5.12.13

“God particle” scenario at the Software AG booth at CeBIT 2014: CERN and University of Marburg win the Idea Contest



Students at University of Marburg present a big data scenario using Apama, a Software AG product, for evaluating huge data volumes from the world’s largest particle accelerator

With its third annual CeBIT Idea Contest, the University Relations department at Software AG opens up the opportunity for universities and research institutes all over the world to develop an exhibit for CeBIT 2014. This year’s winners have now been chosen: A collaborative partnership between CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Geneva, Switzerland, and the University of Marburg, Germany, will create a showcase project. The University will receive a grant of €10,000 to finance the project. The showcase they are developing for the Software AG booth at CeBIT 2014 will utilize Apama to perform intelligent analysis of event streams in real time in an attention-getting scenario from the real-world environment at CERN.

CERN’s research objective for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s largest particle accelerator at 26.7 km, is to generate and study both known and yet-unknown elementary particles in extensive detail. To this point, its greatest success has been finding experimental evidence of a new elementary particle, sometimes called the “God particle” (Higgs Boson particle).
The collision of protons and lead ions in the LHC creates enormous volumes of data that are evaluated with the help of an IT infrastructure: Approximately 10,000 server applications analyze the physical data and in turn generate log data streams and monitoring data. This also includes status information for these applications and commands that control them. As winner of the CeBIT Idea Contest, students at the University of Marburg will collaborate with CERN to create a system using Apama, Software AG’s product for Complex Event Processing (CEP), to simulate these massive data volumes in real time, process them further and maintain data persistence.

Software AG provides €10,000 in financial support for this idea contest to underscore its commitment to the higher education sector. Professor Dr. Bernhard Seeger from the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science at University of Marburg and his group of students are very excited about the project. “I’m thrilled about winning this year’s CeBIT Idea Contest and that the students can expand their knowledge of Complex Event Processing in such an interesting project with our partner, CERN. We have an excellent opportunity here to demonstrate the performance scope of CEP technology in collaboration with an innovative company like Software AG.”

Matthias Bräger, an employee at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, is equally excited about the collaborative partnership with the University of Marburg, which is contributing a high level of expertise in CEP. “I’m very excited to see the new pattern recognitions that could emerge from this showcase project, and Apama from Software AG could be a new option for our existing IT infrastructure.”

Jürgen Powik, Director of University Relations at Software AG, is very satisfied with the response to this year’s contest and the high number of submissions. “The collaboration between the University of Marburg and CERN opens up the opportunity for us to visually demonstrate the processing of big data, the top theme for CeBIT 2014, in a real-world scenario. At our booth, people can see how valuable knowledge can be gained and visualized from enormous data volumes and complex events.”

Catherine d’Adesky catherine@keycommunications.be