KEYES is leading the design of the prototype’s IT infrastructure
The European SCOPE research project is entering its implementation phase with the start of construction on its prototype. This demonstrator will enable testing of technologies that could be used in the Einstein Telescope’s future digital infrastructure.
KEYES will design the prototype’s IT infrastructure and contribute to the development of technologies that will benefit the Einstein Telescope and, more broadly, the data centers of tomorrow.
The Einstein Telescope is one of the most ambitious scientific projects currently under development in Europe. This future next-generation underground observatory will detect gravitational waves—300 meters underground—with unparalleled precision in order to better understand the origin and evolution of the Universe.
New Ways to Understand the Universe
Produced during extreme cosmic events (such as black hole collisions or the merger of neutron stars), gravitational waves are ripples in spacetime that travel through the universe and, consequently, through the Earth. Although they were predicted by Albert Einstein in 1916, it wasn’t until 2015 that they were first detected by the American LIGO detector.
With the Einstein telescope, buried underground to shield it from any surface interference, researchers aim to develop an instrument capable of detecting 1,000 times more waves than current detectors. They hope this will advance our understanding of black hole physics, stellar evolution, and the moments immediately following the Big Bang.
Three European regions are currently vying to host this exceptional scientific facility: the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion (Belgium–Netherlands–Germany), Sardinia, and Saxony.
High-Performance Computing and Energy Efficiency
To prepare this bid, several European research projects have been launched to develop technologies that could be used in the construction of future scientific infrastructures. SCOPE (Sustainable Computing Prototype for Einstein Telescope) is one such project, and KEYES is among the European partners selected to contribute to this initiative.
SCOPE’s objective is to design and test a new data center model capable of addressing a major challenge: reconciling the growing demands of very high-performance scientific computing with the need for energy efficiency and sustainability.
Serving as a formidable experimental laboratory, the technologies developed as part of the project will pave the way for a new generation of data centers—more energy-efficient, smarter, and more resilient—to serve the digital society of tomorrow.
KEYES envisions the data center of the future
Einstein will generate vast amounts of scientific data.
Analyzing this data continuously will require infrastructure capable of processing massive flows of information, notably by leveraging high-performance computing, AI, and new processing architectures such as quantum computing.
It is in this context that KEYES has joined a European consortium of 10 partners to lead the design of the prototype’s IT infrastructure. Its teams will draw on their expertise in data centers, high-performance computing, networks, virtualization, cybersecurity, and critical infrastructure, in collaboration with the universities of Aachen, Maastricht, and Liège.
“SCOPE is a true innovation lab. It offers us a unique opportunity to experiment with technologies that we wouldn’t be able to test in a traditional operating environment, explains Marc Delincé, Senior Advisor at KEYES, who is leading the SCOPE project. Housed in a shipping container, the prototype will combine high-performance computing infrastructure, battery- and hydrogen-based storage systems, and several innovative cooling technologies.”
Energy Transition
One of the project’s key innovations is an approach known as “breathing computing.” Unlike traditional infrastructures, where computing systems operate independently of energy constraints, the prototype will dynamically adapt computing workloads to the availability of renewable energy and storage capacity.
“This approach will simultaneously optimize computing performance, energy consumption, and CO₂ emissions,” continues Marc Delincé.
In a context where AI, digital sovereignty, and the energy transition are profoundly redefining the needs of organizations, investing in research and innovation is a strategic choice. Laurence Mathieu, CEO, KEYES, sees this as “confirmation that the ability to bring together the best expertise is today one of the key drivers of European innovation.”
A Regional and European Dynamic in the Service of Innovation
The SCOPE project represents a total investment of more than 5.2 million EUR, funded through Interreg Euregio Meuse-Rhine, and brings together ten scientific, academic, and industrial partners from Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands.
Beyond this European collaboration, SCOPE is part of a broader effort to mobilize institutional stakeholders in support of the Euregio Meuse-Rhine’s bid to host the Einstein Telescope. In Wallonia, this effort involves, in particular, GRE-Liège, Wallonie Entreprendre, Logistics in Wallonia, GreenWin, Skywin, the Pôle MecaTech, the Wallonia Public Service, and Wallonia-Brussels International.
