High Performance Computing
% of total UK university research HPC owned by SES universities (in terms of no. of cores)
Below is a list of HPC systems which are available at SES institutions.
- Oxford Advanced Research Computing (ARC) is the central HPC service for the University of Oxford
- UCL Research IT Services provide access to high performance computing platforms, software and research applications, HPC training and support. UCL is now an NVIDIA GPU Research Centre.
- Southampton HPC machine, Iridis, which is used by university researchers who are limited by the computing capability of their desktop PC.
- CORE (Cambridge and Imperial) provides flexible HPC and data analysis capability. Cambridge HPC
- Imperial HPC
Novel Architectures
Novel architectures, still in the research stage of development, hold promise for the evolution of future technologies. Some of the exciting research projects into novel architectures are listed below.
- The Networked Quantum Information Technologies (NQIT) hub is part of the UK National Quantum Technology Programme. It is led by Oxford Quantum who work closely with globally leading quantum centres and major companies.
- Dataflow compute engines at Imperial College London.
- Algorithms and Software for Emerging Architectures (ASEArch). Investigates novel architectures such as NVidia GPUs and Intel Xeon Phi accelerators, assisting other CCPs in their exploitation.
- The European project, Mont-Blanc, of which the University of Bristol is a partner is designing a new type of computer architecture capable of setting future global HPC standards.
In early 2015, SES released a report on the barriers to using research HPC experienced by UK industry based on our work with organisations and their demand for higher compute power. The consortium is committed to exploring how boundaries to working with business can be lowered – more information can be found in ‘High Performance Computing for Industry: The Case of the Centre for Innovation’.
