Supercomputer to tackle problems super fast

Thursday, 19 August 2004

South Australian scientists and researchers will now be able to make their discoveries much more quickly, thanks to the purchase of a new supercomputer, Aquila. The supercomputer was launched today at the University of Adelaide.

The new supercomputer offers breakthroughs in scientific disciplines as diverse as salinity, climate modelling, genetics, physics, chemistry, bioinformatics, fluid dynamics, petroleum engineering, geophysics, cancer treatment and nanotechnology.

The purchase was made possible by a State Government grant of $1.035 million. The SA Partnership for Advanced Computing (SAPAC) along with contributions from SGI (also known as Silicon Graphics), Intel and the South Australian Consortium for IT&T (SACITT) put the package together.

"Aquila is a world class supercomputing facility that will greatly increase the power and diversity of South Australia's high-performance computing arsenal.

"This exciting new investment by the State Government, SGI, Intel and the three South Australian universities will provide an enormous boost to the State's researchers and industry in areas as diverse as drug design, petroleum and mining engineering, car and component manufacturing, and water resource management and the environment," said Professor Tony Williams, Director of SAPAC.

SAPAC serves as the focus for the support of advanced, high-performance, and grid computing in South Australia and is a joint venture of the three South Australian Universities: the University of Adelaide, Flinders University and the University of South Australia.

Mr Bill LaRosa, SGI's senior vice president for the Inter Continental region said: "We are delighted to be working with SAPAC, and we look forward to a very productive relationship with South Australia's world class scientists.

"Providing answers to the biggest scientific problems today will lead to a better South Australia, and to a more liveable world."

SGI chairman and CEO Bob Bishop is a South Australian and a known advocate of Australian science leading the way in discovering answers to major problem.

"I'm very pleased that South Australia is taking this exciting leap towards performing critically important science. The new SGI Altix supercomputer will help to achieve this outcome, and fuel economic growth for South Australia," Mr Bishop said.

The State Government allocated $3.135 million this financial year to grow the State's high performance computing capacity, and to support the development of an ultra high-speed telecommunications link, SABRENet.

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