Federated HPC, Cloud, AI and Quantum as Digital Future infrastructures at PCSS

Krzysztof Kurowski, head of quantum technologies at the Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center (PSNC/PCSS), traces the center's federated infrastructure strategy from the 1990s to its current role hosting EuroHPC systems. Building on the keynote's picture of heterogeneous computing, he adds a geographic dimension: rather than concentrating AI, quantum, and HPC components in one place, PSNC federates distributed resources behind unified access. He recounts the creation of the PIONIER optical network connecting 21 metropolitan area networks and six Polish supercomputing centers, with federated services such as eduroam as early examples of the model. Over the past decade PSNC extended this backbone with quantum communication experiments, building what he describes as the largest QKD network in Poland and Europe, a full mesh linking all Polish HPC centers, with plans for cross-border extensions leveraging Poland's central position in the GEANT network. The national data storage system follows the same pattern, distributed across nine to eleven institutions rather than centralized, and underpins PSNC's hosting of the EOSC EU node since 2021. He highlights that the PIAST-Q quantum system is the first EuroHPC infrastructure component located in Poland, to be tightly integrated with classical systems, and that PSNC was also selected for the PIAST AI factory, expected to be installed early the following year. He closes with lessons learned: co-design with users and external partners, reuse existing components, favor distributed over centralized architectures for resilient and secure systems, and grow skills through bottom-up competence centers, training, and hackathons.