The CERN computer centre has some 10,000 computers that need to be upgraded every four to five years. Decommissioned computers that are obsolete for the purposes of CERN's cutting-edge research are still suitable for less demanding applications. CERN servers have so far found new uses in a variety of institutes; 559 computers were donated to institutes in Africa and Europe this year alone.
Last week CERN sent 130 servers to two Serbian institutes: the Belgrade Institute of Physics will receive 92 servers and the Petnica Science School will receive the rest. Students at the Petnica Science School will use their new servers to learn the principles of computer clusters.
Jovan Puzovic, Belgrade Institute of Physics team leader for the NA61 experiment (SHINE), and his deputy Dimitrije Malevic came to CERN to see the servers begin their journey to Serbia. Thanking CERN for its donation, Jovan Puzovic said: “We are delighted to receive this gift which will be a great support for our group. The servers will significantly enhance the performance of our computing grid, enabling us to process our own data more efficiently - in particular for our active participation in the NA61 experiment.”