UK's best supercomputer set to launch in Lothian

Published on Tuesday 8 January 2008 13:22

THE biggest and most advanced supercomputer in the UK is set to be launched near the Capital next week.

Hector – or High-End Computing Terascale Resources – will enable researchers to forecast the impact of climate change, project the spread of epidemics and develop new drugs.

The 113 million machine will be based at Edinburgh University's advanced computing facility at Edinburgh Technopole at Roslin, Midlothian.

It will be surrounded by top-level security 24-hours a day to stop intruders getting in.

The system will run for six years and be operated by Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre (EPCC) – one of Europe's leading centres for the provision of supercomputer services to universities.

Hector is capable of 63 million million calculations a second and is the equivalent of around 12,000 desktop systems. It is said that Hector's power is the equivalent of every person on Earth carrying out 10,000 calculations in a second, all at the same time.

Dr Alan Simpson, director of Edinburgh University company UoE HPCx, said: "It's great to see Edinburgh and Scotland leading the way in this technology.

"There are people looking at climate change, people looking at improved pharmaceuticals and the way that drugs interact with the human body, and people looking at acquiring quieter, more fuel-efficient jet engines."

Hector aims to provide a world-class service for UK-based academic research, as well as enabling researchers to work with their colleagues in Europe and worldwide.

Academic researchers from across the country will pay to link up with the Cray XT4 supercomputer via the internet.

It is expected that Hector will attract up to 1000 users.