R&D and talent training in the field of high performance computing have always been a key area of UNN activities. In 1956, UNN (Gorky State University at that time) launched GIFTI computer, one of the first domestic mainframes. In 1963, USSR’s first ever Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics was established in the university with a mission of training experts in computational mathematics and IT.
First academic publications in parallel computing appeared in the mid-1980s. Back then, theoretical research was carried out along with practical training of the university staff at the Technical University of Denmark, University of Calabria (Italy), University of Trier (Germany), etc.
In 1995, sponsored by the mayor of Nizhni Novgorod, UNN acquired Parsytec PowerXplorer, a multiprocessor with the total performance of 320 Mflops.
In 1996, the first training courses in parallel computing were launched.
In 2001, within the Academic Program, Intel presented UNN with a computing cluster including 44 processors with the total peak performance of 50 Gflops. Such performance (quite high at that time) made it possible for UNN to create the Computer Simulation Center based on Intel processor systems. In 2002, with the assistance of Intel, the Information Technologies Laboratory (ITLab) was launched — an innovative form of UNN cooperation with IT companies.
In 2002, the Interdisciplinary Supercomputing Center was opened in Nizhni Novgorod.
In 2005, thanks to the research results obtained by UNN in parallel programming, the university was recognized by Microsoft as one of the top 10 universities in the world in the field of high-performance computing. In 2006, supported by Microsoft, UNN created its High-Performance Computing Competence Center.
In 2006, as part of Education, a national priority project, a 128 dual-core processor cluster with the total peak performance of 3 Tflops was installed in UNN. The same year, UNN was awarded Intel Honorary Diploma for outstanding results in training of top IT experts.
In 2007, the Computer Simulation Center based on Intel processor systems was transformed into the Integrated Computer Research Center including the Center for Supercomputing Technologies.
In 2010, the cluster increased its capacity up to 17 Tflops.
In 2010, the Volga Research and Education Center for Supercomputing Technologies was created.
In 2012, two UNN key IT initiatives were implemented:
In 2014, UNN launched Lobachevsky, a computational cluster with the peak performance of 570 Tflops.
In total, since 1995 UNN’s computing resource performance has grown more than 1.5 million-fold which is far ahead of the well-known Moore’s law in terms of hardware evolution dynamics.