National supercomputer center opens in Armenia. What is it and how will it be used?

The National Supercomputer Center of Armenia named after Charles Aznavour, which was opened today in the engineering city, creates the latest infrastructure in which it will be possible to carry out research and calculations required by industry, education and science. Hrachya Asatryan, director of the RA NAS Informatics and Automation Institute, told about this at the opening of the center.

So what is this supercomputer and how can it be used?

1 petaflops capacity

According to Hrachya Asatryan, the supercomputer working in the center has a capacity of 1 petaflops and can theoretically perform 10 to 15 operations per second. It consists of about 24,500 cores connected by high-speed channels.

This supercomputer can provide large-scale computing and information resources and can be used to provide cloud computing, machine learning, data analysis and a number of other services, conduct research in AI, quantum physics, astrophysics, bioinformatics and many other fields.

Scientists and researchers, both in the private and public sectors, can also have access to up to 1,500 terabytes of storage devices.

As Asatryan mentioned, Armenia is the first among the Eastern Partnership countries where such a computer was installed. There is nothing like it in Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and Azerbaijan.

The Center will push us forward on the path of the dream

Armenia strives to become a country that will offer innovative solutions not only to its own people, but also to the entire planet Earth. RA Minister of High-tech Industry Mkhitar Hayrapetyan said this at the opening of the center. He is convinced that the engineering city and its new supercomputer center will push the country forward on the path of this dream.

According to Hayrapetyan, the opening of the center is a great achievement in the scientific and technological life of Armenia and a big step in the context of popularization of high-performance computing equipment, artificial intelligence, and cloud technologies.

Moreover, the minister is convinced that the "National Supercomputer Center of Armenia" not only creates new infrastructures, but also brings new knowledge, skills and abilities. It will provide an opportunity to receive highly qualified specialists, who in turn will educate new specialists in research or excellence centers.

According to NA Deputy Speaker Hakob Arshakyan, one of Armenia's priorities today is to create the best opportunities for engineers who want to do creative work.

"It is practically impossible for a scientist who does not have an office, who does not have equipment, appropriate software, to have creative work, to have world-class published articles. The same applies to engineers who cannot do creative work without equipment, without proper infrastructure. This was the main factor and reason why creative people left Armenia after the collapse of the Soviet Union," he said, adding that it is very important to have the necessary knowledge to work with infrastructure in addition to infrastructure, otherwise, even the most innovative infrastructure won't change anything.