<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=2528533714139722&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
New call-to-action
https://4295993.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/4295993/INT_CIONET-International/VIDEO/CIONET_HM.mp4
CIONET - What's next

Connecting ambitious digital leaders and businesses around the globe.

Catch up on the upcoming CIONET Events

             
Banner

Germany Sep 25, 2025 Country Members Physical english

Munich: The Human Edge

Join us for an evening of thought-provoking discussions, real-world use cases, and insights from digital leaders, tech-pioneers and academics as we explore the dynamics of the human-machine relationship.

Read More
Banner

Netherlands Sep 25, 2025 Invitation Only Physical dutch

Business Continuity & IT Resilience in 2025: Safeguarding Against Downtime and Disruptions

Alleen op uitnodiging. How can organizations proactively ensure business continuity and IT resilience in 2025 amidst increasing disruptions?

Read More
Banner

Germany Sep 29, 2025 Country Members Virtual german

Online: AI & DATA Knowledge Transfer - Briefing 19

Unsere Wissensaustausch-Briefings "AI & Data Knowledge Transfer" zielen darauf ab, CIDOs und Senior Digital Leaders mit praktischen Anwendungen und umsetzbaren Erkenntnissen von Fachexperten zu vermitteln, die den Weg für transformative digitale Reisen ebnen.

Read More
Banner

Germany Sep 30, 2025 Country Members Physical german

München: Unstrukturierte Daten – Das verborgene Kapital in deinem Unternehmen

Von der Theorie in die Praxis: Erst Business, dann Bier.Unstrukturierte Daten sind das verborgene Kapital vieler Unternehmen – und zugleich eine der größten Herausforderungen moderner IT. Gemeinsam mit CIOs, CDOs und CTOs der CIONET-Community sprechen wir zuerst bei WeWork München über Strategien, Technologien und echte Use Cases, um dieses Potenzial zu heben. Danach geht's weiter auf die Wiesn – für den offenen Austausch in bayerischer Atmosphäre.  

Read More
Banner

UK Sep 30, 2025 Invitation Only Physical english

How CIOs drive game-changing results at scale?

This exclusive Jefferson dinner, hosted by Mendix and CIONET, brings together a hand-picked group of senior executives and digital leaders from across the UK financial sector.

Read More
Banner

Netherlands Sep 30, 2025 Invitation Only Physical dutch

Vision Dinner From the Network to the Data

Alleen op uitnodiging. Mastering Digital Sovereignty Control, trust and resilience in an era of geopolitical and regulatory shifts. From the Network to the Data.

Read More

Recent Cases

Please Log In with your CIONET account first

The Institut Pasteur and AWS are analysing the world's DNA, using a public database

Institut Pasteur, a leading French virology research center, processed 20 petabytes of DNA data in record 30 hours, leveraging AWS Batch over a cluster of 2.18M AWS Graviton cores.

30 hours

Reduce the computing time required of 30 million vCPU hours to 30 hours, with 2.18 million vCPUs mobilised at peak

20-petabyte

First exhaustive use of a 20-petabyte DNA database

AWS expertise

Provision of AWS technical resources and support expertise

 

Overview

To date, less than 0.01% of existing viruses have been identified. And among these countless as yet unknown species may lie the culprit of a future pandemic. Following the Covid-19 crisis, and to more easily identify future threats, a research project called "IndexThePlanet" at the Institut Pasteur set about analysing and mapping the DNA of the entire living world, using a public database. However, to process such a large volume of data, the project had to set up an appropriate infrastructure to meet the challenge of processing some 20 petabytes of data. This is the purpose of the partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), which has provided the researchers with a cluster of more than 2 million vCPUs to carry out this massive task. 

 

Hardware electronic circuit board. technology style concept semiconductor motherboard computer server cpu
 

Opportunity

To date, only 0.01% of existing viruses have been identified, and their exact number is still unknown. Among these countless as yet unknown species may lie the culprit behind a future pandemic. Following the Covid-19 crisis, a research team at the Institut Pasteur set about analysing and mapping the DNA of all living organisms to help identify future threats.

To process such a large volume of data, the team set up an appropriate infrastructure to meet the challenge of processing 20 petabytes of DNA data. To put this in perspective, this is roughly equivalent to all the data YouTube hosted during its first decade. This is the purpose of the partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), which has provided the researchers with a cluster of 2.18 million vCPUs to carry out this massive task.

