Paderborn's Supercomputer Otus Receives Significant Performance Upgrade

Paderborn University's high-performance computing (HPC) capabilities are being significantly enhanced with an upgrade to its Otus supercomputer. The system, operational since 2025, will receive €12 million in funding from state and federal sources to expand its computational capacity and storage.

The expansion, which is underway, involves adding new computing nodes and increasing storage capabilities. This will enable the system to tackle more complex computational problems by the end of 2026. The investment not only strengthens the HPC position of Paderborn and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia but also directly benefits Germany's national high-performance computing network (NHR).

The NHR network comprises nine university-based HPC centers across Germany. Its objective is to provide researchers with access to supercomputing resources and to promote their sustainable and resource-efficient use. The network facilitates regular conferences that foster dialogue between research, industry, and politics, aiming to strengthen Germany's digital sovereignty and innovation capacity.

Paderborn will host the NHR conference in September, focusing on the current state of high-performance computing in Germany. This upgrade is expected to substantially improve researchers' ability to process large datasets and conduct demanding simulations across various scientific disciplines.