JUWELS’ adaptable modular design is the result of EU-funded DEEP projects in which JSC experts have been working together with almost 30 European partners since 2011. “The basic idea of the modular concept is similar to constructing a house. Instead of exclusively employing expensive, highly specialised skilled workers, the experts are only assigned the complicated, crucial work such as the electrical installation. Simpler operations are carried out by less expensive workers,” explains project manager Dr. Estela Suarez from the JSC.

By the end of next year, the experts in the current DEEP-EST project plan to build various prototypes for further modular architectures, including a data analytics module. With a high memory capacity and various accelerator processors, such as so-called FPGAs, this module will be specially tailored to the requirements of Big Data and high-performance data analytics (HPDA).

Tests will show how this extended modular concept performs in practice. Together with researchers from KU Leuven, the experts simulate the effects of solar storms on Earth on the prototype system. Such events are rare. However, one thing is certain: there is a risk of enormous damage if such a particle stream reaches the earth, such as the failure of satellite communication and disturbed GPS, Internet and telephone connections, or large-scale power failures.

Read the full article and more about the connection between JUWELS and DEEP projects here: http://www.fz-juelich.de/portal/EN/Press/_webstories/juwels/artikel.html?nn=2297240