STFC and IBM collaboration on major HPC development

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and IBM announced a major collaboration that marked the launch of the International Centre of Excellence for Computational Science and Engineering (ICE-CSE) at STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire.

The Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) announced its e-infrastructure initiative in October 2011, with £145million funding to create the necessary computer and network facilities for the UK to access this potential benefit. £30m of this was earmarked for HPC at STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory, located at the Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus (Daresbury SIC). This was in addition to an earlier government investment of £7.5m into HPC when the creation of an Enterprise Zone at Daresbury SIC was announced. Following a rigorous tender process as a result of these investments, IBM was named as the successful bidder to form a unique research, development and business outreach collaboration with STFC.

Under the initial 3 year agreement, STFC will invest in IBM’s most advanced hardware systems, most notably the BlueGene/Q and iDataplex.

Professor John Womersley, Chief Executive at STFC, said: “The ICE-CSE is a key component of the government’s e-infrastructure initiative. It is also essential to the UK maintaining its position as a major innovative economy and a global scientific research leader. Our collaboration with IBM will allow industries to bring their problems to this centre, and to design, optimise and test new solutions on the UK's largest Supercomputer. We are very excited to be working with IBM, and together we will establish a hub of innovation development to stimulate R&D based investment. By hosting some of IBM’s most advanced supercomputers, we will develop the urgently needed software applications of the future, and support the economic and societal benefits we all wish to see from our work.”

Stephen Leonard, Chief Executive, IBM UK and Ireland said “The challenge facing many industries is to understand how to use the power of supercomputers. The IBM collaboration with the STFC will give UK industry exceptional access to world class researchers to help unlock the potential of HPC as we look to solve key technical challenges faced by a broad range of sectors. By making HPC easier to use and more directly accessible to these industries, they will become more innovative and competitive. This will drive a rebalancing of the economy and an increase in revenue to the UK Treasury.”