At the beginning of 2023, our then-board members went on a weekend trip dedicated to brainstorming possible projects and fresh ideas for the future of the ICU. Among the many creative discussions, one idea stood out: building a server with enough horsepower to support computationally heavy research.

The vision was clear from the start — to provide our students with access to powerful hardware that would otherwise be out of reach for most individuals or behind heavy paywalls. We found that mostly students already have the right ideas, but not the right tools. Such a resource could open doors to exciting projects in artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science, and high-performance computing.

What began as a bold idea during a casual brainstorming session quickly developed into a concrete project. Over the following months, plans were refined, budgets discussed, and cooperation with the university and external vendors explored. Step by step over the period of nearly two years, the concept turned into reality.

We are happy to announce, that we now have our very own GPU Server 🎉

Specifications

Since the main purpose of the GPU server is to handle heavy computations, we needed hardware that could deliver serious performance. Together with our vendor, Bechtle AG, and within our set budget of 17'000 CHF, we decided on the following specifications:

• 2× Intel Xeon Gold 6548Y+ (2.5GHz, 60MB Cache, 32 cores each)
• 16× 32GB RDIMM
• 4TB Data Center–grade NVMe storage
• 1× NVIDIA A30 GPU

Of course, many more components are needed to make a fully efficient server, but these are the most important highlights worth mentioning.

We as the ICU Board and Tech Team are very happy with these specifications — and trust us when we say: you can feel the performance when the system is fully utilized.

At the current stage, the CPUs aren’t reaching their full potential, as a single A30 does not generate enough load to fully challenge them. For this reason, we are already in discussions with NVIDIA about the possibility of acquiring two A100 GPUs, which would unlock even more computing power for our students.

Why “Noctua”?

After the server was connected and set up, the next step was to give it a proper name. Our goal was to choose something that connects the ICU to this server in a way that resonates with students. Since our mascot is an owl, it felt only natural to continue with an owl-inspired naming scheme. In fact, we’ve made it a tradition to name our servers and services after members of the owl family.

This time, we decided on Noctua — inspired by the little owl (Athene noctua), also known as the owl of Athena or owl of Minerva. As Wikipedia puts it:

“The little owl (Athene noctua) is a bird that inhabits much of the temperate and warmer parts of Europe.” – Wikipedia (14.09.2025)

There’s something amusingly paradoxical about giving such a powerful machine a name that literally means “little owl.” But that playfulness made it all the more fitting. When the proposition was brought to the GPU Project Team, it was unanimously accepted.

Thanks!

We would like to express our gratitude to everyone who was involved in this project and helped us achieve our goal. It took a great deal of planning, organization, and coordination with many different parties — and it simply wouldn’t have been possible without each of them.

The ICU Board – for organizing, planning, and driving this project from its very first idea to its final realization:

Joshua De Marco (Lead), Alain Küng, Marco Leder, Matthias Mylaeus

The Institute of Informatics (IFI) – for hosting our server in their data zone, supporting us throughout the process also financially, and taking over the setup and management of the software layer:

Prof. Dr. Burkhard Stiller, Hanspeter Kunz

The Central Informatics (ZI) – for helping us communicate with the server vendor and ensuring the process was smooth and simple:

Adriano Turco

And of course, many more people have been involved along the way — to all of you, we extend our sincere thanks. This project has been a true team effort, and we’re excited about the opportunities it will open up for our student community.