ZIH-Info No. 195, February 2026
Table of contents
Editor: Jacqueline Papperitz
ZIH strengthens research with new GPU system
In December 2025, the ZIH awarded the contract for its planned new high-performance GPU system "Deneb" to Bull GmbH. The system is designed for computationally intensive machine-learning applications and will expand the research infrastructure at TU Dresden and within the National High-Performance Computing initiative (NHR). With 184 B200 GPUs from Nvidia, an innovative ARM-based CPU architecture and a 2-petabyte storage system, "Deneb" will provide university research throughout Germany with powerful resources for AI and data-intensive applications. Sustainability is another key aspect of “Deneb”: 97 % of the heat generated is dissipated through hot water cooling and used to heat surrounding buildings or fed into the district heating network. Funding is provided by the NHR - jointly by the federal government and the Free State of Saxony - and by the AI Competence Center ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig. The installation in the TU Dresden data center is planned from Q3 2026, user operation is scheduled to start at the end of 2026. Further information: https: //tud.de/zih/news/zuschlag-hpc-ki-erweiterung-tud-zih. (Contact: Dr. Matthias Lieber)
Expansion of the ZIH shared drives
The ZIH is currently expanding its Ceph cluster by around 3 petabytes of storage capacity and restructuring the network into frontend and backend segments. The aim is to modernize the storage infrastructure and increase performance. So far, 357 of 1,250 shared drives have been successfully migrated. The migration of NFS drives (network file systems used primarily on Linux/Unix) is largely complete, while the migration of SMB drives (network drives used primarily in Windows environments) is still ongoing. The main challenges include close coordination with those responsible for each drive and clearly defining access permissions. To address this, the ZIH develops a tailored migration strategy for each environment. The gradual integration of existing and new nodes into the new network structure results in clearer system architectures, simplifying future adjustments and increasing flexibility. (Contact: Marco Ziebel)
Deactivation of VPN resources in Cisco VPN
As announced in ZIH-Info No. 190 (July 2025), the second phase of the migration from Cisco Secure Client (formerly AnyConnect) to eduVPN will be completed at the end of February. As part of this process, most remaining VPN connections in Cisco Secure Client will be deactivated on February 24, 2026, at 17:00. From that point on, VPN access will be available exclusively via eduVPN. Only a small number of exceptions will temporarily remain accessible through the Cisco Secure Client. Users who currently connect to one of the affected VPNs via Cisco Secure Client will receive a personalized email reminder in advance. Further information: https://faq.tickets.tu-dresden.de/v/ItemID=1270. (Contact: )
Simulations for more efficient engines
Together with the Chair of Turbomachinery and Flight Propulsion (Institute of Fluid Mechanics), the ZIH is a partner in the new collaborative project ENVISION. Coordinated by Rolls-Royce Germany, the project aims to improve the efficiency of aircraft propulsion systems through the development of innovative, transient, and scale-resolving simulation methods. These enable a more precise prediction of turbulent flows and thus contribute to a more efficient engine design. The project focuses on three key application areas: optimizing the intake fan system, improving predictions of metal temperatures in high-pressure turbines, and analysing the interaction between the engine and the aircraft structure. In addition, porting the simulations to GPUs is expected to significantly increase computational efficiency. The project will help to drive forward the development of more efficient engines, reduce emissions, and strengthen the international competitiveness of the aviation industry. The project has been funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection since January for a period of 42 months as part of the Aviation Research Programme VII. (Contact: Dr. Holger Brunst)
Using data to combat stress-related illnesses
The German Research Foundation (DFG) has extended funding for the CRC/TRR 205 “The adrenal gland: central relay for health and disease,” coordinated by TUD, for an additional funding period. Since 2017, the CRC/TRR has been investigating the causes, diagnosis, and treatment of adrenal gland disorders, which are often linked to stress and its health effects. As industry and pharmaceutical companies have so far devoted limited research efforts to these complex conditions, continued funding from the DFG is of particular importance. It makes it possible to develop innovative approaches to provide effective long-term support for patients. The ZIH supports the researchers through an information infrastructure project, providing centralized study and data management. Together with other partners, it is also developing a clinical decision support system based on machine learning methods. This system is intended to transfer research results into clinical practice and thereby make a direct contribution to improving patient care. (Contact: Dr. Ralph Müller-Pfefferkorn)
Important change to server certificates
Several changes to the issuance of server certificates are planned for March 2026. These changes are driven by updated requirements introduced by browser and operating system vendors for certification authorities. Newly issued server certificates will no longer include an OCSP URL, and the maximum validity period will be reduced to 200 days. In addition, new server certificates can no longer be used for client authentication. These changes affect administrators of servers that use SSL/TLS server certificates. There will initially be no changes for existing certificates; however, the new conditions should be taken into account when certificates are renewed. Further information: https: //intranet.tu-dresden.de/x/loZ9JQ. (Contact: )
Love Data Week 2026: Research data
As part of the international Love Data Week, the data competence center Come2Data invites you to the Open Science Lab at SLUB Dresden on February 11, 2026 starting at 13:00. Under the motto "Where is the data?", a varied program is dedicated to research data management and related topics. The event is aimed at researchers, students, and employees from from infrastructure and service units and offers practical insights into current initiatives, tools and funding opportunities related to research data management. Contributions and workshops by stakeholders from TU Dresden, SLUB Dresden, the Service Center Research Data, the data competence center Come2Data, the National Research Data Infrastructure, and external research institutions will cover topics such as good scientific practice, the archiving and publication of research data, data licensing, semantic search, and resource-efficient data management. The event will be held in German and will conclude with an informal exchange in the evening. Further information: https: //tu-dresden.de/zih/news/love-data-week2026. (Contact: Dr. Franziska Korb-King)
The events
- Open Q&A session for users of the NHR@TUD computing cluster: 02.02, 09.02, 16.02. and 23.02.2026 each 13:30-14:30 (online)
- Softphone consultation hour: 02.02, 09.02, 16.02. and 23.02.2026, 10:00-11:00 a.m. (online)
- 11.02.-10.03.2026: Faces of Computer Science. Interactive exhibition, Foyer FOE
- 12.02.2026, 13:00-14:00: SaxFDM Digital Kitchen - Rethinking research assessment (online)
- 25.02.2026, 13:30-15:00: Archiving and publication of research data with OPARA (online)