Partnership to Increase UK Computer Performance

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) signed an agreement last month with NVIDIA, a world leader in visual and high-performance computing, to develop GPU-based supercomputers that aim to be a thousand times more powerful than any in the UK today. These powerful computers will provide a step-change for researchers and industry in areas such as climate modelling, stress analysis, materials modelling, molecular modelling, and numerical weather simulation.

The agreement follows a £37.5m investment in March last year by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) in High Performance Computing at Daresbury Laboratory as part of its UK e-infrastructure initiative.

David Corney, Acting Director of STFC’s Department of Scientific Computing, said: “This agreement combines NVIDIA’s leading-edge GPU accelerator technologies and HPC expertise with STFC’s software development expertise. This unique combination will enable the development of next-generation massively parallel applications which will be used for exascale performance levels, or a thousand times more powerful than Blue Joule at STFC, the most powerful computer in the UK today.”

Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts said: "The Government is investing in high performance computing to make the UK the location of choice for high tech research and innovation. This partnership will bring together leading researchers and business. It confirms the position of Daresbury and Rutherford Appleton Laboratory as world-class science facilities. It supports our forthcoming Information Economy Industrial Strategy."