8 ms·

Barcelona Supercomputing Center

145 points by _Microft 3y ago

_Microft 3y ago
Make sure to progress into the main hall. The second floor view is nice as well. There is a button for choosing the floor in the bottom left corner.
pestatije 3y ago
frozen browser, 100% CPU
- saagarjha 3y ago
  Consider using a supercomputer next time.
  - pestatije 3y ago
    nah, they can waste other peoples resources if they please...public funded are they? typical
theoutfluencer 3y ago
You might need a supercomputer to view that page.
- _Microft 3y ago
  Strange, works fine with absolutely smooth animations while moving around. In both Firefox and Safari.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- lambda 3y ago
  Worked fine for me on Firefox on an old Android phone. You might want to upgrade your computer
formerly_proven 3y ago
It's unfortunate how hostile most sites and operators are to photos. So much computing history is simply lost due to that (and recycling).
- wkat4242 3y ago
  That's not really my experience and I used to walk around in a lot of datacenters. Nobody gives a crap about photos because there is nothing sensitive to actually see. Most of it is just really boring. Rows and rows of computers and other blinkylight stuff. In fact it's a lot more fascinating with the lights off. The hot and cold aisles are super annoying. Either freezing your ass off or sweating profusely. So are the double floors which people might have left open to become death traps. The noise is deafening. The air smells acrid. They're a terrible place for people. What was a lot cooler to visit were the old pulse-dialling relay-operated phone exchange buildings. In the dark it was like being stuck in a dark forest surrounded by a horde of angry killer crickets slowly inching closer to you. Especially because that stuff wasn't very heat-sensitive so it was eerily silent besides all the clicking. That's the kind of history I miss more than the datacenter. It was shit cool, especially when you would open the door and be in the middle of a bustling city. And nobody knew that magical forest was there. And the half-floors (intermediate half-height floors to route all the thick bundles of copper cables thick as sewer pipes). Really mysterious buildings.
  - B1FF_PSUVM 3y ago
    I once visited one of those Strowger relay exchanges, but it was in the middle of the day, and it was clacking away like crazy. (Analog phone lines would complete a physical circuit between two phones - hence "circuit switching". With digital, we moved to "packet switching" - bundles of bits with headers, etc.)
jauntywundrkind 3y ago
It's obviously impressive photo stitching but I can't help but think how much more exceptional this experience would be in actual 3d. With lidar and photogrammetry ascending, this seems decidedly old school. Disclaimer: nearby org-mates work on 3d space modelling systems.
- _Microft 3y ago
  There‘s a „View in VR“ button somewhere, iirc.
ggambetta 3y ago
Is this the church-turned-datacenter featured in Dan Brown's Origin?
- wkat4242 3y ago
  Yes it is. It's not owned by an evil billionaire with plans for world domination though.
  - sliken 3y ago
    Yet.
wumms 3y ago
The "Convex C3480" from 1991 (at the end of the lower hallway): - 1GB RAM - 0.8GFlops - #1 in Spain in 1992 - USD 1M - huge tape drive! This source lists it at 0.4 GFlops though (search for C3480): https://www.rediris.es/jt/jt2004/archivo/ficheros/Mateo_Valero-BSC-1.pdf https://www.rediris.es/jt/jt2004/archivo/ficheros/Mateo_Vale... - 16G disk storage - in service from 10/91-01/98
- mofeing 3y ago
  I just showed it today to a friend. It's truly marvelous. Just next to it there is a Connection Machine 2!
elnatro 3y ago
Why is this relevant? Is it because of the website?
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- sophacles 3y ago
  Because it's neat seeing what you can do to make a datacenter pretty. It gratifies my intellectual curiousity.
- Aardwolf 3y ago
  I like the first person walkthrough through a supercomputer in a beautiful building
airstrike 3y ago
Nice find A bit disappointed Matterport hasn't turned plugged in AI to turn these into "real" 3D scenes that I can walk around video-game style
- flohofwoe 3y ago
  I could've sworn I played a video game which had that exact data center as a level. I thought it was Splinter Cell Conviction or Blacklist, but so far I'm failing to find any screenshots.
jonnyreiss 3y ago
I found this on Atlas Obscura before a trip to Barcelona, and I was able to set up a free tour with them via email. I love the contrast of the computer against the shell of the old church, and it immersed me further into my Dan Brown book character LARP. link: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/barcelona-supercomputing-center https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/barcelona-supercomputing...
wkat4242 3y ago
Haha they have one of those weighing scale entrance portals. I always hated those when I still worked in datacenters. Can't drink too much coffee and then forget to go to the toilet lol. And it's such a stupid measure. The most valuable thing you can steal there is data. Which doesn't weigh anything.
- puppetmaster 3y ago
