Robert Lloyd - a Sir Gar Blog of random news . . . and some Clecs!

A new mechanism for building quantum computers has been proposed by an international team of scientists led by Dr Daniel Klaus Burgarth at Aberystwyth University. Writing in the scientific journal Nature Communications ( http://www.nature.com/ncomms/index.html ), Dr Burgarth et al describe how the frequent observation of a basic building block of a quantum system, known as a qubit, could lead to the creation of far more powerful computers. The paper, Exponential rise of dynamic complexity in quantum computing through projections http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/141010/ncomms6173/full/ncomms6173.html is published today, Friday 10 October 2014. While the possibility of using quantum effects to develop a new type of computer has been known for over 30 years, only small “quantum computers” have been built until now. Scientists are now engaged in a world wide effort to build large quantum computers which will be able perform some very complex computations in a very short time, tasks tha...

HPC Wales, the high performance computer team, will be holding an Autumn School in Swansea next week. It consists of three separate workshops geared towards students, academics and business professionals looking to enhance their skills in parallel computing. Places are limited, so please book early to avoid disappointment. Autumn School Workshops · Introduction to HPC and Linux - 16th September 2014 · Parallel programming using MPI - 17th & 18th September 2014 · Debugging and Profiling - 19th September 2014 Location Digital Technium Lab 002, Singleton Park, University of Swansea Further information on these courses can be found via the links above and on the Events section of the HPC website. To reserve a place please contact info@hpcwales.co.uk .

Here are some Q&As on the HPC Wales high performance computer project (see earlier posts on this blog for more information) - What are the main objectives of HPC Wales? HPC Wales principle objective is to accelerate academic research and speed up innovation into markets. It will boost and support innovation and enterprise and provide the essential infrastructure, services and develop the high level skills to meet the needs of research and innovation in businesses. What sectors will it support? HPC Wales will help to meet the high performance computing capacity and skills needs of those priority research sectors identified by the Welsh Assembly Government (Digital and Creative industries, ICT, Environment and Energy, Bio and Life sciences, Advanced material and manufacturing, Financial and Professional Services), acting as a catalyst to bring technology to market quicker and to speed up economic development. It will also provide a cross cutting technology and research platform supp...

Fujitsu, Wales and supercomputing - Fast Facts Background to Fujitsu and supercomputing:  Supercomputer systems are built from groups of computers or consolidated compute capability which are designed lto perform complex calculations or deliver complex output. Using software, computing tasks are broken down in to parts and performed in parallel among computing nodes (processors) to accelerate calculation speed  Supercomputing is a subset of High-Performance Computing (HPC)  A supercomputer of the early 1990s, with a speed of 1 gigaflop (1 billion calculations per second), would have the same performance as a smartphone in 2011  In 1977 Fujitsu developed Japan’s first supercomputer, the FACOM 230-75 APU  Fujitsu is developing the ‘K Computer’, Japan’s next-generation supercomputer, with RIKEN, a leading scientific research institution under the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. This is a central part of Japan’s prominent initiative to establish the H...

The funding is now in place for the massive HPC Wales supercomputer project. HPC Wales is set to deliver significant long term benefits to business, industry and the Welsh economy. Funding for the project comes from the following : * £19m from ERDF and ESF European funds channelled through WEFO. * £10m from the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). * £4m from collaborating institutions. * £5m from the Welsh Assembly Government/ HEFCW £2m private sector and research income The £40m investment will cover infrastructure development, equipment, software research, management and operational costs over the first five year to 2015 when HPC Wales will become self supporting and sustainable. HPC Wales will – * Stimulate innovation and R&D * Boost business. * Develop specialist skills and * Attract inward investment. Press release issued by Robert Lloyd on behalf of HPC Wales.

Swansea University is one of the Welsh academic institutions which will benefit from the launch of the new HPC super computer project for Wales. (See earlier posts starting at http://sirgarblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-40m-super-computer-project-for.html ) Here are some short case study examples of how Swansea will benefit from the HPC Wales project. Linking with business The ITWales project is part of the School of Physical Sciences at Swansea University. ITWales believes that the HPC project will open up huge opportunities for businesses that require the highest level of support in terms of leading edge computing resources. Professor Min Chen said: “With ITWales already engaging with Welsh SMEs from a wide range of sectors it could stimulate business awareness of this unique facility. “ITWales has played a significant role in putting Swansea University and our Computer Science Department on the business map. It has been an integral project that has linked academia with business and t...

