The NET4EXA project aims to create an advanced interconnect for HPC and AI systems, including Large Language Models, that will scale to hundreds of thousands of computing nodes. The interconnect forms the backbone of such systems, and their overall performance is intimately tied to the scalability of the network and its tight coupling with the high-end compute elements. Building on the successful BXI* European HPC Interconnect, whose earlier versions (BXIv1 and BXIv2) have been deployed in European supercomputers ranking among the TOP15, and based on the research for its evolution carried out in the RED-SEA and other previous European RIA projects, NET4EXA will pursue the development of the next generation of European Interconnects (BXIv3). This includes both the switch and network interface, encompassing both hardware and its associated software. The project will showcase a fully functional Pilot at TRL 8, poised for adoption and integration into exascale and post-exascale European supercomputers. NET4EXA will also prepare the subsequent version, BXIv4, planned for implementation after this Innovation Action. The project will contribute by offering analysis and preliminary design for upcoming interconnect features, thus paving the way for continued progress in the field. Leveraging two decades of BULL experience in building HPC solutions, with now more than 40 Top500 entries in 2024, the project outcomes will fit the technological requirements for state-of-the-art HPC solutions to be implemented in European and international supercomputers and datacentres from 2025 onward. *BXI: BullSequana eXascale Interconnect

Despite their proliferation as a dominant computing paradigm, cloud computing systems lack effective mechanisms to manage their vast amounts of resources efficiently, leading to severe resource waste and ultimately limiting their applicability to large classes of critical applications that pose non-moderate resource demands. This creates a significant need to lift existing technological barriers of actual fluidity and scalability of cloud resources towards promoting cloud computing as a critical cornerstone for digital economy. ACTiCLOUD proposes a novel cloud computing architecture for drastically improved management of cloud resources, targeting 1.5x increase in resource efficiency and more than 10x in scalability. By utilizing modest investments on hardware intelligence that enables true resource disaggregation between multiple servers, we will progress current state-of-the-art in hypervisors and cloud management systems promoting holistic resource management at the rack scale and across distributed cloud sites. On top of this, we will evolve the ecosystem around in-memory databases, a core component for extremely demanding and highly critical classes of applications that up to now have faced severe difficulties in matching their resource requirements with state-of-the-art cloud offerings, with a final goal to provide cost-efficient and highly performant DataBase-as-a-Service (DBaaS) cloud platforms. ACTiCLOUD builds on top of cutting-edge European technologies for cloud servers brought into the project by Numascale and Kaleao, and extends OnApp's MicroVisor, an innovative hypervisor to virtualize resources at the rack-scale. Furthermore it joins the forces of highly acclaimed academic institutions to address key research challenges and extend the capabilities of OpenStack and JVM. Finally, it applies the foreseen innovation to MonetDB, the column-store database pioneer, and Neo4j, the world-leader in graph databases.