  While I can imagine such a scenario, and there is a resting area with coffee and food in many datacenters... You weight the same when you get into the cage with coffee in your belly, and when you are getting out because it percolated to your bladder. Having said that, I've seen some places where the security measures are placed due to a listed requirement, but miss the point that they have. Finally, data is definitely THE most valuable good, but also confidential hardware, that fits in your pocket! edit: saw a typo!
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- yardie 3y ago
  I've passed through those portals probably hundreds of times and I don't remember them being that sensitive. In fact, I think it's just measuring if there is one human or 2 trying to pass in the portal. Unless you have an exceptionally large bladder...
- Crunchified 3y ago
  I am not familiar with this kind of security device, but doesn't it stand that to take home a certain desired object you'd simply bring along an object of similar weight and exchange it?
  - kobalsky 3y ago
    indiana jones style. people may start suspecting when they see your desk full of weird heavy trinkets
mofeing 3y ago
PhD student there. Ask me anything if you wish to know more about BSC. Some news: the new Marenostrum 5 no longer fits in the chapel, so it has been moved to the contiguous building. But one quantum computer from the Quantum Spain project will be installed soon (in a couple of months). Easter Egg: whenever there is an official visit, they put Gregorian choirs in the chapel.
- cameron_b 3y ago
  The side hallway has a wonderful collection of previous rack instances. Cheers for the preservation efforts. What is your focus at the BSC?
  - mofeing 3y ago
    I'm working on classical simulation of quantum computers using tensor networks. Basically trying to push the frontier of quantum advantage / supremacy from the classical side. BSC is fun due to its interdisciplinarity. I do quantum and HPC, but I have friends working on iron deposition on the seas (i.e. climate change), nuclear fusion simulations of a tokamak, large scale scientific visualization, protein folding and synthesis, ... The European Chips Act is also coordinated from there so there is a ton of people working on hardware design (specifically RISC-V).
    - wlst14 3y ago
      BSC headcount grow 500+ people in 2 years thanks to EU funds. Because the government does not know where to spend them. What will happen after 2025 when NextGeneration EU funding ends?
      - mofeing 3y ago
        This is not true. BSC had already a growing trend before the pandemy. In 2020-2021, before any EU fund, almost 200 new people were hired. Why are you harsh? Science is a good investment and BSC has proven to be a research center where a lot of quality research is done. Anyway, there are many plans to continue growing beyond the NextGeneration EU funds, which usually the steering committee explains on the yearly anual meeting. Keep in mind that "growing" does not always mean to grow the amount of people in a research group, but to try to create new research groups to keep it stable.
psyklic 3y ago
I organized a tour here for a RustFest conference in Barcelona. Submitted the form on their website, and luckily someone was willing to show us around. Highly recommended!
queuebert 3y ago
I wish more work spaces looked like this.
latchkey 3y ago
Previously: Barcelona Supercomputing Center https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12830233 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12830233 (October 30, 2016 — 99 points, 17 comments)
CamperBob2 3y ago
Very cool. Is this where the "Welcome to Eden" computer/communications room was shot?
nickpinkston 3y ago
Sagrada Ordinador
jmmv 3y ago
I studied in the Computer Architecture department next to the BSC. After I graduated, I joined Google Dublin as an SRE in the Google File System (GFS). The first fun team offsite we did after I joined (2010) was a trip to Barcelona, and the trip included a guided visit to the BSC. The visit (I had never visited it while a student!) was really cool because the BSC had a pretty design that Google data centers didn't yet have (remember how they took pride in using "crappier" hardware than "real" datacenters?). But the fun part of the story is when the tour guide was telling us how much attached storage they had (something like 400TB IIRC) and we were all thinking... "hah, that's cute!" Yeah well, cute... but infinitely lower latency than GFS had at that time. Anyhow, just a little fun moment I remember from that trip; don't read too much into it!
lwde 3y ago
Looks like some Bond movie set
mailund 3y ago
I remember reading a lot about this when I was doing my masters in high performance computing! Really want to go there and see it in person one day!
seydor 3y ago
well, I make no apology For linking my thinking with computer technology. 'Cause this is like a modern day hymn, For the new church
trizoza 3y ago
So amazing!
bibanez 3y ago
I'm at student at UPC (next to this). I did some workshops at BSC while I was in HS and got to visit the room for Mare Nostrum 4 and all the cooling facilities that power it. Pretty cool to see it featured here!
konraditurbe 3y ago
I want to visit this so bad.

