Interview with Carsten Schäuble, Head of IT and Data Services at ZIB.
Editorial Team: Could you please give us an overview of ZIB’s Tier-3 HPC infrastructure?
Carsten Schäuble: There are two different HPC in-stallations at ZIB: the Tier-2 NHR system and ZIB’s Tier-3 AI and HPC infrastructure. The Tier-3 HPC infrastructure at ZIB supports diverse scientific com-puting tasks, offering scalable computing power for simulations, data analytics, and AI applications. Our system balances traditional HPC workloads with the latest AI research. In recent years, we have focused on enhancing flexibility and responsiveness to the evolving needs of interdisciplinary research.
Editorial Team: What are the latest AI-related additions?
Carsten Schäuble: We have expanded our AI infrastructure with high-performance GPU clusters, optimized storage solutions, and AI-specific software frameworks. These enhancements improve scalabili-ty and efficiency for deep learning models. We also provide container-based tools for streamlined development and deployment.
Editorial Team: How does this affect research at ZIB?
Carsten Schäuble: The infrastructure enables faster AI model training, benefiting fields like computational biology and materials science. Researchers can now process complex computations with greater speed and accuracy, allowing for more rapid iterations and deep-er exploration of scientific questions.
Editorial Team: How does ZIB ensure its infrastructure remains cutting-edge?
Carsten Schäuble: We regularly upgrade hardware and software, collaborate with industry leaders, and integrate emerging technologies based on researchers’ evolving needs. Feedback from our user community is essential in shaping our roadmap and ensuring long-term relevance.
Editorial Team: What role does energy efficiency play?
Carsten Schäuble: Energy efficiency is crucial. We implement advanced cooling, power-efficient hardware, and workload optimization to minimize energy consumption, while exploring renewable energy options. It is a key part of our infrastructure strategy and long-term sustainability efforts.
Editorial Team: How do Kubernetes or similar solutions fit into ZIB’s infrastructure?
Carsten Schäuble: Kubernetes and similar container orchestration platforms play a significant role in man-aging workloads efficiently. At ZIB, we use Kubernetes for scalable deployment of AI models and HPC applica-tions, ensuring better resource utilization, automated workload balancing, and seamless integration with cloud and hybrid computing environments.
Editorial Team: How does ZIB handle large- scale data management?
Carsten Schäuble: ZIB is linked to Berlin’s research network with more than 200 GBit/s, allowing for ultra-fast data transfers. Our infrastructure is designed to handle truly petabyte-scale datasets, ensuring researchers can store, process, and analyze massive amounts of data efficiently.
Editorial Team: What’s next for ZIB’s HPC and AI infrastructure?
Carsten Schäuble: Our future plans include expanding AI capabilities with next-gen GPUs, integrating hybrid computing models, and strengthening academic and industry partnerships to drive innovation. We are also preparing for future workloads in quantum-in-spired simulation and large-scale graph analytics.
Editorial Team: How is user training supported at ZIB?
Carsten Schäuble: We offer targeted workshops, documentation, and personalized consulting to support users of all experience levels, especially as part of the excellent training and support program of the National Alliance of High-Performance Computing (NHR). This ensures efficient access to resources and accelerates research productivity. Editorial Team: Thank you for your insights.
Carsten Schäuble: My pleasure. We are committed to advancing scientific computing at ZIB.