"The IndexThePlanet project is actually the sequel to an initial research project carried out jointly with an international team, the Serratus project, which led to the identification of new species of coronavirus and other RNA viruses," points out Rayan Chikhi, a bio-computing researcher at the Institut Pasteur. It has enabled us to map ten times as many species as before, with a total of around 3 petabytes of data analysed. "Encouraged by this initial success, we decided to take things a step further by broadening the spectrum to include all viruses present on earth, i.e., by analysing the DNA of all known living organisms. This naturally represents a considerable challenge in terms of computing power, since this time we had to process a volume of data more than six times greater than that of the Serratus project."

 

 

kr_quotemark

AWS has mobilised considerable resources, which have reached 2.18 million vCPUs at peak for Graviton instances."

"We reckon it would have taken a desktop computer nearly 30 million hours, or 3,400 years, to carry out such a calculation."

 

 

Solution

Developing a DNA Search Engine

For this research, the teams at the Institut Pasteur had access to a global database, stored and accessible to the scientific community by AWS and its Registry of Open Data Programme. This database contains sequencing data for all living species on Earth. However interesting this data may be scientifically, it is still unstructured, making it extremely tedious to explore. The IndexThePlanet project is therefore based on two specific stages: first of all, the "global analysis" of this database in order to make it readable and usable, and secondly, the provision of a search engine that can quickly and efficiently navigate the index that has been created. This search engine should be operational by 2026.

"To really understand what is at stake in our work, we need to think of this database as a sort of gigantic library, but one in which all the pages of all the books have been scattered. The challenge for IndexThePlanet is to restore coherence to this data by methodically classifying all the DNA fragments in order to reconstruct them on the scale of a living being, but also taking account of its environment. This is a major undertaking, which should ultimately benefit the entire biological research community," adds the researcher.

 

2.18 Million vCPUs Mobilised

The Institut Pasteur consequently turned to AWS to set up an appropriate infrastructure to meet the challenge of this massive processing. "Preparing the operations took almost a year, ultimately resulting in a calculation batch lasting just 30 hours," smiles Rayan Chikhi. But what a batch! During processing, AWS mobilised considerable resources, which reached 2.18 million vCPUs at peak for the AWS Graviton instances. As a comparison, we reckon that it would have taken a desktop computer nearly 30 million hours, or 3,400 years, to carry out such a calculation.”

AWS Technical Support

"To provide the best support for the Institut Pasteur's teams, we called on all the resources available to us," explains Dorian Schaal from Amazon Web Services, who supported the researcher throughout the project. This included scheduling the calculations over the weekend to access resources that were less in demand, as the massive size of the resources took up a significant proportion of the available resources. He continued: "The success of this project is something our teams are very proud of, and will help enhance the Open Data database that AWS is making available free of charge to the global scientific community."

 

Facilitating Tomorrow's Processing

The IndexThePlanet project has resulted in the creation of two datasets: a complete one of 2.2 petabytes and a more compact one of around 400 terabytes, which will serve as the basis for the future genomic search engine. It will provide accurate information on all the viruses and bacteria in the global database. A success that Rayan Chikhi nevertheless tempers: "this database is still highly incomplete in terms of terrestrial variety and, despite its success, this research project will only make it possible to increase the number of known viruses from 0.01 to 0.1%. But the progress remains considerable in terms of current knowledge". Ultimately, IndexThePlanet could serve as the basis for a system dedicated to global monitoring of the emergence of pandemics. From the moment a strain is discovered in a hospital, it could be compared with all the genetic material on the planet, saving precious time in the search for treatments and vaccines and potentially saving tens of thousands of lives.

 

Architecture Diagram

 
 

About Institut Pasteur

Founded by Louis Pasteur in 1887, the Institut Pasteur is a world-renowned French biomedical research centre conducting cutting-edge scientific research on infectious diseases and public health.

Partners

Checkout our CIONET COOKBOOK

cookbook

Embark on a culinary journey through the ever-evolving world of digital leadership with our third edition of the CIONET Cookbook: Recipes for Digital Success. Unveiling the intricate trilemma faced by today’s Master Chefs, our trailblazing European CIOs address a challenge at the nexus of customer interests, digital transformation strategies, and IT modernisation. Their secret? Synchronising the gearing between customer, business, and technology to create a frictionless movement through the digital landscape.

