VSC Annual Report 2024: A Year of Growth, Innovation, and Preparation
- Rafal Tekreeti
- Jun 12
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 13
The Vlaams Supercomputer Centrum (VSC) proudly looks back on 2024, a year marked by strategic advancements, community expansion, and preparations for future excellence. The newly released VSC Annual Report 2024 showcases how computational and data infrastructure in Flanders is evolving to meet the research and innovation demands of tomorrow.
🚀 Strategic Highlights from 2024
🖥️ New Tier-1 Supercomputer in Development
One of the year's milestones is the extensive preparation for the successor of the current Tier-1 system, Hortense. Through workshops and a European procurement process, VSC gathered user insights to define specifications for this next-generation supercomputer. It is expected to be operational by the end of 2025 at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
🏭 Industry Engagement Doubled
Interest from industry players has soared. The RDI office saw a 100% increase in industrial users, with exploratory contracts supporting applications ranging from AI to environmental simulations. Over 25 companies, including SMEs and multinationals, now benefit from Tier-1 compute capabilities.
📈 Growing User Base
User participation in the annual survey rose by 10% (555 responses), providing valuable feedback to improve services. Satisfaction remains high across all services, with the majority of users rating support, availability, and software performance as "good to excellent".
💾 Tier-1 Data Platform Advancements
Major updates were rolled out on the data platform:
- 27 PB mirrored storage
- ManGO Portal became open source
- Workflow automation with ManGOFlow
- Over 5.3 PB transferred via Globus—more than double compared to 2023
☁️ Tier-1 Cloud Enhancements
The Tier-1 cloud platform added support for interactive workflows and testing Windows-based VMs. A full upgrade to RHEL9 and Ceph5 is scheduled for 2025. In 2024, 28 projects consumed over 7.2 million CPU hours on Tier-1 Cloud.
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👩🔬 User-Centric Services
🔧 Helpdesk Performance
- 667 Tier-1 Compute support tickets resolved, 80% within a week
- 474 software installs, supporting over 750 unique projects
- Tier-1 Cloud resolved 87 tickets most within 48 hours
🧪 Training and Outreach
- Dozens of courses and custom sessions were delivered
- VSC User Day 2024 gathered 130+ attendees in Brussels, fostering networking and knowledge sharing
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🌍 International & Open Science Leadership
Through active contributions to EuroCC, EPICURE, and iRODS, and presentations at Supercomputing 2023 and iRODS UGM, VSC reaffirms its role as a trusted European HPC partner. ManGO Portal has been published open-source, empowering global collaboration.
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🧠 Research Impact: Success in Cancer Diagnostics
PIDGIN, a collaborative project at UHasselt, is revolutionizing lung cancer diagnosis using AI and HPC. With Tier-1 compute and data services, the team can:
- Run large-scale tissue image analysis
- Perform batch processing
- Manage extensive metadata for advanced diagnostics
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💡 Looking Ahead
With €19.2 million in one-time Tier-1 investment from the Flemish Government (2023–2025), VSC is building a future-proof infrastructure. Upcoming milestones include:
- Tier-1d supercomputer installation (VUB)
- Continued support for academic & industrial users
- Improved onboarding, documentation, and automation
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📘 Read the Full Report
Discover all the numbers, success stories, and strategic insights in the full Annual Report 2024 (currently available in Dutch). The English version is coming soon!
