NewsByte
July 2012
Welcome from the CEO
I would like to thank everyone who attended a great
celebration event at the Senedd in May, particularly
our industry partners who enthused and inspired us
about the benefits of high performance computing.
The Welsh Government, EU
Commission, UK Government and large
corporates all agree that HPC as a
part of wider e-infrastructure, is critical
for research and innovation. Recent
investments across the UK and Europe,
at over £600m, have been high, and
will need to be maintained longer term
for our economies to be competitive,
especially with competition from the
USA, Japan and China.
There is no doubt that researchers
and innovators in academia and large
companies will benefit from recent
investments, but because the UK
needs SMEs for economic growth, the
Government is also keen to ensure
that SMEs have access to the latest
HPC technology. HPC Wales is already
working with SMEs and our door is very
much open to them.
At HPC Wales we provide access to
the latest technology that SMEs may
find difficult to afford. We also provide
HPC training and support to individuals
in business, and facilitate collaborative
research and innovation links with
academics in our partner Universities.
If you’re interested in any of these
services, please get in touch.
David Craddock, CEO
Driving SME innovation with supercomputing
HPC Wales has hosted two events to
raise awareness of the power of
supercomputing to drive innovation
within SMEs.
High performance computing (HPC),
also known as supercomputing, has
transformed the world we live in and
now HPC Wales is making this
technology accessible to all businesses
in Wales, from technology start-ups
and innovative SMEs to large
organisations.
HPC can give businesses the power to
achieve innovative breakthroughs in
R&D, product design and testing, and
process and service development more
quickly and cost-effectively. It can help
companies strengthen their competitive
positions, reduce costs through
streamlined processes and improved
design, and exploit capabilities such as
data mining to identify new markets
globally.
At two events in Swansea and Bangor
in May, delegates from a range of
hpcwales.co.uk
companies heard presentations from
representatives of Intel, Fujitsu, HPC
Wales, Calon Cardio-Technology Ltd,
National Botanic Garden of Wales and
Knowtra Ltd. The events also provided
an opportunity to find out about
collaborative project opportunities with
researchers.
One of those in attendance was Dr
Mark Yeoman of Continuum Blue Ltd.
He said:“HPC Wales have been
fantastic at providing the information,
help and support we needed to allow
us to make the decision to move
forward with their services.”
James Southern of Fujitsu said:
“Accelerating the uptake of HPC into
SMEs is a priority area for Fujitsu in its
involvement with HPC Wales. The
event at Bangor provided an excellent
opportunity for us to engage with
potential SME users and demonstrate
the benefits of HPC to them.”
For more information on how HPC
Wales could help your business, please
contact us on 01248 675093.
Tristan Wilkinson, Intel, presenting on
the power of supercomputing
Credit James Davies
Barcode project puts Wales Number 1 in the world
HPC Wales has powered a unique
project enabling Wales to become the
first nation in the world to have DNA
barcoded all of its native flowering
plants and conifers.
The National Botanic Garden of Wales
project opens up huge potential for
research into biodiversity conservation
and human health.
The DNA barcodes are now freely
available on the Barcode of Life
Database (BOLD) for use by
researchers throughout the world. They
can be used to identify any plant
species from the tiniest fragment of
plant material enabling a whole range of
applications, from conserving rare
species to developing new drugs.
Species can be identified from pollen
grains, fragments of seeds or roots,
wood, dung, stomach contents or
environmental samples collected from
the air, soil or water. Projects are now
underway throughout the world to DNA
barcode all living things and ensure that
these barcodes are freely available
online as a global resource.
Over the last 4 years the Barcode
Wales project has created a reference
database of DNA barcodes based on
the 1143 native flowering plants and
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conifers of Wales and assembled over
5700 DNA barcodes.
The project has been led by Dr Natasha
de Vere of the National Botanic Garden
of Wales with Dr Tim Rich from the
National Museum Wales and project
partners from Aberystwyth University,
Glamorgan University, University of the
West of England and the Botanical
Society of the British Isles, with high
performance computing support from
High Performance Computing (HPC)
Wales.
Natasha explained the importance of
the technique:
“Wales is now in the unique position of
being able to identify plant species from
materials which in the past would have
been incredibly difficult or impossible.
Through the Barcode Wales project we
have created a powerful platform for a
broad range of research from
biodiversity conservation to human
health. The use of HPC Wales has been
key for our work so far and the
applications of DNA barcoding that we
are now developing are made greatly
more efficient using the power of HPC
Wales.”
The Barcode Wales team is now joining
forces with more partners on a project
to DNA barcode the rest of the UK
native and alien flora. The National
Botanic Garden of Wales, National
Museum Wales and University of
Glamorgan are joining teams from the
Royal Botanic Gardens’ Edinburgh led
by Prof Pete Hollingsworth and Imperial
College and Royal Botanic Gardens,
Kew led by Prof Vincent Savolainen.