The CIONET Cookbook uses the analogy of a five-star restaurant to explain the importance of optimally integrated technology, with the CIO as Master Chef. In order to provide the best service to its customers, a top restaurant must have the right atmosphere, an inviting menu, a well-equipped kitchen, talented and committed front-of-house and kitchen staff and smooth-running processes that ensure an enjoyable experience for diners.

CIONET TV

 
Banner

Kalman Tiboldi - CTO & Founder at GemOne-TVH - Simplify or Die: Why Complexity Is the Real IT Challenge

Banner

Isabelle Droll - CIO for Airline, Corporate, Hotels & Resorts and Sustainability at TUI - Data, Diversity, and Destinations

Banner

Sharon Prior - CIO in transition - How Great Tech Leadership Begins with Business Thinking

Banner

José Antonio López, Group CIO at TOUS - Jewels, Data & AI: Inside the Digital Transformation of TOUS

Banner

Tom Tanghe - General Manager ITC EMEA at Daikin Europe - Reinventing the CIO Role

Banner

CIOFEST 2025 - From Order Taker to Proactive Disruptor

CIONET Reports

 
Banner
Get your copy

A research proposal_AI and the Human Experience

As AI transitions from a specialised tool to an all-pervasive force, understanding its profound implications for our human lives is no longer merely academic but an urgent imperative for social well-being and strategic preparedness.

Banner
Get your copy

Cybersecurity in critical infrastructure

Geopolitical tensions have dominated the headlines for over two years now. In this context, the cyber threat landscape is also evolving rapidly. The protection and security of critical infrastructure – both physical and digital – is becoming increasingly important.

Banner
Get your copy

HDS - From Hype to Reality Navigating the Challenges of GenAI

Join over 10.000 digital leaders worldwide

in our exclusive CIO community

Latest CIONET News

Join your local CIONET community

Discover the CIONET app

Staying ahead of trends and connecting with other CIOs was never easier.

In our new app, our members connect with other digital leaders from around the world to find better solutions to their challenges.

Connect with digital leaders like you

Share ideas, best practices, and new resources

Experience inspiring and thought-provoking content and conversations you can’t find anywhere else

Make better, more well-informed decisions about the topics that are most important to you

Anna Kopp (1)

Anna Kopp

Head of IT Germany and Regional Office Lead Munich, Microsoft

“The CIONET App allows us to learn from eachother and and find the courage to be authentic by hearing stories from others! Thanks to Tobias and the whole team for bringing us together:-) ”
Mauricio Amaro

Mauricio Amaro

IT Director, IT Thinker

“The main things that I would like to get from our community of Digital Leaders are: networking, share experiences, share best practices and successful cases, and comments and recommendations about providers.”
Vijay Anand

Vijay Anand

Vice president IT & Compliance, VisionaryRCM (A Carlyle Grp Company)

“The CIONET app provides a really cool platform to network and share insights.”

About CIONET

CIONET’s mission is to help IT executives become more at ease and above all more successful in their jobs. So they can do more than just keep up with change but ultimately define it. CIONET opens up a whole new universe of opportunities in IT management.

With the largest membership of corporate digital leaders across Europe, Latin America, US and Australia, CIONET has the expertise and pioneering vision to solve or address any IT management challenge.

Why join CIONET?

From our local and global events, from our publications and research to our executive education programmes, everything we do is aimed at making sure digital leaders maximise their potential.

Connect

with digital leaders who share your interests, who face the same challenges, who care about the same topics.

Share

stories, experiences, and ideas around our shared mission.

Learn

from our exclusive events, publications and research.

Find

inspiration, thought-provoking conversations, expert perspectives and exclusive first-hand content each and every day

Grow

and make better, more well-informed decisions on how to lead your digital business.

Maximise

your potential. Realise your ambitions.

About CIONET

Join CIONET

We'd love to welcome you as the newest member of our CIONET community where Digital Leaders unite. 

You can either send us a registered handwritten letter explaining why you'd like to become a member or you can simply talk to us right here!

Contact us

Would you like to know more about CIONET, membership or partnership opportunities? Do you have feedback or any other question? Send us a message!