Cambridge University Expands Dell Deal For Telescope Project

The University of Cambridge has expanded an existing deal with tech firm Dell to provide it with the “UK’s fastest academic supercomputer.”

Dell’s HPC (high-performance computing) cluster has been developed to aid the University with energy efficient support to construct the world’s largest radio telescope.

Cambridge’s SKA (Square Kilometre Array) project is a multinational programme to deliver a telescope that contains the world’s largest streaming data processor.

The University claimed is required a fast, energy-efficient supercomputer in order to allow its scientists to survey the sky 10,000 times faster than they do now.

The education institution is working with the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) with the aim of placing the project at the forefront of large scale Big Data science. 

Dell will be delivering the HPC in partnership with computing firm NVIDIA and tech company Mellanox.

Dell’s Fresh Air Cooling System In Use

“Dell’s Fresh Air Cooling was an ideal fit for our needs. We needed to create the most efficient supercomputer in the world in order to back the prestige of the SKA project and we couldn’t do that with energy draining technology,” claimed Paul Calleja, HPC service director at the University.

“Dell’s server solutions let us increase compute power while decreasing our energy expenditure,” Calleja added.

“By working with [the University] to develop a custom solution, we are helping them to drive faster processing and increasing energy efficiency, so they get the computational power they need to deliver their important research,” claimed Dell’s public sector director Richard Rawcliffe.

Cambridge is one of just two UK higher education organisations to have multiple HPC systems in place.

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