Press release: Modern infrastructures for high-performance computing

No. 119 - 29.05.2018

Cornerstone laid for Data Processing Centre at North Campus—The University’s biggest new construction project

(pug) Göttingen University’s currently biggest new construction project is starting to take shape: Since the beginning of the year, the new joint Data Processing Centre for Göttingen’s science hub has been under construction on the North Campus. In addition to the University itself, the University Medical Centre Göttingen (UMG) and the Max Planck Society (MPG) are all involved. The Data Processing Centre of the Gesellschaft für wissenschaftliche Datenverarbeitung mbH Göttingen (GWDG) will in future provide all stakeholder institutions with additional computing and storage capacities for research, teaching, mutual collaboration, medical care and administration. During the first building phase, it is planned that a joint complex will be built on Burckhardtweg 4 by 2020, complete with a machine room and office space. Costs have amounted to approximately € 38.5 million.

At the cornerstone laying ceremony, Minister for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony Björn Thümler said today (29 May 2018): "With its digitisation offensive, the Ministry for Science and Culture is empowering universities as engines of digitalisation. The fact that the foundations have been laid today for a new joint Data Processing Centre that will provide the University, the UMG and the Max Planck Society with ground-breaking IT infrastructure is certainly a significant milestone. An innovative, state-of-the-art new construction is being built here in an ideal venue.“

"The joint Data Processing Centre is just one of the many milestones in the success story of the Göttingen Campus," University President Professor Ulrike Beisiegel stated. “Innovative and powerful IT and information infrastructures are now essential in all scientific disciplines, and the demands on them will continue to grow. Providing optimal conditions for research and teaching is therefore one of our main responsibilities.“

“The UMG is pleased that, in the foreseeable future, the old IT premises and structures from the central building will be replaced by a new, state-of-the-art, innovative data centre," Dr. Sebastian Freytag, Director of Business Administration and Administration of the University Medical Centre Göttingen said. "For the overall planning of the UMG, this is a vital building block in view of the great challenges presented to the UMG to maintain digital sustainability in medical care, research and teaching moving forward.”

Professor Martin Stratmann, President of the Max Planck Society, emphasised: “Not least because of the rapid progress in the field of machine learning will data-driven research play an even bigger role in the future. Providing the best performance here is one of the key factors for successful science. This renders Göttingen University’s Data Processing Centre a highly important investment for the future.“

The Data Processing Centre is designed to strengthen the international competitiveness of Göttingen as a scientific location. In the future, the research infrastructures for high-performance computing, data and image management, as well as long-term archiving, will merge as the demands for data availability increase. The project has already generated a myriad of synergies: For example, the waste heat generated in the data centre by the computer power is to be used to heat the greenhouses of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences planned south of the Burckhardtweg. During the second construction phase, the Data Processing Centre’s capacities are to be expanded and the field of eResearch strengthened.