here, the energy-efficient Green IT Cube offers huge scientific and technological as well as economic potential. During presentations and a guided tour of the Green IT Cube, the State Secretary used the opportunity to obtain comprehensive information about the high-performance data center and its infrastructure and expressed great interest in the very promising prospects. The subsequent discussions also focused on exploring potential cooperation and joint objectives for research, development and use of Green IT technology.
The Green IT Cube on the GSI/FAIR campus provides enormous computing capacities for experiments at the accelerator facilities of GSI and, in the future, FAIR. It is one of the most capable scientific computing centers in the world. At the same time, it sets standards in IT technology and energy saving: Thanks to a special cooling system, it is particularly energy- and cost-efficient. Therefore, the energy required for cooling is less than seven percent of the electrical power used for computing. In conventional data centers with air cooling, this relation amounts to 30 up to 100 percent. The Green IT Cube has already received numerous awards, including recently the Blue Angel, the eco label of the German government.
After visiting the Green IT Cube, the guests had the opportunity to inform themselves about the current status of the FAIR construction project and to take a look at the progress on the 20-hectare construction site: from the completed sections for the central ring accelerator SIS100 and the transfer building to the excavation pit for the first of the future experimental caves. (BP)
