Inauguration of the ISDM-MESO computing and cloud cluster at the University of Montpellier

[Press release] - Published on April 30, 2025 in Press room, Major programs

On Wednesday April 30, at CINES on the Saint-Priest campus, the University of Montpellier inaugurated its new Calcul et cloud cluster, a digital infrastructure serving research computing and cloud needs, in conjunction with its massive storage offering. This new digital facility is financed under the Contrat de Plan État-Région (State-Region Plan Contract) by the State, the Region, the Metropolis and the University of Montpellier, to the tune of 2.56 million euros. It is part of the Regional Data Center in Occitania (Drocc).

In the presence of Pierre-André Durand, Préfet de la Région Occitanie, Préfet de la Haute-Garonne, Michaël Delafosse, Mayor of Montpellier, President of Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole, Carole Drucker-Godard, Rectrice de la région académique Occitanie, Rectrice de l'Académie de Montpellier, Chancelière des universités, Khaled Bouabdallah, Recteur délégué pour l'enseignement supérieur, la recherche et l'innovation de la région académique Occitanie, Marc Sztulman, Regional Councillor for Digital Affairs, Philippe Augé, President of the University of Montpellier, Michel Robert, Director of the Centre Informatique National de l'Enseignement Supérieur (Cines) and Anne Laurent, Vice-President for Open Science and Research Data at the University of Montpellier, Director of the Montpellier Data Science Institute (ISDM).

A context conducive to the establishment of this cluster

Digital computing solutions and the exploitation of massive data by Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms are at the heart of current scientific and technological advances. The mesocenter supported by the University of Montpellier within the Montpellier Data Science Institute (ISDM) provides advanced solutions for all scientific communities.

More than 10,000 users and over 400 research laboratories use the ISDM-MESO mesocenter, as well as companies (e.g. BRLI and Predict Services for environmental risk prediction). Designed so that all communities can benefit, it is based on a model designed to strike the right balance between rationalizing and pooling equipment on the one hand, and customizing environments on the other. In this way, it serves not only the experts who also use national and international equipment, but also non-experts who have very little access to this type of equipment, even though it can considerably accelerate the production of extremely valuable results.

The cluster will be named after Isabelle Olivieri (1957-2016), a renowned specialist in population biology and mathematical modeling, and an emblematic figure in the Montpellier scientific community.

"At a time when science and research are under attack in many countries, posing major risks to Democracy, the Occitanie Region is asserting itself as a territory that is investing in the future of our fellow citizens and our economy, thanks to our researchers. The birth of this cluster marks a decisive step towards positioning Occitanie as a benchmark region for computing, data storage and artificial intelligence. As an integral part of the Regional Data Center, this new facility illustrates the successful alliance between academic research and industrial innovation, with very concrete applications for our residents, whether in terms of climate risk management, with notably better flood risk forecasting, or health. In fact, this cluster is part of the objective we are collectively pursuing through the "IA Alliance Santé" project, led by the CHU and the University of Montpellier, to make the CHU the first national pilot site for the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare. AI can be an opportunity when framed by public authorities for the benefit of human progress," Carole Delga, President of the Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée Region.

"ISDM-MESO represents a strategic project for the Montpellier metropolitan area, at the crossroads of research, innovation, healthcare and artificial intelligence. This project reinforces our position as a benchmark scientific region, capable of rapidly mobilizing all its players - local authorities, universities, companies - around a shared ambition. It testifies to our ability to anticipate major transformations and carry out high-impact projects, backed by increased funding and a clear political will. Through ISDM, Montpellier is reaffirming its role as a driving force in the construction of a scientific and technological sovereignty at the service of the common good ", Michaël Delafosse, Mayor of Montpellier and President of Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole.

" The inauguration of the ISDM-MESO computing and cloud cluster at the University of Montpellier marks a crucial step in strengthening the research and innovation ecosystem in the Occitanie region. I would like to warmly salute the commitment and mobilization of all those involved, whose vision and determination have made it possible to bring to fruition this cutting-edge digital infrastructure, a real lever at the service of scientific excellence. At a time when digital computing solutions and artificial intelligence are driving forces in decision-making, this latest-generation equipment is an absolutely crucial tool. It offers our researchers an optimal working environment to explore the new frontiers of knowledge and meet the challenges of tomorrow ", Carole Drucker-Godard, Rectrice de la région académique Occitanie, Rectrice de l'Académie de Montpellier, Chancelière des universités.

