UC contributes $8 million to National eScience Infrastructure
07 February 2011
The University of Canterbury will invest $8 million in the National eScience Infrastructure (NeSI) in a move that builds on its existing significant investment in High Performance Computing (HPC).
The University of Canterbury will invest $8 million in the National eScience Infrastructure (NeSI) in a move that builds on its existing significant investment in High Performance Computing (HPC).
The Government has announced a $27.4 million investment in NeSI over the next four years with $21 million in co-investment coming from UC, the University of Auckland and the University of Otago, Crown Research Institutes, NIWA, AgResearch and Landcare Research.
"The University of Canterbury is committed to investing in infrastructure that provides a world-class learning environment for students and researchers," said UC Vice-Chancellor Rod Carr.
"Our $8m contribution to NeSI builds on our significant investment in High Performance Computing. "As the major university investor and a lead HPC provider for New Zealand we look forward to collaborating with our CRI and university partners locally and internationally to deliver top quality science and technology outcomes.
"The upgrade will likely provide at least 10 times the current computational power and increased storage - up to 200 times present levels. This is an exciting development in e-Science for UC and for New Zealand."
The co-investor institutions will work together to build NeSI, which will include both new and existing high performance computing hardware and services distributed across those institutions, and will be made available nationwide.
Access to these services will be prioritised to areas supporting the Government's Economic Growth Agenda. These range from agriculture to health, materials, biological industries, energy, environment, climate and hazards mitigation research.
NeSI will use the Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network (KAREN) to send data between computers. KAREN provides high speed (10 gigabytes a second) broadband to research and education organisations, and some government institutions.
"UC's leadership role in technology investment in the tertiary sector enables us to carry out world-class research with a range of collaborators around the world," said Professor Tim David, Director of UC's BlueFern HPC Unit.
"We are very excited about the future potential that this investment will unlock."
What to read next:
2023 UC Young New Zealander of the Year announced
Shaneel Lal was named 2023 Te Mātātahi o te Tau | University of Canterbury Young New Zealander of the Year for leading the way to a more inclusive ...
UC awards honorary doctorate to Margaret Austin
The University of Canterbury is bestowing an honorary doctorate on educator, politician, scientist and passionate community advocate, Margaret Austin.