Context
PRACE initiative – Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe – has made available to scientific excellence a pan-European research infrastructure offering HPC services and world-class supercomputers. Belgium has been a member of PRACE since October 2012. The PRACE infrastructure follows a tiered approach (Tier system) in which techniques are first developed and tested at the lower levels before being scaled up and used to address major scientific and technical challenges at the higher level.
In the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Tier-2 computing systems are managed by the CÉCI – Consortium des Équipements de Calcul Intensif – and Cenaero was entrusted in 2012 with the implementation and operation of Wallonia’s Tier-1 supercomputer. Most of the resources provided by the machine are dedicated to academic research, while the remaining portion is intended for applied research and industrial users who directly benefit from high-performance computing for their business activities.
Project categories
The supercomputer’s resources are allocated, in accordance with the agreement established with the Walloon Region, to projects classified into two categories.
CAT 1: Non-economic activity with free access
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CAT 1a: University units and university college units as defined by the decree
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CAT 1b: Approved research centers as defined by the decree, within the framework of a non-economic activity
CAT 2: Economic activity with access at market price
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CAT 2a: University units and university college units as defined by the decree
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CAT 2b: Approved research centers as defined by the decree, within the framework of an economic activity
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CAT 2c: Companies carrying out economic activities
How to access Lucia
There are two ways to access Lucia:
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Through the universities of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (clickable link);
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Through a direct request for access to the resources from Cenaero (clickable link).
Economic activity:
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Contract research on behalf of a company
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Contractual technological monitoring
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Testing, expertise, trials, etc.
Non-economic activity:
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Independent research in which the approved research center, university unit, or university college unit determines the project details, owns the results, and bears the potential risk of failure
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Effective collaborative research meeting specific criteria