NCC Spain offers the Introduction to Supercomputing course. It is a self-paced online module designed for professionals, companies (especially SMEs), researchers, and technical staff interested in understanding how High-Performance Computing (HPC) can be used to solve complex computational and data-intensive challenges.
Through video lessons and self-assessment quizzes, participants will gain a practical understanding of supercomputing concepts, architectures, infrastructures, and access mechanisms. The course also introduces the use of HPC resources for applications in artificial intelligence, simulation, engineering, scientific computing, and data analytics.
Syllabus
- What is Supercomputing?: Motivation for using supercomputing; definition and characteristics; advantages and challenges; use cases (simulations, scientific and healthcare calculations, services, artificial intelligence).
- Taxonomy of Parallel Computers: Shared-memory architecture (multi-core nodes); distributed-memory architecture (clusters); heterogeneous systems (GPUs).
- Cluster Architecture: Data center infrastructure (security, power, cooling); compute nodes (servers); interconnection networks; storage systems (NFS).
- Access to Supercomputers: Spanish Supercomputing Network (RES); RES resources and nodes; access procedures; private providers.
- Using a Cluster: Front-end access; application execution through queue managers; input and output file management.
- Programming Model: Message-passing paradigm; concepts of programs and processes; communication and synchronization.