Today marks the initial release of the EuroHPC Federation Platform (EFP), a unified single access point that transforms how European researchers, businesses and public sector organisations can access EuroHPC supercomputers to advance science and drive innovation.
As of today, European users can access multiple operational EuroHPC JU systems through a single access point with a unified authentication and authorisation, identification (AAI) method.
The EuroHPC infrastructure brings together world-class supercomputers each with its own procedures, services, and technical tools for key functions such as user authentication and authorisation, resource allocation, job scheduling, and software provisioning. While, this diversity reflects the strengths and expertise of different supercomputing centres across Europe, it can also create complexity for users and make cross-site collaboration more challenging.
The EuroHPC Federation Platform (EFP) addresses this challenge by introducing a secure platform that harmonises access to these systems while also supporting broader objectives such as ease of use and lower entry thresholds, efficiencies including greater user awareness of energy efficiency for environmental sustainability, and cost-effectiveness by avoiding duplication of efforts and high security standards.
Serving as a “one-stop shop” for researchers, businesses especially SMEs, and public authorities, the platform streamlines access to EuroHPC resources. By reducing fragmentation through a federated software catalogue and simplifying cross-system processes such as allocations and data transfers, the platform enhances accessibility, user experience, and collaboration across Europe’s HPC ecosystem.
“The first release of the platform marks the beginning of the journey toward a more connected and integrated European supercomputing ecosystem, empowering Europe’s scientific, industrial, and academic communities and strengthening Europe’s capacity for innovation,” commented Anders Jensen, Executive Director of the EuroHPC JU.
“Over the past year, the EuroHPC Federation Platform has become an important driver for strengthening and deepening the collaboration and coordination among the EuroHPC JU Hosting Entities (HEs). The vision for the harmonised user experience across all system needs broad support and would not have been possible without the willingness and strong commitment of the HEs,” said Pekka Lehtovuori, Director of Advanced Computing Operations and Systems at CSC.
Next steps
Beyond HPC systems, the platform is designed with future integrations in mind. In upcoming releases, it will also incorporate EuroHPC AI Factories and quantum computing resources, further expanding the technological capabilities available to users.
The platform will also facilitate access to data lakes and data spaces across Europe, including established platforms such as SIMPL, EOSC and FENIX.
Initially rolled out for new projects and allocations, the EFP is nonetheless developed as a secure, scalable, and flexible solution, and in the future will support an expanding range of services and enable innovative approaches to complex scientific and industrial challenges.
“The launch of the EuroHPC Federation Platform represents a concrete step toward making Europe’s supercomputing capabilities more accessible, coherent, and impactful. By simplifying how users across European countries and sectors connect to these resources, this initiative reflects the JU’s commitment to openness, efficiency, and technological excellence, laying the groundwork for future integration of emerging capabilities such as AI and quantum computing,” said Lilit Axner, Programme Manager at EuroHPC JU responsible for EFP.
“The EuroHPC Federation Platform (EFP) builds on multiple mature open‑source solutions. This has enabled the enhancements required to make the EFP info a truly cohesive platform, and combined with active contributions back to the upstream projects, ensures the openness and long-term sustainability of the platform,” said Henrik Nortamo, Senior Application Specialist and EFP Technical Lead at CSC.
This article was first published on 15 April by CSC.
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