Public Sector: Purchasing Computing Time on HPC Systems

The High-Performance Computing Center Stuttgart was established in 1996 as Germany's first national high-performance computing center. As a central unit of the University of Stuttgart and a founding member of the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing (GCS), HLRS provides a state-of-the-art high-performance computing infrastructure to support academic research, industrial innovation, and the public sector across Germany.

HLRS is a nonprofit, public organization that receives its primary funding from the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research, and Art and the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research. As a member of GCS, HLRS is one of three German national high-performance computing centers.

HLRS maintains multiple high-performance computing systems that are optimized for simulation, visualization, and artificial intelligence and data analytics, including machine learning and deep learning. To learn more about the full range of our resources, expertise, and offerings, please visit our page Solutions.

Historically, HLRS's primary user communities have come from academic research and the industrial sector, which use our supercomputers for parallel computing and artificial intelligence applications. More recently it has also become clear that simulation, AI, digital twins, and other technologies can offer solutions that help public sector institutions to address the challenges they face. As a national high-performance computing center affiliated with the University of Stuttgart, an important part of HLRS's mission is thus also to provide HPC resources to support the public good.

Public sector agencies including federal and state ministries, cities and district governments, public safety agencies like fire departments, and other public organizations are invited to contact HLRS to discuss how HPC solutions could support them. Past applications have focused on using simulation for city planning, planning for and managing natural disasters, and providing analysis to support better data-based dscision making, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are also always interested in exploring new applications of simulation, artificial intelligence, and visualization in the public sector, and invite inquiries from organizations with novel ideas.

Please note that HLRS can only support the public sector in Germany at this time.

Use of HLRS's computing systems can be surprisingly affordable, particularly considering the fact that we offer access to large-scale, state-of-the-art computing resources on an as-needed basis. For public authorities, the benefit of purchasing computing time at HLRS is that it avoids the need to make large investments in your own high-performance computing infrastructure. High-performance computing can also have a multiplier effect that offers numerous other economic benefits for communities, enabling them to function more efficiently, reduce potentially costly risks, and accelerate data-based decision making.

For more information about pricing please contact us at public.sector(at)hlrs.de. After discussing your project with you, we can provide a cost estimate based on your needs.

As a national high-performance computing center, our emphasis is on supporting large-scale computational projects that are not practical using smaller computing systems. This does not mean, however, that all users of our supercomputer need access to the entire system. Paid access projects should not be so small that the amount of overhead to manage them exceeds the cost, but we are glad to disuss your needs and to help determine whether HLRS resources offer the best solution for addressing them.

When you sign a contract for computing time at HLRS, it will include an estimate of the the size of your project.

Access to HLRS resources for a public sector user can be granted quickly. After contacting us with a request for use of HLRS's computing resources, you will receive a contract for computing time. As soon as the contract is signed and returned to HLRS, we can create user logins and an accounting code for your project.

HLRS systems support a wide range of software for simulation, visualization, artificial intelligence, and data analytics. Visit Software to find links to specific information about the application packages that HLRS makes available.

Licenses for ISV application packages

As a public institution, HLRS is unfortunately not able to maintain licenses for commercial software packages. Users interested in utilizing such software need to secure access independently. Licenses can be hosted by the user, by the software vendor, or by HLRS. We recommend talking with HLRS staff about the software you require and discussing a plan for securing necessary licenses before signing a contract for computing time.

Open source software

HLRS can provide users access to and assistance in using many commonly used open source application software packages in the area of high-performance computer simulations. We have also developed powerful software for immersive, 3D data visualization, and support the most popular frameworks for machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Custom software

For users developing their own codes, we also offer software development tools, compilers, and libraries that make it possible to run algorithms on our systems. These include integrated development environments, MPI, communication libraries, debuggers, tools for performance analysis, compilers, numerical libraries, visualization tools, and storage formats.

For public sector agencies concerned about data security, HLRS offers a secure, local platform that adheres to the highest data security standards.

HLRS is certified under the ISO 27001 standard, confirming that we have implemented a comprehensive information security management system (ISMS). The ISMS details technical and organizational measures HLRS has taken to identify, prevent, and respond to threats to the security of the data it stores. This includes protecting its high-performance computing systems from unauthorized access and usage. The scope of the ISMS contains the provision of computing time on HLRS’s high-performance computers as well as the supporting processes for operating the production environment. For verification, search for certificate number 44121222839 in the TüV Nord Certificate Database.

The University of Stuttgart was also registered on behalf of the High-Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS) as a participant in the Trusted Information Security Assessment Exchange (TISAX). Governed by the ENX Association on behalf of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), TISAX prescribes a standardized set of strict requirements for the management of data centers that are intended to protect data confidentiality, data integrity, and data availability. Following registration with TISAX, HLRS's data security practices were assessed by an independent, accredited audit provider. A second security audit was conducted in 2024 at TISAX Level 3, which is designed to ensure adherence to information security standards that are appropriate for handling data with “very high protection needs.” Results are available on the ENX Portal.

For more than a decade, sustainability has been a key focus at HLRS. We have developed comprehensive environmental management and energy management plans that have been formally certified under the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), the world's most demanding framework for environmental management. See Sustainability & Environment for more information.