145 points by _Microft 3y ago

Make sure to progress into the main hall. The second floor view is nice as well. There is a button for choosing the floor in the bottom left corner.

pestatije 3y ago

frozen browser, 100% CPU

saagarjha 3y ago
Consider using a supercomputer next time.
- pestatije 3y ago
  nah, they can waste other peoples resources if they please...public funded are they? typical

theoutfluencer 3y ago

You might need a supercomputer to view that page.

_Microft 3y ago
Strange, works fine with absolutely smooth animations while moving around. In both Firefox and Safari.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
lambda 3y ago
Worked fine for me on Firefox on an old Android phone. You might want to upgrade your computer

formerly_proven 3y ago

It's unfortunate how hostile most sites and operators are to photos. So much computing history is simply lost due to that (and recycling).

wkat4242 3y ago
That's not really my experience and I used to walk around in a lot of datacenters. Nobody gives a crap about photos because there is nothing sensitive to actually see. Most of it is just really boring. Rows and rows of computers and other blinkylight stuff. In fact it's a lot more fascinating with the lights off. The hot and cold aisles are super annoying. Either freezing your ass off or sweating profusely. So are the double floors which people might have left open to become death traps. The noise is deafening. The air smells acrid. They're a terrible place for people. What was a lot cooler to visit were the old pulse-dialling relay-operated phone exchange buildings. In the dark it was like being stuck in a dark forest surrounded by a horde of angry killer crickets slowly inching closer to you. Especially because that stuff wasn't very heat-sensitive so it was eerily silent besides all the clicking. That's the kind of history I miss more than the datacenter. It was shit cool, especially when you would open the door and be in the middle of a bustling city. And nobody knew that magical forest was there. And the half-floors (intermediate half-height floors to route all the thick bundles of copper cables thick as sewer pipes). Really mysterious buildings.
- B1FF_PSUVM 3y ago
  I once visited one of those Strowger relay exchanges, but it was in the middle of the day, and it was clacking away like crazy. (Analog phone lines would complete a physical circuit between two phones - hence "circuit switching". With digital, we moved to "packet switching" - bundles of bits with headers, etc.)

jauntywundrkind 3y ago

It's obviously impressive photo stitching but I can't help but think how much more exceptional this experience would be in actual 3d. With lidar and photogrammetry ascending, this seems decidedly old school. Disclaimer: nearby org-mates work on 3d space modelling systems.

_Microft 3y ago
There‘s a „View in VR“ button somewhere, iirc.

ggambetta 3y ago

Is this the church-turned-datacenter featured in Dan Brown's Origin?

wkat4242 3y ago
Yes it is. It's not owned by an evil billionaire with plans for world domination though.
- sliken 3y ago
  Yet.

wumms 3y ago

The "Convex C3480" from 1991 (at the end of the lower hallway): - 1GB RAM - 0.8GFlops - #1 in Spain in 1992 - USD 1M - huge tape drive! This source lists it at 0.4 GFlops though (search for C3480): https://www.rediris.es/jt/jt2004/archivo/ficheros/Mateo_Valero-BSC-1.pdf https://www.rediris.es/jt/jt2004/archivo/ficheros/Mateo_Vale... - 16G disk storage - in service from 10/91-01/98

mofeing 3y ago
I just showed it today to a friend. It's truly marvelous. Just next to it there is a Connection Machine 2!

elnatro 3y ago

Why is this relevant? Is it because of the website?

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
sophacles 3y ago
Because it's neat seeing what you can do to make a datacenter pretty. It gratifies my intellectual curiousity.
Aardwolf 3y ago
I like the first person walkthrough through a supercomputer in a beautiful building

airstrike 3y ago

Nice find A bit disappointed Matterport hasn't turned plugged in AI to turn these into "real" 3D scenes that I can walk around video-game style

flohofwoe 3y ago
I could've sworn I played a video game which had that exact data center as a level. I thought it was Splinter Cell Conviction or Blacklist, but so far I'm failing to find any screenshots.

jonnyreiss 3y ago

I found this on Atlas Obscura before a trip to Barcelona, and I was able to set up a free tour with them via email. I love the contrast of the computer against the shell of the old church, and it immersed me further into my Dan Brown book character LARP. link: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/barcelona-supercomputing-center https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/barcelona-supercomputing...

wkat4242 3y ago

Haha they have one of those weighing scale entrance portals. I always hated those when I still worked in datacenters. Can't drink too much coffee and then forget to go to the toilet lol. And it's such a stupid measure. The most valuable thing you can steal there is data. Which doesn't weigh anything.

