The Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe aims at the creation of a persistent pan-European HPC service, consisting of up to six tier-0 centres providing European researchers with access to capability computers and forming the top level of the European HPC ecosystem. PRACE is a project funded in part by the EU’s 7th Framework Programme.
Each system will provide computing power of several Petaflop/s (one quadrillion operations per second) in midterm. On the longer term (2019) Exaflop/s (one quintillion) computing power will be targeted by PRACE. Users will be supported by experts in porting, scaling, and optimizing applications to novel, highly parallel computer architectures.
Supercomputers are indispensable tools for solving the most challenging and complex scientific and technological problems through simulations. To remain internationally competitive, European scientists and engineers must be provided with leadership-class supercomputer systems. PRACE forms the top level of the European HPC ecosystem. The partnership was established through the close collaboration of the European countries that prepared the legal, financial, and technical basis in a project funded in part by the European Commission. PRACE provides Europe with world-class systems for world-class science and strengthens Europe’s scientific and industrial competitiveness. PRACE will maintain a pan-European HPC service consisting of up to six top of the line leadership systems (Tier-0) well integrated into the European HPC ecosystem. Each system will provide computing power of several Petaflop/s (one quadrillion operations per second) in midterm. On the longer term (2019) Exaflop/s (one quintillion) computing power will be targeted by PRACE. This infrastructure is managed as a single European entity.