Research and academic network

Advanced communications network

The communications network is the core infrastructure of i2basque. It consists of a core ring with four points of presence (Donostia-San Sebastián, Arrasate, Leioa, and Vitoria-Gasteiz) connected by 10 Gbps lambda links (currently testing new 100 Gbps lambda links), two metropolitan rings with dark fiber links in Bizkaia (Bilbao-Leioa-Zamudio) and Donostia-San Sebastián (Ibaeta-Miramón-Hospital Donostia), as well as dark fiber links in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Las Nieves-EJIE) and leased fiber (Las Nieves-Miñano). Additionally, it includes fiber-optic connections in all Technology Parks (Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa, Miñano, and Polo Garaia).

i2basque provides Gigabit Ethernet or 10 Gigabit Ethernet fiber-optic interfaces for corporate R&D&I networks in the Basque Country. It also serves as an access point to the academic network RedIRIS and shares its requirements for accessing these services.

High Performance Computing (HPC) and quantum computing services

To enhance the quality and efficiency of the high-performance computing (HPC) services we offer, we provide users with access to the computing infrastructure of the Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC). This supercomputing center hosted latest generation equipment distributed across two major infrastructures: the Atlas and Hyperion supercomputers, where our computing nodes are currently hosts.

Hyperion boasts over 16,200 cores and 200 terabytes of RAM, making it one of the most powerful supercomputers in the country. Its nodes are interconnected via a 200 Gbps Infiniband network, enabling the execution of parallel tasks, as well as a 100 Gbps Ethernet network used for managing the supercomputer. It also features nearly 100 GPUs of various types, particularly suited for training large AI models.

This integration will optimize resource management, ensuring a more stable, secure, and scalable environment. It will also facilitate better utilization of available capabilities and contribute to improving the overall performance of the services offered. With this initiative, we reaffirm our commitment to technological excellence and continuous support for the computational needs of the research community.

On the other hand, BasQ is a strategy led by the Department of Science, Universities and Innovation of the Basque Government, aiming to position the Basque Country as one of the leading quantum ecosystems in Southern Europe by fostering a research, talent, and innovation ecosystem.

As part of the Ikerbasque Foundation, i2Basque collaborates with DIPC and the BasQ ecosystem to advance quantum-related applications and promote experimentation and innovation in these technologies. Currently, DIPC and the I2Basque Academic and Research Network manage priority access to IBM Quantum Systems, which include various emulators and real quantum computers available to the Basque scientific community.

Open science

With the goal of enhancing the visibility of the scientific output of the Basque research agents, we offer a Dialnet-CRIS, which is linked to the Basque Country’s research portal, science.eus, through its “Scientific output” section.

This resource makes it possible to consult the publicatios of the different research centers gathered there, and download the full text of those that are published in open access; find out on a map the collaborations manteined  among Basque researchers and international centers, or with whom they share the most publications, for example.

Eduroam

Eduroam is the global secure mobility service aimed at the academic and  research community, and affiliates can obtain their membership through i2basque. This service allows students, researchers, and staff of the  participating institutions to access the Internet at their institution,  and also when they visit any other participanting organization in another  part of the world.

CMS and LMS platforms 

Internet content management applications CMS (Content Management System) and LMS (Learning Management System), are very versatile tools for communication, group work, training, support and documentation. Our goal is to offer these kinds of resources to support internal training activities, and assist in implementing open source management systems for entities affiliated with i2basque. We advise them on installation, content structuring, and teaching methodologies.

We offer a Moodle (course manager system) installation for our affiliated centers. This platform is available to facilitate the development of training activities, either in internal training, as support for their teaching activities or collaborative work with international partners, for example.

We also have several sandbox environments for testing, such as: Omeka-S (photographic repository), Iturriak (MediaWiki for collaborative translations), OJS (Open Journal System), for example.

Videoconferences and streaming

Jitsi Meet is an open source software that allows users to make video calls with no user limit. It is very easy to use and offers many  features, such as sharing presentation with all participants, session recording, linking the meeting to a streaming server, and more.

More info: https://www.i2basque.eus