The European supercomputer Leonardo, hosted and managed by Cineca, installed in 2022 in the new data center located in the Technopole of Bologna, is one of the three pre-exascale systems announced by EuroHPC Joint Undertaking.
Cineca has a long history – since its establishment in 1969 – in supplying the most powerful supercomputers in the world. The strong partnership with the EuroHPC initiative has led to the realization of the Leonardo project, a significant step forward in raising European research in the field of computational sciences. The ultimate goal is to strengthen the European presence in high-performance computing, a strategic asset to promote the technological growth of the member states of the Union.
The continuous demand for computational resources requires providing researchers with increasingly high-performance technologies. Furthermore, the launch of new leading Italian and European initiatives, which face increasingly advanced computational challenges, are based on the availability of these technologies.
For example, the Leonardo supercomputer will contribute at the mitigation and management of risks due to extreme situations, natural events, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic events, flash flood, for the fight against pandemic and epidemic situations.
Launched in Rome and signed by France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.
Creation of a funding and legal entity wich will enable pooling the Union's and national resources on HPC.
Eight sites for HPC centres have been selected across the EU. Bologna is selected as the hosting site for Leonardo.
Leonardo was presented during the 2021 European Researchers' Night.
Cineca and EuroHPC JU announce the results of the Leonardo procurement.
After the procurement phase, the project officially starts.
Minister Maria Cristina Messa and Eu Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Mariya Gabriel visit the construction site of Leonardo.
A EuroHPC JU's delegation visit was scheduled in July.
Approximately on July 18th, Leonardo's Data Room will be ready and delivered.
After completion of the data room, Atos' delivery of the racks will begin
In October, Leonardo was turned on for the first time
With a measured High-Performance Linpack (HPL) performance of 174.7 petaflops Leonardo has reached 4th place on the Top500 list.
The Inauguration Ceremony, organised by Cineca, EuroHPC Ju and Leonardo Consortium, will be held on November 24th at the Tecnopolo construction site in Bologna.
During the first quarter of 2023, the pre-production phase of Leonardo will begin, accessible through the LEAP call
After the pre-production phase, Leonardo will be made fully operational.
But what is the relationship between supercomputing and our daily life?
Ranked 4th in the Top500 list, with an expected HPL peak of 240 pFlops, 4992 liquid-cooled computing nodes, 111 pByte of storage, we present Leonardo and all its futuristic specifications.
A story that projects from the past into the future with Leonardo, destined to be one of the most powerful European supercomputers.
Did you know that Leonardo will be installed in a 1952 historical building?
Did you know that archaeological finds from the Roman age were found during the work of the Tecnopolo?
Did you know that Leonardo weighs as much as 4,700 people, and needs a special floor?
Did you know that Leonardo will have its own digital twin?
Did you know that Leonardo will be one of the most powerful supercomputers of the world?
Did you know that Stefano Accorsi presented the Technopole and the Data Valley in a video story?
Did you know that to cool Leonardo there are 10km of pipes with a total flow of 500m3 of water?
Are you interested in working with a machine like Leonardo?
Would you like to join our HPC staff?
Take a look to the the Leonardo-related open positions!
This project has received funding from the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement No cnect.ddg1.c.2(2019)8804531 - LEONARDO supercomputer. The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
