site.bta New Bulgarian Supercomputer Hemus to Be Used in Various Scientific Fields

The new Bulgarian supercomputer, Hemus, is multifunctional, Prof. Emanouil Atanassov, Deputy Director of the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS), told BTA. It can be used for computations in various scientific fields - to discover new drugs, in climatology, for modelling atmospheric pollution, in machine learning related to artificial intelligence, in statistical mechanics and fluid dynamics, and in computer algebra, Prof. Atanassov explained.

On October 19, Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov and BAS President Julian Revalski officially launched the supercomputer. The ceremony took place at the BAS Institute of Mathematics and Informatics in Sofia. The supercomputer is part of an Infrastructure Complex for Digital Transformation and High-Performance Computing of the Center of Excellence in Informatics and Information and Communication Technologies.

Prof. Atanassov noted that supercomputers are systems that can solve very large problems and perform many elementary computational operations per second.

The Hemus supercomputer is heterogeneous because it consists of two subsystems. One of them consists of 128 servers that have central processing units. The second one has 20 servers equipped with two central processors each. They are also equipped with extremely powerful graphics cards, which are not connected to a graphics output to display information but are used for computing, Prof. Atanassov said.

Bulgaria has performed well in supercomputing applications and high-performance computing for years, while Europe lags behind in supercomputing and took measures to catch up, he added.

The new Infrastructure Complex for Digital Transformation and High-Performance Computing of the Center of Excellence in Informatics and Information and Communication Technologies is funded under the 2020 "Science and Education for Smart Growth" Operational Programme through the European Regional Development Fund. The beneficiary of the project is the BAS Institute of Mathematics and Informatics in partnership with the BAS Institute of Mechanics, BAS National Institute of Geophysics, Geodesy and Geography, Paisii Hilendarski Plovdiv University, Medical University of Sofia and the University of Library Studies and Information Technologies.