Cardiff University is one of the Welsh academic institutions which will benefit from the launch of the new HPC super computer project for Wales. (See earlier posts starting at http://sirgarblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-40m-super-computer-project-for.html ) Here are some short case study examples of how Cardiff will benefit from the HPC Wales project. Driving Chemistry on an Industrial Scale Researchers at Cardiff University are involved in a “Grand Challenge” collaboration with the University of Nottingham and the University of York to use light from the sun. Included in this effort will be the transformation of atmospheric carbon dioxide into usable liquid fuels and commodity chemicals, with solar radiation providing the energy source. The project covers everything from basic chemistry and physics to engineering, and involves the need for computer simulation at every stage. Industrial collaborators include Eastman Kodak and Hoffmann la Roche. Structural problems in solid state and ma...

Swansea Metropolitan University is one of the Welsh academic institutions which will benefit from the launch of the new HPC super computer project for Wales. (See earlier posts starting at http://sirgarblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-40m-super-computer-project-for.html ) Here is one example for how 'The Met' will benefit from the HPC Wales project. Swansea Animation Days (SAND) Swansea Metropolitan University provides a focus for digital visualisation across the creative media sector, including animation, video games and film. Combining the computational skills development and infrastructure capabilities of HPC Wales, together with the creative expertise and industrial engagement of SAND, this will provide a regional infrastructure that will greatly support the growth of a key WAG priority sector across Convergence Wales. SAND is a highly prestigious annual international computer graphic imagery (CGI) event that continues to be a vital landmark on the digital media calendar, attr...

Bangor University has a number of projects in mind to tie-in with the launch of the new HPC super computer project for Wales. (See earlier posts starting at http://sirgarblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-40m-super-computer-project-for.html ) Here are a few case studies of the sort of work which will benefit from the HPC Wales project - How the brain works Bangor has a world renowned academic, Professor Fergus Lowe, who studies the way children think about healthy eating, eating fruit and vegetables and so on. He has a 20 year programme where he has proven empirically that the behaviour of children who are exposed to health eating techniques can be changed. Obviously, obesity is a great problem for the Western World. It can cause huge costs in terms of health in later life and the knock-on impact on our health service. Bangor has a team of experts who have been able to measure what happens in the brain. Bangor has the scanners, the people and huge data sets of material. HPC will allow us to...

A Swansea-based heart technology business is one of a host of science-based firms which stands to benefit from the launch of the HPC Wales super computer project. Calon Cardio-Technology Ltd is developing the next generation of implantable micro-pumps for the treatment of heart failure. It is cutting edge work aimed at making heart assist pumps the routine method of treating heart failure. “We are developing technology which tackles what is universally recognised as a global health problem of epidemic proportions,” said Calon Cardio-Technology managing director Kevin Fernquest. “We are carrying out very innovative work here in Swansea and make extensive use of computer modelling and simulation in our research and development, which significantly reduces our product development phase and, consequently, the time to market. “Obviously, access to the very best technology that high performance computing can offer is a major boost for a business like ours. “I am sure other SMEs in Wales wil...

They are full of red hot ideas at the University of Glamorgan in Pontypridd – and the launch of the HPC Wales super computer project will enable them to fire up even more innovations. Steven Wilcox, the university’s Professor of Intelligent Systems Engineering, is thrilled at the benefits HPC will bring. “Quite simply, work which could take us up to a week currently could be done in less than an hour,” he said. “The difference in computer power is that dramatic and it will open up a whole host of new horizons for us.” The Department of Engineering ( www.engineering.research.glam.ac.uk ) at the Treforest Campus is currently studying industrial furnaces in collaboration with EU industrial partners such as Corus. Professor Wilcox explained: “We produce computer models to replicate the behaviour of glass furnaces which produce molten bottle glass. We can use the models to study the placing of auxiliary burners, how to use fuel more efficiently and how to reduce emissions. “Computational fl...

