High-Performance Computing | News

Florida Polytechnic U Develops New Supercomputing Center

• By Leila Meyer
• 08/14/14

Florida Polytechnic University is developing a new supercomputing center to support education and research in emerging technology.

Florida Polytechnic University is the newest member of the State University System of Florida. The new university, which is dedicated exclusively to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), will welcome its first class of 500 students in August.

Florida Polytechnic is developing the supercomputer in collaboration with Flagship Solutions Group using IBM technology. It will consist of five racks of systems with nearly 1,000 core processors, 3,072 terabytes of online memory and platform computing software "to maximize prioritized job scheduling and utilization," according to IBM. The supercomputer will also use IBM software-defined storage technology — code named Elastic Storage — to manage more than 150 terabytes of data.

The 2,500 square foot supercomputing center features glass rooms, "so students, faculty and visitors can observe the work being done with the systems," according to IBM. The center will enable students at the university to receive hands-on training in high performance computing systems. In addition to supporting education in cybersecurity, big data and analytics, cloud virtualization and other engineering and technology fields, faculty members and graduate students at the university will also be able to use the center to support research projects.

"After considering the mission of the University, I realized that an IBM supercomputer complex could satisfy our need for a High Performance Computing center and a student data center for both our curriculum and applied research at a high level," said Tom Hull, vice president and CIO of Florida Polytechnic, in a prepared statement. "... We have architected a complex that will enable the technical ambitions and programs of this new university."

Florida Polytechnic University also plans to work with IBM's Academic Initiative "to help advance curriculum in areas such as big data and analytics, cloud computing, security and social business," according to IBM.