UK University Research Community and UK Economy to Benefit
from Sharing Logicalis HPC Cloud Environment
Slough, UK, 11 July 2011 – International
solutions provider, Logicalis UK, today unveiled its JANET- Connected Shared Research Cloud platform.
A shared high performance computing resource, directly connected to
the JANET network, the platform enables Universities to access more
real-time research processing than they can afford individually,
releasing more budget for academic research and making them more
competitive in the world marketplace.
The service, located in the UK, and built on the IBM POWER7
platform, enables communities of researchers to pool their funding
to buy a shared slice of high performance computer (HPC)
processing. The Logicalis cloud dynamically allocates the HPC pool
equitably in real-time, with each institution able to use up to
100% of the pool. Dynamic sharing of high performance computing
platforms dramatically cuts the cost of accessing these scarce
processing resources.
“University budgets are under severe pressure”, comments Tom
Kelly, Managing Director of Logicalis UK, “and for those where
research is a primary source of income, balancing the need for high
performance computing power with diminishing budgets puts their
global competitive edge at stake. Sharing a large slice of
high performance computing, across a network they trust, offers a
major opportunity for academics running research projects to access
the computing resources they need at a fraction of the cost of
building it themselves. At a time when researchers in UK
Universities have to compete for work in the global market,
Logicalis’ investment in this shared research HPC platform will
give the UK economy a valuable asset to protect and grow what is
now seen as a critical macro-economic stimulant. This
innovation between the IT and HE sectors will benefit the UK
research sector and the UK economy as a whole.”
Logicalis Shared Research Cloud is one of a new range of
services offered by Logicalis to the education community through
its connection to the JANET network. Logicalis recently
announced availability of its Intel Cloud platform, and plans to
launch a Research Collaboration service in the autumn of 2011. This
will enable researchers to work more collaboratively on projects
both internally and within the wider research ecosystem.
Logicalis believes that by combining HPC platforms and cloud based
collaboration, the UK HE research community will be able to better
compete with the growing competition from emerging research
focussed nations.
Tim Marshall, CEO at JANET(UK) notes, “UK Research is a key
driver in the knowledge economy, and when funding is constrained
finding new models to exploit opportunities such as high
performance computing is critical. In this offering Logicalis have
created one such important opportunity.”
Simon Daykin, CTO at Logicalis UK
comments, “The UK has a unique asset in JANET, one that is
undervalued and underestimated outside of the sector, and with the
launch of the Shared Research Cloud, we hope to be able to
demonstrate the UK is the place where private sector companies
around the world should bring their research projects. The
technology behind this platform is well understood and used in high
computational environments, and in being able to share this
resource across the research community, we are changing the cost
model and competitiveness of an already strong sector.
‘Our HPC platform can support UNIX and LINUX HPC workloads and
its unique workload sharing and optimisation technology maintains a
high probability that even when a slice of processing is shared
amongst three, four or more projects, each one will access near
100% of the shared pool. Cloud computing has a reputation of
being a slightly nebulous concept, but if the industry needs a
concrete example of how sharing resources can create massive
efficiencies, then the Logicalis Shared Research Cloud is it.”
The Shared Research Cloud is available immediately.
About Logicalis
Logicalis is an international provider of
integrated information and communications technology (ICT)
solutions and services founded on a superior breadth of knowledge
and expertise in communications & collaboration; data centre;
and professional and managed services.
Logicalis Group employs over 1,900 people
worldwide, including highly trained service specialists who design,
specify, deploy and manage complex ICT infrastructures to meet the
needs of over 5,000 corporate and public sector customers. To
achieve this, Logicalis maintains strong partnerships with
technology leaders such as Cisco, HP, IBM and Microsoft.
The Logicalis Group has annualised revenues of $1
billion, from operations in the UK, US, Germany, South America and
Asia Pacific, and is fast establishing itself as one of the leading
IT and Communications solution integrators, specialising in the
areas of advanced technologies and services.
The Logicalis Group is a division of Datatec
Limited, a $3.7 billion revenue business listed on the Johannesburg
and London AIM Stock Exchanges.
Trademarks
JANET® and JANET(UK)® are registered trademarks
of the Higher Education Funding Councils for England, Scotland and
Wales. The JNT Association is the registered user of these
trademarks.
About JANET(UK)
JANET(UK) is responsible for the operation
and development of JANET, the UK’s research and education network,
and its associated services. Funded by JISC (the Joint Information
Systems Committee), JANET is one of the world’s leading research
and education networks and has been developed over 25 years to
ensure that its users’ networking requirements are not only met but
are also enhanced through a programme of leading-edge developments
and services.
For further information please
contact:
Logicalis UK
Andrew
Parker/Jennifer Manning
Cohesive Communications
T: +44 (0)1291 626200
E: Logicalis@cohesive.uk.com