The 1st HPAC Platform Training Event took place in Barcelona during the second week of December. Barcelona Supercomputing Center hosted the first of two such training events in SGA2 that focused on explaining the HPAC Platform tools and services to the participants as well as aiding potential users in understanding the application process for supercomputing resource access.

SP7 experts such as Alberto Madonna and Tim Robinson (ETHZ-CSCS), Benjamin Weyers (UT), Anna Lührs, Bernd Schuller, Jochen Eppler and Anne Küsters (JUELICH), Oriol Pineda, Cristian Morales and Jorge Rodríguez (BSC), Cristiano Padrin and Michele Carpené (CINECA) gave presentations during the two-day event, some with hands-on tutorials.

17 attendants from eight different institutions, several of them external to HBP, participated in the training and evaluated the content and quality to be of great value. 

During the training sessions, the attendees were introduced to the tools and services offered by the HPAC Platform on how to get access to compute and storage resources, and they got to know more about PRACE training events. An explanation was given on how to use the HPAC supercomputers from the Collaboratory and how to transfer large data between sites. The simulators Nest and Arbor were demonstrated with hands-on sessions and the last talk presented visualisation tools. The event ended with a swift visit to the supercomputer MareNostrum that all participants very much enjoyed. 

For further information please check the website of the training event containing all the presentations. The next HPAC Platform Training will take place end of 2019. In July 2018, the HPAC Platform also offers an ICT-for-non-specialists workshop as part of the HBP Education Programme.