TU Dortmund University Launches New High-Performance Computer

In many areas today, research and knowledge acquisition are reliant on suitable scientific computing infrastructure, known as high-performance computing (HPC). In North Rhine-Westphalia, the resources required for this have so far been provided centrally at 13 sites, among them TU Dortmund University. LiDO4 is the fourth central “Linux HPC Cluster”, for which the Center for Data Science and Simulation (DoDaS) and the IT and Media Center (ITMC) at TU Dortmund University together secured funding. Around 400 researchers working in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) at TU Dortmund University use this computing capacity for their research, above all to simulate calculations.

At the official ceremony to mark LiDO4’s launch, Ina Brandes, Minister for Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, said: “Research and science are the feedstock of the future. In the digital age, we need computing power to leverage this feedstock. The State of North Rhine-Westphalia is working consistently to ramp up the centralized provision of computing capacity for our universities, which we urgently need in order to further develop AI and other next-generation technologies. By so doing, we are creating conditions that enable researchers to work quickly with accurate scientific data and swiftly put their findings into practice. LiDO4 is one of many high-performance computers that make our region an even more attractive hub for research and science.”

LiDO4’s computing resources, like those of its three predecessors, are also at the disposal of Fachhochschule Dortmund (University of Applied Sciences and Art. “In addition to the €4.5 million from the DFG’s ‘Major Research Instrumentation’ funding program and the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, a further €900,000 has already been invested in upgrading LiDO4,” said Professor Manfred Bayer, President of TU Dortmund University. “These upgrades support the Research Centers of the University Alliance Ruhr, where we bundle our top-class international research in collaboration with Ruhr University Bochum and the University of Duisburg-Essen.”