"We are extremely proud to inaugurate the University of Montpellier's new computing cluster and cloudISDM-MESO, a state-of-the-art infrastructure at the service of our academic and scientific community. This tool, designed to meet the growing need for computing power, marks a decisive step forward for the UM. This cluster is not just a technological investment: it symbolizes our resolute commitment to research, which is, and remains, a fundamental mission of our university. Montpellier has long been an area of innovation, renowned for the excellence of its laboratories, the richness of its partnerships, and its ability to bring disciplines together. Artificial intelligence, now at the heart of the major transitions we are undergoing, is a strategic focus for our establishment. In many fields, AI is already at the heart of a number of projects, opening up unprecedented prospects. Thanks to this infrastructure, we are giving our scientific community the means to meet the challenges of the 21st century, and we are affirming UM's position as a key player in progress, knowledge and digital transformation ", Philippe Augé, President of the University of Montpellier.

Equipment offering the best possible compromise between performance and environmental impact

With this new facility, the University of Montpellier, with its research and training excellence, is strengthening its ability to meet the needs of its researchers, with a particular focus on minimizing environmental impact.

Selected and configured under the direction of Alexandre Dehne Garcia, research engineer at INRAE's DipSO, and acting as the keystone of the ISDM-MESO mesocenter, in tandem with technical director Jean-Luc Oms, research engineer at CNRS (LIRMM - Université de Montpellier Joint Research Unit), the future machine, acquired from Lenovo, a recognized player in the HPC world, will contain some 10,000 AMD cores and NVIDIA H100 quadri GPU servers in "full Direct Water Cooling", 2.8 Petabytes of very high-performance WekaIO storage, interconnected with 2 networks at 200Gb/s each. This solution will complement the recognized 15 Petabytes of high-quality massive storage already present at the mesocenter, and which has been the subject of several partnerships signed with research organizations for massive use by scientific communities (CIRAD, INRAE, Inserm, IRD).

Projects requiring these infrastructures are very much present at Montpellier, both at the heart of mathematical and computer science methods, but also particularly in projects at interfaces mobilizing algorithms and artificial intelligence methods with a strong impact on "Feed, Care, Protect" issues. Positioned in numerous rankings, and notably in second place worldwide in the Shanghai ranking on ecology, the University of Montpellier aims to reconcile scientific excellence with a commitment to reducing environmental impact. The equipment will be housed at Cines, a national player with three missions (high-performance computing, long-term archiving and hosting) whose skills were recently recognized with the arrival of the Adastra supercomputer, the most powerful in France and ranked^3rd worldwide for its low environmental impact in the Green 500. At the end of 2023, Cines obtained funding from the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research (MESR) to reinforce the electrical supply lines and enable a warm water supply (32°C) to the SM1 machine room, where the new equipment will be housed. This will not only make it possible to measure the actual consumption of the equipment, but also considerably reduce the environmental impact by no longer cooling the water at low temperature, as is currently the case.

The commitments and involvement of local authorities alongside the University of Montpellier

This order was made possible thanks to the mobilization of all players to program the first tranche of the 2021-2027 CPER. The Metropole of Montpellier has released its entire contribution of 704k€. The Occitanie Region is contributing 900k€ to this order. The Region is very much involved alongside the University of Montpellier in all the projects of the Data Center Régional Occitanie (Drocc), whose equipment will enable the renewal and reinforcement of the Drocc-Est service offering, of which the ISDM is the operational center, leading the way for all players in the Occitanie Est region (Drocc-Est HPC Computing, Drocc-Est Storage and Drocc-Est Cloud Research services). The French government is contributing €606k to the 2022 (€300k) and 2023 (€306k) CPER programs. The University of Montpellier has invested 350k€ for this order and is the main contributor to the hosting costs of the mesocenter.