Florida Polytechnic U Develops New Supercomputing Center
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.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].