bwHPC

What bwHPC does

bwHPC (Baden-Württemberg High Performance Computing) is a state-funded research infrastructure initiative that coordinates and delivers high-performance computing resources to academic and research institutions within the State of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was established in 2013 under funding from the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts of Baden-Württemberg, and currently operates through its second support project, bwHPC-S5 'Scientific Simulation and Storage Support Services' (2018-2026), which succeeded the original bwHPC-C5 project (2013-2018) under the bwHPC (2.0) framework.

The initiative's product surface centers on shared HPC infrastructure: compute clusters, large-scale data storage facilities, a Central Application Site (ZAS) for hosted scientific software, software provisioning and licensing, and technical support services. Delivery is coordinated through bwHPC Competence Centers embedded across participating institutions, with governance input from a user steering committee. A public wiki (wiki.bwhpc.de) serves as the documentation and outreach channel; no commercial sales motion or pricing model exists.

The business model is non-commercial. bwHPC does not generate revenue from users; rather, services are funded directly by the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts of the State of Baden-Württemberg and made available to eligible research institutions within the state. The initiative has no traditional ownership structure, no outside capital, and operates through fixed-term support projects rather than market-based growth.

Name

bwHPC

Legal name

bwHPC (Baden-Württemberg High Performance Computing)

Website

https://bwhpc-c5.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Short description

bwHPC is a state-funded initiative of the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science that provides shared high-performance computing clusters, data storage, software provisioning, and support services to research institutions within Baden-Württemberg, Germany, delivered through institutional competence centers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

High Performance Computing Infrastructure

NAICS

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518210), Administrative and Support Services (561)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Facilities Support Management Services (8744)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYHDACAOAL

HPC Workgroup & Departmental Systems (Mini-Clusters)

Hardware, Technology & Telecom/Computing Hardware & Peripherals/High-Performance Computing (HPC) Systems

SECONDARYEDALAMAK

Research Computing & High-Performance Computing (HPC) User Support

Education/Student Services & Campus Operations/IT Support & Campus Helpdesk Services

Keywords

• High performance computing
• HPC cluster services
• Research computing infrastructure
• Scientific simulation support
• Academic data storage

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Personnel, Operations

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

bwHPC provides shared high performance computing infrastructure for universities and research institutions in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Its offering comprises HPC cluster access, large-scale data storage facilities, a Central Application Site (ZAS) for hosted scientific applications, centralized software provisioning and licensing, and accompanying user support and training services.

Product overview

bwHPC is a consortium providing shared high-performance computing infrastructure for universities and research institutions in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The portfolio consists of two successive support projects: bwHPC-C5 (2013-2018) and bwHPC-S5 (2018-2026, 'Scientific Simulation and Storage Support Services'). These support core HPC services including compute clusters, data storage facilities, a Central Application Site (ZAS), software provisioning, and user support, all coordinated through competence centers across the state.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• HPC Cluster

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• State of Baden-Württemberg, GermanycoreOthersThe state government, through its Ministry, sponsors the bwHPC initiative to coordinate and support HPC infrastructure for all research institutions within Baden-Württemberg.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Direct peers

• HLRS (High-Performance Computing Center Stuttgart): University of Stuttgart's national-scale HPC center, also located in Baden-Württemberg and part of the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing. Provides tier-1 HPC, storage, and user support to academic researchers in the same geography as bwHPC, with overlapping institutional user base.
• HLRN (North German High Performance Computing Alliance): State-coordinated HPC alliance serving universities in Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen, and Schleswig-Holstein. Closely mirrors bwHPC's multi-state institutional coordination model in northern Germany.
• NHR (Nationales Hochleistungsrechnen): Federated German national HPC consortium of university computing centers. Operates as a higher-tier coordination layer that bwHPC-affiliated institutions may plug into, providing directly comparable service structures for academic HPC users.
• Leibniz Rechenzentrum (LRZ): Bavaria's state-funded HPC center providing cluster, storage, and support services to Munich-area universities. Operates a structurally similar state-coordinated model for academic research in a different German Land, making it the closest functional peer.
• Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC): Forschungszentrum Jülich's supercomputing centre, part of the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing. Provides tier-0/tier-1 HPC and storage to German and European researchers, offering comparable services at a national scale to bwHPC's state-level user base.

Regional players

• Compute Canada / Digital Research Alliance of Canada: National Canadian consortium providing coordinated HPC, storage, and support to academic researchers. Directly analogous to bwHPC's role as a multi-institutional research-computing coordinator, scaled to a country rather than a state.
• Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC): University of Texas-based HPC center providing clusters, storage, and user support to US academic researchers. Mirrors bwHPC's university-affiliated, publicly funded service model, but in a different national context.

Broad incumbents

• PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe): European HPC partnership coordinating tier-0 access across national supercomputing centers. Comparable in mission (shared academic HPC access) but operates at pan-European scale rather than state level.
• NERSC (National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center): US Department of Energy-funded HPC facility serving open scientific research. Comparable as a publicly funded HPC provider with shared-access compute, storage, and user support for the research community.
• Gauss Centre for Supercomputing (GCS): National alliance of HLRS, JSC, and LRZ providing tier-0 HPC capacity to German researchers. Sits above bwHPC in the national HPC stack and serves as both an upstream provider and structural counterpart.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about bwHPC