With an extensive work agenda, Dieter Roefs and Frederic Frans De Leersnijder, Belgian experts in ICT infrastructure and storage of large servers, arrive at the Universidad de Oriente.
During his first work day at the UO, MSc. Dieter Roefs exchanged with his Cuban counterpart, MSc. José Orlando Cuza Freire, and other members of TP1, focused on strengthening the Technological Infrastructure for Computerization and Communications.
"The most important aspect of this project, referred to the tangibles to be able to computerize the processes of the University", Dieter says, "has been the establishment of a first-class Data Center that provides services in a very professional manner. Users also notice the improvement in Internet access with the increase in bandwidth, which has multiplied almost ten times compared to years ago. There are also many more computers available in laboratories for workers, all interconnected to the university network and, in addition, WIFI, wireless access in several points of the university, which should increase in the next year ".
In a tour of the UO Data Center, Frans De Leersnijder and Roefs were interested in security aspects and electrical energy, the latter of vital importance and still vulnerable in the university environment due to technical weaknesses. Likewise, they exchanged about good practices related to recovery after the power cut and what to do when faced with problems of this type.
Ernesto Eduardo Días Conde, main specialist of the HPC in this academic institution points out that, in 2016, TP1 members received training in Belgium on how to deal with this new technology and now it will be one of the topics to be reviewed and deepened into during this week.
Currently, the field of high performance computing (HPC) is a very important tool in the development of communication simulations to complex problems. According to Roefs, ICT infrastructure expert at the University of Ghent, Belgium, this is an important tool for scientific research, that is, "super powerful machines capable of making very large calculations impossible to do on a normal machine. We already have an HPC here in Santiago de Cuba and we are strengthening the services it provides, teaching the administrators who maintain it and increasing the services for the scientists of the University and of the entire eastern region of the country".
During their stay in Santiago de Cuba, the experts have planned several work sessions in the Computerization Directorate of the UO, the review of the results of this year, advance in the self-evaluation process of the project and exchange with the communication team about the fundamental aspects of its management in recent months.
Translator: Lilia Sanz Gámez.
These Belgian specialists visited the UO Data Center and were updated on its functioning system.
Ernesto Eduardo Días Conde, HPC's main especialist in the UO, provided details on the security and difficulties faced because of the power outages.
During the visit to the Data Center, Roefs and Frans De Leersnijder also reviewed technical aspects on the HPC maintenance.
Roefs, Belgian leader of the TP1 exchanged with team members currently in charge of the management and coordination of the visibility of the VLIR - IUC Programme in several digital platforms and mass media of the territory.
Roefs was updated on the foremost important aspects related to the journalistic coverage of the programme, whose material support is provided by the TP 1. He also showed interest in moving forward on online broadcasting the materials, among other topics. Photos: Rovier Mesa