Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


Southern Methodist Boosting AI Capacity of HPC

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 11/12/21
Southern Methodist University's HPC operations

Photo: SMU

Southern Methodist University (SMU) is upgrading its high-performance computing operations. The Texas institution is investing $11.5 million in hardware, software and training, specifically to boost its HPC infrastructure for artificial intelligence-powered research. SMU has adopted an NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD, which will go into its data center along with the NVIDIA Quantum InfiniBand networking platform. The NVIDIA technology is being installed at SMU by Houston-based solutions provider Mark III Systems.

The goal is to increase current supercomputer memory 10-fold and achieve AI and machine learning operations 25 times faster than current levels.

The DGX SuperPOD, announced earlier this year by NVIDIA, is a cloud-native, multi-tenant AI supercomputer. It combines multiple DGX systems, which specialize in AI work, and can be shared securely across teams of researchers.

"This partnership will put us in the fast lane for artificial intelligence," predicted SMU President R. Gerald Turner, in a statement. "Research universities like ours have an obligation to actively engage in the development and application of AI for societal good, and this partnership gives us the tools to do it."

"This partnership is a significant boost to our plans for high-performance computing prowess in the academic realm and the expansion of data science across the SMU curriculum," added Elizabeth Loboa, SMU provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. "This will be of great value to our faculty and students who are already using accelerated computing in areas such as drug discovery, computational chemistry, virtualization, astrophysics and engineering."

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Neon blue security locks with a single red highlight

    AI Shifts Cybersecurity Focus from Finding Flaws to Fixing Them

    For decades, one of cybersecurity's most difficult challenges has been finding vulnerabilities before attackers do. A growing number of security professionals now say artificial intelligence is changing that equation, shifting the focus from discovering flaws to fixing them quickly enough to prevent exploitation.

  • robot hand holding stacks of coins

    Designing AI Systems for Financial Aid

    Financial aid offices have been slow to adopt AI, risking technological stagnation at a critical early student touchpoint. Systematic AI integration can improve student experiences and strengthen institutional positioning.

  • silhouette of business person facing wall of data

    Why AI Strategy Belongs in the President's Office

    Institutions that are succeeding with AI share one thing in common, and it is not a better committee, a larger budget, or a more sophisticated technology stack. It is a president who never handed off the steering wheel.

  • digital brain with network connections

    Microsoft Moving to Internally Developed AI Models in Office Apps

    Microsoft is reportedly using its own in-house artificial intelligence models to handle some workloads in Excel and Outlook, offering new evidence that the company is moving its AI strategy beyond model development and into large-scale cost reduction.