Overview of PDC infrastructure

The background infrastructure at PDC makes it possible for the computing and storage systems to keep running. While most researchers will not interact directly with the infrastructure, it can be interesting to have an overview of its components.

High performance computer systems use lots of power and consequently produce large amounts of heat, so they need some form of cooling , as well as a power feed and distribution . The power and cooling system, along with the other facilities needed to house and run the computer systems, are known as the infrastructure of a computer centre.

The infrastructure needs to be highly reliable, particularly when it comes to power and cooling, because large amounts of important data could be lost if the systems overheat or if the power fails. This means that PDC needs to have backup systems in case the main power or cooling supplies fail. The power and cooling infrastructure also needs to be very efficient  so energy is not wasted. In addition the infrastructure needs to be monitored  so that small problems are found early and can be corrected before they cause any damage.