The National Research and Innovation Agency of Indonesia (BRIN) plans to optimise the use of its High-Performance Computing (HPC) facility and will eventually develop it into a superior facility in their country to conduct advanced and science-based research. When compared to traditional computers, HPC allows researchers to run simulation modelling and analyse huge data more efficiently, easily and rapidly.
HPC has been in operation since 2013 and is one of the key existing infrastructures for research needs. HPC can be accessed on the website hpc.brin.go.id and is free of charge for researchers and students, lecturers and other individuals who want to conduct an in-depth study since 2014. The HPC located at Cibinong is now the largest in BRIN; however, there are several more campuses that are managed by the Deputy for Infrastructure and Research and Innovation.
Budi Prawara, Head of the Research Organisation for Electronics and Informatics revealed that he has a plan to develop this computing facility into a superior facility in Indonesia to conduct advanced and science-based research.
HPC is one of the BRIN facilities that is used by both internal and external communities, including universities, ministries, agencies and businesses. Access to it can be found on the BRIN Science E-service website, elsa.brin.go.id.
With HPC we can carry out several other research areas such as the invention of new materials, basic research in the field of quantum physics and modelling of earth, maritime and space sciences. With the current development of the digitalisation industry, we can conduct big data analysis research, artificial intelligence, rocket aircraft design and so on.
– Budi Prawara, Head of the Research Organisation for Electronics and Informatics
HPC also applies to Bioinformatics with Genome Analysis of the SARS – Cov-2 virus. Data cleaning, alignment, reading realignment, variation call, construct consensus sequence, and clade assignment are all part of the COVID-19 genome assembly. All these steps are finished when simulating a logon to the HPC application for COVID-19 analysis.
Another purpose of HPC is for Indonesia’s environment as the nation has one of the world’s highest biodiversity levels. Its tropical rain forests cover an area of about 143 million hectares and contain 80% of the world’s medicinal plants, with over 28,000 species. Modern research affirms that biodiversity is an important factor in the advancement of health and agricultural research.
The development of this Indonesian biodiversity omics data repository will make it easier for Indonesian researchers to implement a broad bioinformatics approach and omics analysis by using HPC.
Prawara said that the Centre for Computing Research facilitates research collaboration with stakeholders, including universities and ministries and agencies, through research facilitation mechanisms. This resulted in the internships in the Merdeka Learning program at the Merdeka campus which now is being available to students for thesis and dissertation guidance.
Carrying out research, development, assessment, and application, as well as integrated inventions and innovations, is the task of the National Research and Innovation Agency. Currently, BRIN has twelve Research Organisations spread throughout Indonesia.
As a research agency, BRIN is optimistic that the HPC facility can be utilised optimally for both researchers and students and lecturers at universities as well as external parties from ministries, agencies, and other industries. HPC is expected to increase its capacity this 2022 to support its biodiversity laboratories; to reach the petaflops scale; and for open management; and other use.
