Slovenian firm sets up HPC rent-a-cycle shop

IBM announced this week that it is working with Arctur, a software development firm in Slovenia, to build an iDataPlex system that will be made available for businesses in the region on a time share basis (the Republic of Slovenia is a small country on the right side of the top of the Italian boot in south eastern Europe). We’ve seen a few other companies offer HPC cycles for sale recently, including SGI, Penguin, and NewServers in the US, along with Amazon of course.

IBM logoArctur expects its clients will use the IBM iDataPlex system in areas such as developing and testing new composite materials, which are formed by the combination of two or more materials with very different properties. These composite materials, which can be man-made or natural, are being used in industries such as aerospace, automotive, bridge and building, marine, sporting goods, and textile parts and assembly. It can take up to 12 months to design, test and implement a new product from composite materials. The possibility to run the extensive simulations on a supercomputer, especially on micro or nano scale, may save clients up to 75% of their development time.

“As the demand for supercomputer-style power grows, IBM is packaging the technology in new ways for users that might not have the space, power and resources required to build traditional-style clusters,” said Roman Koritnik, Country General Manager, IBM Slovenia. “The iDataPlex provides the right mix of technology innovation and computing power to help Arctur and its clients reach their ambitious goals.”

The iDataPlex will run Linux and will initially build out at 10 peak TFLOPS, with the expectation that it could grow to 25 TFLOPS if the venture is successful.