puppetmaster 3y ago
While I can imagine such a scenario, and there is a resting area with coffee and food in many datacenters... You weight the same when you get into the cage with coffee in your belly, and when you are getting out because it percolated to your bladder. Having said that, I've seen some places where the security measures are placed due to a listed requirement, but miss the point that they have. Finally, data is definitely THE most valuable good, but also confidential hardware, that fits in your pocket! edit: saw a typo!
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
yardie 3y ago
I've passed through those portals probably hundreds of times and I don't remember them being that sensitive. In fact, I think it's just measuring if there is one human or 2 trying to pass in the portal. Unless you have an exceptionally large bladder...
Crunchified 3y ago
I am not familiar with this kind of security device, but doesn't it stand that to take home a certain desired object you'd simply bring along an object of similar weight and exchange it?
- kobalsky 3y ago
  indiana jones style. people may start suspecting when they see your desk full of weird heavy trinkets

mofeing 3y ago

PhD student there. Ask me anything if you wish to know more about BSC. Some news: the new Marenostrum 5 no longer fits in the chapel, so it has been moved to the contiguous building. But one quantum computer from the Quantum Spain project will be installed soon (in a couple of months). Easter Egg: whenever there is an official visit, they put Gregorian choirs in the chapel.

cameron_b 3y ago
The side hallway has a wonderful collection of previous rack instances. Cheers for the preservation efforts. What is your focus at the BSC?
- mofeing 3y ago
  I'm working on classical simulation of quantum computers using tensor networks. Basically trying to push the frontier of quantum advantage / supremacy from the classical side. BSC is fun due to its interdisciplinarity. I do quantum and HPC, but I have friends working on iron deposition on the seas (i.e. climate change), nuclear fusion simulations of a tokamak, large scale scientific visualization, protein folding and synthesis, ... The European Chips Act is also coordinated from there so there is a ton of people working on hardware design (specifically RISC-V).
  - wlst14 3y ago
    BSC headcount grow 500+ people in 2 years thanks to EU funds. Because the government does not know where to spend them. What will happen after 2025 when NextGeneration EU funding ends?
    - mofeing 3y ago
      This is not true. BSC had already a growing trend before the pandemy. In 2020-2021, before any EU fund, almost 200 new people were hired. Why are you harsh? Science is a good investment and BSC has proven to be a research center where a lot of quality research is done. Anyway, there are many plans to continue growing beyond the NextGeneration EU funds, which usually the steering committee explains on the yearly anual meeting. Keep in mind that "growing" does not always mean to grow the amount of people in a research group, but to try to create new research groups to keep it stable.

psyklic 3y ago

I organized a tour here for a RustFest conference in Barcelona. Submitted the form on their website, and luckily someone was willing to show us around. Highly recommended!

queuebert 3y ago

I wish more work spaces looked like this.

latchkey 3y ago

Previously: Barcelona Supercomputing Center https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12830233 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12830233 (October 30, 2016 — 99 points, 17 comments)

CamperBob2 3y ago

Very cool. Is this where the "Welcome to Eden" computer/communications room was shot?

nickpinkston 3y ago

Sagrada Ordinador

jmmv 3y ago

I studied in the Computer Architecture department next to the BSC. After I graduated, I joined Google Dublin as an SRE in the Google File System (GFS). The first fun team offsite we did after I joined (2010) was a trip to Barcelona, and the trip included a guided visit to the BSC. The visit (I had never visited it while a student!) was really cool because the BSC had a pretty design that Google data centers didn't yet have (remember how they took pride in using "crappier" hardware than "real" datacenters?). But the fun part of the story is when the tour guide was telling us how much attached storage they had (something like 400TB IIRC) and we were all thinking... "hah, that's cute!" Yeah well, cute... but infinitely lower latency than GFS had at that time. Anyhow, just a little fun moment I remember from that trip; don't read too much into it!

lwde 3y ago

Looks like some Bond movie set

mailund 3y ago

I remember reading a lot about this when I was doing my masters in high performance computing! Really want to go there and see it in person one day!

seydor 3y ago

well, I make no apology For linking my thinking with computer technology. 'Cause this is like a modern day hymn, For the new church

trizoza 3y ago

So amazing!

bibanez 3y ago

I'm at student at UPC (next to this). I did some workshops at BSC while I was in HS and got to visit the room for Mare Nostrum 4 and all the cooling facilities that power it. Pretty cool to see it featured here!

konraditurbe 3y ago

I want to visit this so bad.