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  Academic Computer Centre CYFRONET UMM

Academic Computer Centre CYFRONET, a separate organisational and financial unit of the University of Mining and Metallurgy in Krakow (since 1999), is one of the five Polish supercomputer and networking centres. The Centre, an independent, non-profit organisation under the authority of the Ministry of Education, was established in 1973 as a result of a joint initiative of the authorities of Krakow universities and research institutes. The Centre comprises the Division of Supercomputer Operations, Programming Division, Division of Computer Network Operations and Development, and Autonomous Section of Network Research and Development. CYFRONET staff numbers about 60 employees (three professors, four PhD�s) 

Cyfronet has been appointed by the State Committee for Scientific Research (KBN) as the leading unit in the field of developing and running the Metropolitan Area Network in Krakow, and as the leading unit in the field of high-performance computers. KBN finances the purchase, operation, and maintenance of computer equipment and software, as well as network development. The Centre�s mission is to:
  

 
bullet offer access to its computational facilities and network services to universities and research institutes;
bullet create, maintain and develop its computer and network infrastructure;
bullet perform tasks related to the national policy in the field of seeking, evaluating, promoting and utilising new computer and network techniques in science, education, management, and economy;
bullet perform research activities in the area of utilisation high-performance computers, computer networks, information and tele-communications services;
bullet perform consulting, expertise, training and educational activities in the field of computer science, networks, high-performance computers and information services.
 

 

CYFRONET, authorised by the Ministry of Telecommunications for the network activities, functions as the main network node in southern Poland. The Krakow MAN provides and supports access to interurban and international connections over the POL-34 network (155 Mb/s) with direct connection to the European TEN-155 (155 Mb/s) network, as well as over two slower networks: Polpak-T and NASK. CYFRONET has designed its own fiber-optic infrastructure (several dozen kilometres in length) within the city of Krakow. Moreover there are lot of leased lines in usage. Modern telecommunications equipment (mainly from Cisco Systems), two HP network servers, and some workstations have been installed for network purposes. CYFRONET operates a variety of �classical� Internet services, develops virtual networks, and maintains regional domains. The Introduction and evaluation of multimedia services has become very important to CYFRONET. The Krakow MAN is a base for the VTLS integrated system of library services. The Centre is also involved in establishing, developing, and maintaining computer networks in southern Poland.

CYFRONET hosts two high-performance parallel computers: a SGI 2800 (128 processors) and a HP Exemplar S2000 (16 processors). Archiving facilities consist of two robotic tape libraries from ATL Products (over 17 TB of archiving capacity) and a HP Optical Jukebox 660ex (660 GB). The Centre�s software resources comprise the newest versions of system software and a wide range of application software (including Oracle database services).

CYFRONET has contributed greatly to progress in computer science, offering a variety of consulting services, training, and seminars. The Centre is involved in research projects (such as the Establishment of a Centre of Excellence in Poland - Krakow Centre for Telemedicine and Preventive Medicine Phare SCI-TECH II Project, and the HPC/HPV Grid Based on the SGI Cluster for Virtual Laboratory and Tele-Immersion and BIOPORTAL projects under the PIONIER � Polish Optical Internet Program). A high priority is given to international collaboration. The Centre�s staff members participate in boards of computer organisations (e.g. C20 IUPAP, HP2EUP, CPG EPS, Advisory/Executive Committee of IEEE Task Force on Cluster Computing) as well as in programme committees of scientific conferences (HPCN, HiPer, EuroPVM/MPI, PPAM, ICA3PP). Between 1994 and 2000, CYFRONET organised six international conferences on computer science: ECUC'94, SupEur'96, PC'96, HiPer'97, PVM/MPI'97, and SGI�2000.