As one of the oldest and largest Departments of Geography and Earth Science in Britain, the Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, IGES ( http://www.aber.ac.uk/en/iges ) at Aberystwyth has always been at the cutting edge of innovations in teaching and research. The launch of the HPC Wales super computer project (featured on this blog earlier this week) will help ensure it stays in the vanguard studying human geography and physical geography. And, according to Professor Richard Lucas at the IGES, it will open up new avenues for collaborations with small to medium-size businesses (SMEs), Government organisations and educational institutions in Wales, as well as in the UK and internationally. “Here at Aberystwyth, we are very excited at the potential opportunities the HPC project will open up. “It will give us a massive competitive edge in research and analysing date and we are looking forward immensely to the project getting underway. "At Aberystwyth, a significant element of ou...

Pictures from the launch of the HPC Wales - High Performance Computing Wales - project. The launch in Cardiff was attended by Deputy First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones, Minister for the Economy and Transport, Lesley Griffiths, Deputy Minister for Science, Innovation and Skills, and Professor Noel Lloyd, chair of Higher Education Wales and vice-chancellor of Aberystwyth University. See earlier posts starting at - http://sirgarblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-40m-super-computer-project-for.html

The development of HPC Wales will make a massive difference to creative media companies in Wales, according to Alan Moult, director of North Wales-based Motion Blur Ltd. The Pwllheli-based firm has an international reputation and a strong client base supplying the creative industries with digital art and computer 2D and 3D animation. Mr Moult said: “Due to the geography, running a business in Wales, particularly here in Gwynedd, North Wales has always been extremely challenging. “The internet has changed things, largely for the better, but not always. This instantly accessible, global market and delivery conduit has also brought stiff competition, making it hard to compete in a difficult climate. “HPC on the ‘doorstep’ could go a long way in redressing some of the balance.” Motion Blur has collaborated with Glyndwr University in Wrexham on a number of occasions and hopes to build on its successful links with the academic world. Motion Blur has a strong track record. The firm won a Prom...

See earlier posts starting at - http://sirgarblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-40m-super-computer-project-for.html Global industry examples of companies using HPC Technology Wal-Mart uses HPC modelling to optimise its supply chain, including performing daily stock analysis across its entire worldwide shop network Fed-Ex uses HPC systems to simulate and plan the delivery of millions of items around the world each day through its fleet of 600+ aircraft and 75,000 vehicles The NASDAQ Stock Exchange uses HPC to process over two billion transactions daily at rates of more than 200,000 transactions per second. Technology costs were reduced by 70% in the last three years using commodity HPC hardware. Motorola uses HPC to produce models and simulations of wireless devices and radio links needed to develop global telecommunications services. The effects of buildings and geographical features on wireless signals can be accurately predicted using HPC enabling potential problems to be designed out Tex...

See previous post - http://sirgarblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-40m-super-computer-project-for.html High Performance Computing High Performance Computing refers to any computational activity requiring more that a single computer to execute a task. Supercomputers and computer clusters are used to solve advanced computation problems and are employed for specialized applications. Major applications include; Data storage and analysis; Data mining; Simulations; Modelling; Software development; Visualisation of complex data ;Rapid mathematical calculations. Academic expertise HPC Wales is already opening up new International linkages and bringing new expertise into Wales. Glyndwr University has already arranged the appointment of two new visiting professors: Prof Luciano Tarricone, of the University of Salento in Italy), a computational electromagnetics specialist, who has focused on the application of high performance computing to this field and has published several books on it. Prof Te...

A major project announced today (July 12) represents a major advance for supercomputing in Wales and is set to deliver significant long term benefits to business, industry and the Welsh economy. High Performance Computing Wales (HPC Wales) is a £40million five year project to give businesses and universities involved in commercially focussed research across Wales access to the most advanced and evolving computing technology available. HPC Wales will invest in state-of-the-art computing technology, infrastructure and facilities on a pan-Wales basis, high level skills development and training and provide tailor made support services to business. The availability of this technology is set to have a major impact on the economy, on business competitiveness, on innovation, high value R&D in higher education institutions and skills development. It is set to create more than 400 jobs across key industry sectors. With support of £24 million from the Welsh Assembly Government, including from...