UT San Antonio to Invest in Research Computing Infrastructure

Supported by a technology grant from Dell Technologies, The University of Texas at San Antonio is building out its high-performance computing infrastructure to serve its research programs, particularly in data science and cybersecurity.

The university is implementing a range of Dell Technologies solutions, including servers, storage, networking and data protection, according to a news announcement. A new HPC cluster will feature 156 nodes of Dell EMC PowerEdge servers, capable of 353 teraflops — more than doubling the computing speed of the UTSA's current SHAMU HPC cluster. The new infrastructure will "provide reliable services, reduce operating expenses, transform procedures and operating models as well as offer supercomputing resources as a service," the announcement said.

UTSA is working toward attaining National Research University Fund eligibility and an R1 designation by the Carnegie Commission. The new computing infrastructure will meet the guidelines and requirements of the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of Energy, as well as Texas statutes, helping move the university's research efforts forward. Current UTSA research programs benefiting from the technology grant include the Open Cloud Institute, Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute and Matrix AI Consortium.

"Dell's technology donation to UTSA's knowledge enterprise will drive further transdisciplinary research across the university including the humanities and the arts as we expand the research IT infrastructure to be inclusive for all," commented Bernard Arulanandam, vice president for research, economic development and knowledge enterprise at UTSA, in a statement. "Our dedicated research centers and institutes will benefit from this investment, by spurring additional high-research activities and engaging even more undergraduate and graduate students in the investigative process."

About the Author

Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

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