The Compute Cluster now provides researchers and students at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg with a new central research infrastructure. On 8 October 2026, the University Computing Centre (URZ) officially launched the new large-scale research facility, OREON. This high-performance computer will enable scientific data to be processed significantly faster in future.
For a supercomputer, it looks rather modest: OREON’s 12,000 processors fit into three tall cabinets. For researchers, however, this new computer cluster means a huge speed-up in their processes: “Simulations can now be carried out with significantly more computing power. Users now also have access to graphics cards, which are important for research in the fields of machine learning and AI,” explain Dr Friederike Röver and Oliver Rebentrost from the URZ. In total, the computing cluster has twenty graphics cards (GPUs). “Examples of applications include fluid mechanics and structural mechanics, or Geophysics, for instance.”
Research into artificial intelligence key area of focus
Around a third of the total investment is allocated to hardware for AI applications. A total of 14 high-performance accelerator cards are available, in particular to PhD students and other early-career researchers, for computationally intensive AI research. This enables TUBAF, for example, to train neural networks, develop scientific AI models and apply modern machine learning methods to extensive research data. The computing power required for this is now available directly on campus.
Friederike Röver and Oliver Rebentrost are the first points of contact for university members: they provide support with using the batch system (batch processing) utilised by OREON and other supercomputers, as well as with the general use of the cluster. In principle, the high-performance computer is open to all Staff Members and advanced students working on a research thesis, following a straightforward application process.
OREON is positioned within the German research landscape’s High-Performance Computing (HPC) pyramid at Tier 3, the local university clusters. Users who reach the performance limits of the TUBAF Compute Cluster then utilise the next level of the pyramid, for example, the state-level HPC resources at the Centre for Information Services and High-Performance Computing (ZIH) at TU Dresden, or HPC resources available nationwide at the Jülich Research Centre.
Together with the principal applicant, Professor Oliver Rheinbach, 22 researchers from Faculties 1, 2, 3 and 4, as well as Central facilities and services, contributed to the application for the new large-scale research facility with their scientific supplementary papers. The total cost amounted to 1.5 million euros. Half of this was provided by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and half by the Saxon State Ministry for Science, Culture and Tourism (SMWK).
