New research facility in WA will help support cloud uptake

The facility will be staffed by director Florian Goessmann, three Curtin IT services staff members and 15 staff members associated with iVEC programs and resources

From left to right: Professor Graeme Wright, Curtin University deputy vice-chancellor research and development; Professor Andrew Rohl, Curtin University researcher; Mal Bryce, iVEC chairman; Florian Goessmann, iVEC@Curtin director

From left to right: Professor Graeme Wright, Curtin University deputy vice-chancellor research and development; Professor Andrew Rohl, Curtin University researcher; Mal Bryce, iVEC chairman; Florian Goessmann, iVEC@Curtin director

A CSIRO joint venture will team up with Curtin University for a new facility that aims to enhance research capabilities.

The facility will integrate Curtin University’s information and communication technology (ICT) services and supercomputers at iVEC, a joint venture between the CSIRO and four Western Australian universities.

iVEC@Curtin will provide a one-stop shop for Curtin researchers requiring ICT assistance, which has become necessary as research shifts to more complex data sets. It will also support the uptake of cloud computing resources.

“iVEC@Curtin will provide the opportunities to pursue active research programs by focusing on investment on people rather than expensive laboratory infrastructure and this will enable researchers to contend with the ever-growing volumes of data which has become the norm of contemporary research,” Professor Graeme Wright, deputy vice-chancellor research and development, said in a statement.

The facility will be staffed by director Florian Goessmann, three Curtin IT services staff members and 15 staff members associated with iVEC programs and resources.

“Engagement and [the] uptake of the latest ICT technology is going to become more important every year, and while radio astronomy, computational chemistry and physics are the main fields using supercomputing technology at Curtin, it is exciting to see an increase of other fields such as humanities and health sciences engaging in it too,” Goessmann said.

iVEC was formed in 2000 and is partly funded from the Western Australian government, the federal government and iVEC partners.

In August last year it was announced a $4 million terascale supercomputer, Fornax, would be operated by iVEC.

The Fornax will be “at the heart” of Australia and New Zealand's co-hosting responsibilities for the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope.

Read more: New HPC facility launched at NZ’s NIWA

The supercomputer is part of the $80 million Pawsey Centre project and will used by the University of Western Australia to carry out computational research.

Follow Stephanie McDonald on Twitter: @stephmcdonald0

Follow Computerworld Australia on Twitter: @ComputerworldAU

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Tags supercomputersinformation and communications technology (ICT)iveciVEC@Curtin

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