This week the Wales national supercomputing network announced the launch of 17 local access workstations installed across the country, along with the software, training and support to fully exploit them. HPC Wales has installed the new workstations to provide access to advanced supercomputing technology to businesses suffering from poor broadband speeds and limited connectivity.
The local access workstations will also allow the venture to engage with local businesses directly, providing on-site supercomputing training and support along with sophisticated commercial and open source software packages.
Being able to use HPC Wales’ computer power via the new workstation has produced results and conclusions that otherwise would have taken months or even years to collate and collect – and made those readily available,” said Matthew Boat from Silverwing UK, a Swansea-based firm benefiting from the new workstations. “The time saving has been immense. Given these results we have then been able to examine more complex problems and so improve our product and maintain our market leading position.”
The additional workstations will be a welcome addition for many businesses in Wales, after a recent study by uSwitch found that Wales suffers with some of the slowest download speeds in the UK. The report found that some areas in Wales are experiencing download speeds as low as 0.6 megabits per second (mbps), in stark contrast with the UK average of 18mbps.
HPC Wales’ supercomputing network is accessible to researchers and businesses across the globe that have access to high speed broadband, and these new workstations will bridge the connectivity gap for hundreds more businesses across Wales.
Part-funded by £24 million through the Welsh Government, including support from the European Regional Development Fund, HPC Wales is committed to boosting the Welsh economy by providing academic researchers and businesses with some of the most advanced supercomputing technology in the world.