HPCI

HPCI
Name	HPCI
Established	2011
Country	Japan
Type	distributed supercomputing infrastructure
Operators	RIKEN, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, University of Tokyo
Notable	Fugaku (supercomputer), K computer

HPCI

HPCI is a Japanese national distributed supercomputing infrastructure that federates high-performance computing resources across multiple institutions to support large-scale computational research. It connects major facilities such as Fugaku (supercomputer), K computer, and regional centers to enable projects spanning climate modeling, genomics, materials science, and computational chemistry. HPCI coordinates allocations, user support, and middleware integration among research organizations like RIKEN, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, and national universities including University of Tokyo and Osaka University.

Overview

HPCI aggregates resources from centers including Fugaku (supercomputer), K computer, Tohoku University, Nagoya University, and Kyoto University to provide researchers access to high-throughput and high-performance systems. It offers unified account management and project allocation similar to systems used by XSEDE and PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe), facilitating collaborations with institutions such as National Institutes of Health, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, and NASA. HPCI supports cross-disciplinary efforts in collaborations with entities like Toyota Motor Corporation and Mitsubishi Electric.

History

HPCI was launched to succeed earlier Japanese initiatives that built infrastructures around systems like K computer and to integrate post-K resources including Fugaku (supercomputer). The program grew through partnerships with organizations such as RIKEN, Japan Science and Technology Agency, and national universities including Hokkaido University and Kyushu University. Major milestones include coordination with international infrastructures exemplified by XSEDE and hosting projects tied to events like the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami recovery modeling and global collaborations with groups such as CERN and European Space Agency.

Architecture and Components

HPCI's architecture federates heterogeneous compute, storage, and network resources across nodes operated by RIKEN, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, University of Tokyo, and regional centers like NII (National Institute of Informatics). Key components include leadership-class systems such as Fugaku (supercomputer) and legacy systems like K computer alongside GPU clusters from vendors referenced by partners including Fujitsu and NVIDIA. The network topology integrates high-speed links comparable to national research networks like SINET and connects to international exchange points such as Internet2 and GEANT. Middleware stacks include batch schedulers and resource managers inspired by implementations at Argonne National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Services and Capabilities

HPCI provides services including project proposal review, allocation management, user training, and data management in collaboration with institutions like RIKEN and NII (National Institute of Informatics). Computational capabilities span molecular dynamics used by groups at Kyoto University and Tokyo Institute of Technology, climate and Earth system modeling performed by Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology researchers, and AI workloads undertaken by teams from Osaka University and industry partners like Rakuten. Storage services support petascale datasets for initiatives involving National Institute of Genetics and international partnerships with NOAA and ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts).

Governance and Membership

Governance is coordinated among major stakeholders including RIKEN, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Japan), and national universities such as University of Tokyo and Osaka University. Membership includes research institutions like Hokkaido University and Nagoya University, governmental bodies including JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), and industry partners such as Fujitsu and Toyota Motor Corporation. Decision-making follows allocation policies akin to competitive peer review used by National Science Foundation and collaborative frameworks comparable to PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe).

Use Cases and Applications

HPCI supports computational campaigns in climate research tied to projects with JAMSTEC and Meteorological Research Institute, genomics and bioinformatics work at National Institute of Genetics, materials discovery often in collaboration with Tohoku University and Tokyo Institute of Technology, and fusion plasma simulations linked to National Institute for Fusion Science. AI and machine learning research employs resources for projects associated with RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project and industry collaborations with Sony and SoftBank. Large-scale simulations have informed studies connected to public health responses similar to efforts involving WHO and emergency modeling after events like the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

Reception and Impact

HPCI has been recognized for enabling Japan's competitiveness in high-performance computing alongside systems like Fugaku (supercomputer) and historic achievements of K computer, drawing comparisons to international infrastructures such as XSEDE and PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe). It has influenced research outputs from institutions like RIKEN, University of Tokyo, and Osaka University, and supported collaborations with global organizations including NASA and CERN. Critics and analysts from outlets covering supercomputing, research policy, and technology—referencing perspectives from entities like Science (journal), Nature (journal), and industry commentators at IEEE—have debated resource allocation, international access, and long-term sustainability.

Category:Supercomputer networks Category:Science and technology in Japan