The general support activities of the competence network form the basis for HPC.nrw’s core responsibilities toward its users. The goal is to enable and simplify the use of HPC resources by researchers and faculty at universities in North Rhine-Westphalia.
This results in three core tasks:
- Expanding the advisory network and providing cross-location general and subject-specific support to users in NRW.
- Supporting users with larger-scale needs that can only be met, for example, by transitioning to larger HPC systems within the demand pyramid.
- Expanding the training offerings in the form of on-site and online training, workshops, and asynchronous online courses.
These activities will be closely coordinated with other projects to better integrate HPC resources into existing research infrastructures. Among other things, this aims to facilitate transitions between JupyterHub environments and HPC systems, enable CI and testing workflows on HPC resources, and establish lifecycle management for research data. Concurrently, joint training programs will be developed to ensure the new services can be utilized immediately. Existing support and training offerings from previous funding phases will be continued and further developed. This includes the expansion of the HPC.nrw website as a central portal for computing resources, support services, and events. Additionally, local events and stronger networking with specialist communities are intended to increase the visibility of these offerings.