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The client and the context
In a country like Italy, rich in talent and brilliant minds dedicated to science,the INAF—the National Institute for Astrophysics— is Italy’s leading public research institution dedicated to astronomy and astrophysics. It is an institute that has distinguished itself through its ability to design and develop innovative technologies and cutting-edge instruments for the exploration of the cosmos.
Over the past 15 years, Italian astrophysical research has taken on a leading role on the international stage, both in major ground-based projects and in space missions, achieving significant results and spearheading cutting-edge experiments that are set to shape the future of scientific research.
To support this path toward excellence,INAF faced a crucial challenge: establishing a flexible and virtuous ecosystem in terms of knowledge sharing, availability of computing power, and, above all, the management of computational resources dedicated to ad hoc projects.
These projects, while having sporadic but urgent computing needs, required an infrastructure capable of delivering high performance quickly and adapting to temporary yet strategically important needs for scientific research.
INAF Statistics
TB per session
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CPU hours for the CTA project simulation
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GPU CUDA core hours for the HIRES project simulation
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The challenge
The INAF calculation model has always been distinguished by its complexity and diversity, characteristics that have required the development of a system capable of effectively managing and supporting this variety of needs.
In many cases, research projects have required high computational power and access toa flexible infrastructure capable of dynamically adjusting computing and storage resources to meet specific needs.
But it wasn’t just the management of computing power that drove the collaboration between INAF, AWS, and the engineers at VMEngine. The opportunity to engage with industry partners to test cutting-edge solutions and expand internal technological expertise was also crucial:
“Staying in touch with the realities of the industrial world,” say the INAF technicians, “in order to test, utilize, and expand our knowledge of state-of-the-art technologies as a resource within our computing infrastructure.”
The VMEngine Solution
As part of its commitment to innovation and research, INAF has chosen to make Amazon Web Services computing resources available to researchers and research groups, accessible on demand for specific projects.
Some projects have already been launched, including a study onthe implementation of adaptive optics forthe ELT (Extremely Large Telescope), which is set to become the largest telescope in the world.
But the real challenge was preparing to accommodate the new projects as they were being launched, ensuring the availability of resources and services in a structured and sustainable manner.
This result was made possible thanks to the professionalism and expertise of the VMEngine team, which is always attentive, precise, and proactive in helping to evaluate the most suitable solutions for each design requirement.
“The services were always activated on time,” the INAF technology team notes. We greatly appreciated the company’s support in defining the access model to the facility using IAM accounts, ensuring accurate tracking of both total spending and spending per individual researcher who was granted access.”
Benefits
For a research institution like INAF, on-demand access to scalable computational resources has proven to be strategic for supporting projects of the highest scientific caliber.
Thanks to Amazon Web Services, research teams have been able to focus on analysis, simulation, and development, while relying on the cloud to manage computing power, storage, and scalability.
AWS services, such as SQS and Lambda, have made it possible to build complex architectures in a very short time, handling hundreds of terabytes of data and consuming millions of hours of CPU and GPU CUDA core time, with minimal impact on the budget allocated to individual projects.
For INAF, adopting AWS therefore represented not only a technological opportunity but also a catalyst for research, capable of combining efficiency, speed of execution, and cost-effectiveness.
We greatly appreciated the support provided by VMEngine in defining the access model for the platform using IAM accounts, ensuring accurate tracking of both total spending and spending per individual researcher who was granted access.
Marco Landoni
Researcher and Technologist, INAF
