FUJITSU TARGETS ENERGY FIRMS FOR SUPER FAST PILOT
News release
Fujitsu
• Fujitsu to outline benefits of high performance computing in Highlands
• IT company seeking first two firms for pilot scheme
• Pioneering system to feature in first Energy North PLaN event
The countless benefits of bringing super-fast computer technology to the Highlands will be outlined to energy firms in the north of Scotland by IT giant Fujitsu next week.
Senior members of the Fujitsu team in Scotland will be presenting information about High Performance Computing (HPC), and the recently publicised pilot that will be implemented in partnership with Energy North and The Highland Council, at a lunchtime event on 22 October in the Kingsmills Hotel, Inverness.
The presentation – the first of Energy North’s planned Presentation, Lunch and Network (PLaN) events – is aimed at securing further interest in HPC from Energy North members and eventually choosing two companies to take part in the pilot.
The HPC network will link the Highlands with computer clusters in other parts of the UK, as well as in Europe, China, Japan and the US.
The combined power will mean that work that normally takes days, or even months, can be completed in hours or minutes, allowing connected firms to improve innovation and productivity.
Fujitsu, which will fund the pilot, says it has been inspired by proposals for a Highland Science Skills Academy which is aimed at growing science, IT and technology careers. It predicts the super-fast network could revolutionise research and development operations in the area.
Jim Brophy, Fujitsu’s Client Director, said: “The PLaN event will allow Fujitsu to outline the enormous benefits of HPC to the Highlands, and to Energy North companies in particular.
“We are eager to secure two companies to take part in the pilot scheme and demonstrate the widespread advantages this technology will bring.”
HPC can handle and analyse huge amounts of data at high speed, giving businesses and research institutions unprecedented problem-solving power that will accelerate and improve their work.
Among its countless uses, HPC can advance medical research and treatments, develop climate change technology, create complex simulations and animated graphics and carry out rapid mathematical calculations.
It is hoped it will encourage companies to consider establishing research and development operations in the area, which could bring new, highly-qualified posts to the area.
The Highland HPC pilot will centre on two ‘host’ companies chosen by Fujitsu and Energy North. The system will use a portal to connect initially to a HPC cluster in Wales and then to Fujitsu operations at Hayes in Middlesex, the base for the Laboratories of Europe, a global network of research facilities in Europe, Japan and the US.
The Welsh HPC network, which connects six universities, as well as private sector companies, can run at 320 tflops – capable of 320 trillion operations every second.
It is already being used on a wide variety of projects, from improving cancer and dementia treatments and optimising offshore wind farms, to producing computer-generated imagery for movies and nuclear energy research.
Ian Couper, Chief Executive of Energy North, said: “High performance computing is an exciting opportunity for the energy sector and the PLaN event will give us fresh insight into this development and how it can help companies evolve and innovate.”
Booking for the event can be done via the Energy North website http://www.energynorth.co.uk/Events/October-PLaN-with-Fujitsu.aspx
For more information, please contact:
John Ross, Lucid PR: 01463 724593; 077300 99617
johnross@lucidmessages.com
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