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First supercomputer in South Eastern Europe is Bulgaria's

Wed, Sep 10 2008 17:42 CET 661 Views
First supercomputer in South Eastern Europe is Bulgaria's

Bulgaria's National Centre for Supercomputer Applications (NCSA), located in the country's capital and which houses the first supercomputer in South Eastern Europe, was officially unveiled on September 9 2008.

The opening ceremony was led by Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev.

The Bulgarian supercomputer, an IBM Blue Gene/P, will be operated by a consortium that comprises the State Agency for Information Technology and Communication (SAITC),  Sofia University St Kliment Ohridski, Sofia's Technical University, the Medical University and the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, together with IBM.

The supercomputer would mostly be used by the consortium for research in medicine, including DNA-based diagnostics and the development of drugs through modelling, financial modelling and to help students in their study.

In his opening speech, Stanishev pointed out the opportunities the new centre would offer for training young researchers and in the design of new products and technologies. The centre would also allow Bulgarian businesses and research institutes to join European partners in research and other projects, Bulgarian news agency BTA quoted Stanishev as saying.

Bulgaria had the green light from the European Commission to become a regional supercomputing centre for South Eastern Europe, Stanishev said, as quoted by BTA.

Stanishev said that the new centre would provide access to additional resources through European Union financial instruments.

With its two modules, containing a total of 8192 processors, Bulgaria's Blue Gene/P is capable of running 23.42 trillion operations a second (TFLOPS), making it one of the 100-fastest computers in the world, SAITC said.

While each of its two modules is about the size of a household refrigerator, the Blue Gene/P is more energy efficient than other similar systems, SAITC said in a media statement.

The modular design of the system would allow the computer to be scaled up to meet increasing demand, SAITC said.

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Appointments

Employment Agency

Employment Agency

Kamelia Lozanova has been appointed the executive director of the Employment Agency, a position she has held ad interim since September 2011, following the resignation of her predecessor Rossitsa Stelianova. Prior to that, Lozanova was the agency's deputy executive director in charge of international projects and European programmes. She has been with the agency for more than 20 years. Lozanova has a degree in Slavonic philology from the St Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia.

Uniqa

Uniqa

Gloria Dimitrova has been appointed executive director and member of the managing board at Uniqa Life Insurance Bulgaria. Dimitrova began her career in 1998 at the insurance supervision directorate, but moved to the private sector and worked for professional services and insurance brokerage firm Marsh&McLennan and US insurer AIG, both in Bulgaria and the Middle East. She joined Uniqa as regional director for Sofia in 2010. Dimitrova has a degree in economics from the University for National and World Economy in Sofia and a master's degree in insurance from the Business Academy in Svishtov.

Beiersdorf

Beiersdorf

Bedros Kalfayan, general manager of skin care and cosmetics company Beiersdorf Bulgaria, will oversee the parent's company units in Romania and Moldova starting April 1. Following company restructuring, Beiersdorf's subsidiaries in the three countries were merged and are now one unit, part of Beiersdorf Central and Eastern Europe. Kalfayan joined Beiersdorf in 2007 as sales manager and was promoted to general manager in 2008. Prior to that, he worked for Axxon Bulgaria, Ferrero and Rubella. Kalfayan has a master's degree in industrial management from the Technical University in Sofia.

Kamenitza

Kamenitza

Yassen Lyubenov is the new head of marketing at Bulgarian beer brewer Kamenitza. Lyubenov has 12 years of experience in marketing in the fast-moving consumer goods sector and has started his career as assistant brand manager at Kraft Foods Bulgaria. He later became brand manager at Wrigley Bulgaria, with responsibilities for Bulgaria and Macedonia. Prior to joining Kamenitza, he was senior marketing manager at Wrigley Russia, where he was in charge of brand expansion into Ukraine, Belarus, Central Asia and the Caucasus. Lyubenov has a bachelor's degree in international business administration from the University of Lincoln, UK.

Hewlett-Packard

Hewlett-Packard

Sasha Bezuhanova has been appointed Hewlett-Packard public sector director for emerging markets, where she will oversee HP public sector activities in 63 countries, including Bulgaria. Bezuhanova will also be in charge of HP's relations with the European Union. Bezuhanova has been HP's public sector director for Central and Eastern Europe since 2008; before that she was general manager of HP Bulgaria since 1998. Bezuhanova has a master's degree in electronics from the Technical University in Sofia and has completed a managment programme at INSEAD.