The data will be analysed on HPC
Wales, and all of the data will be freely
accessible to anyone who’d like to use
it.
de Vere N, Rich TCG, Ford CR, Trinder
SA, Long C, et al. (2012) DNA
Barcoding the Native Flowering Plants
and Conifers of Wales. PLoS ONE 7(6):
e37945. doi:10.1371/journal.
pone.0037945
From left: Colin Ford, Adelaide Griffith and
Helena Davies from the National Botanic
Garden of Wales
The application of HPC across a vast
range of industry sectors
Dr James Osborne, Training and Outreach Mentor, HPC Wales
Fast facts
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•
•
According to an International Data
Corporation survey, 97% of
companies say that high
performance computing is an
integral part of their ability to
compete and be successful.
According to Intersect 360
Research, with a shift towards
government austerity measures
across the world, HPC spending
in the public sector is expected to
shrink (the public sector accounts
for about 67% of total HPC
investment world-wide).
Intersect 360 Research also
expect commercial and industrial
spending on HPC to remain fairly
strong, with a total world-wide
spend in 2011 of 26.9bn USD, up
5.4% from 2010.
HPC has been an important part
of the research landscape for a
number of years, with established
centres of computing at Lawrence
Livermore, Oak Ridge, and Los Alamos
National Laboratories in the USA
and Daresbury Laboratories and
the Edinburgh Parallel Computing
Centre here in the UK. Those
laboratories work on answering a
range of complicated questions; from
predicting if Nuclear Warheads pose a
risk, to understanding the potentially
disastrous effects of climate change in
a world with an increasing population
- but it’s not all doom and gloom; far
from it. Increasingly, those laboratories
and organisations like HPC Wales
are making significant contributions
across a range of sectors.
We are working with a number of highprofile companies and not for profit
organisations on projects aimed at
improving all of our everyday lives.
One such project is developing a
database of plant information that can
be searched in order to find sources
of compounds that could be used to
cure disease. Another involves the
development of a more effective heart
pump device; crucial at a time when the
demand for heart replacement surgery
in the UK gives patients a thousand to
one chance of making it to the top of
the transplant list. We also have
projects working on early warning
diagnostic kits for cancer, as well as
cures for its various forms.
We’re starting to work with creative
media companies that want to use
our facilities to develop computer
generated movies similar to Toy
Story, Shrek, Monsters Inc. and
The Incredibles,with the Climate
Change Consortium of Wales on
understanding the biodiversity of fish
stocks, and with universities and
industry to understand the impact of the
proposed Severn Barrage, from the
effect it will have on the wildlife in the
local area, to the incredible amount of
energy that the barrage could create
and how it can be constructed and
tested so that it stands up to the
harshest of conditions; all of this
work is being carried out using our
supercomputing network.
In the coming months, we hope to work
with other engineering, aerospace and
automotive companies, to design and
test the next generation of aeroplanes
and cars, from the smallest, most
vital of components, up to entire
assemblies and whole aircraft models
with millions of data points.
Thanks to our funding partners, we
are able to provide heavily (and often
fully) discounted access to our HPC
services to businesses in Wales. We’re
here to support applied research
and innovation, and to support the
Government’s agenda for economic
growth across a wide range of industry
sectors.
Board member appointed fellow of Royal Society
Professor Hywel Thomas, HPC Wales’
newest Board member, has recently
been awarded one of the highest
accolades in the world of science
and engineering, being elected
a fellow of the Royal Society for
Engineering in recognition of
his distinguished career in
geoenvironmental engineering
research.
Pro Vice-Chancellor, Engagement and
International, and former Director of
the School of Engineering at Cardiff
University, Professor Thomas has been
called on for his expertise by the
International Atomic Energy Agency
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and the United Nations Industrial
Development Organisation. He has also
been appointed to a UNESCO Chair
in the Development of a Sustainable
Geo-environment. More recently he
has been exploring the possibilities
of underground heat as sources of
renewable energy.
Professor Thomas said of his
fellowship: “This really is a fantastic
honour, right at the top of the scientific
world. We are a relatively new field of
science, which I and my colleagues at
Cardiff have done much to establish, so
this award is particularly pleasing.”
Professor Hywel Thomas
HPC Wales Showcases at July Innovation
MarketPlace Event
of the interactive workshops, and
explored the wide range of
supercomputing applications available
to businesses. Delegates were
particularly interested in learning
about how the technology could be
applied to their specific industries to
help gain competitive advantage, with
Ian fielding questions from people in
the manufacturing, creative, financial
and life sciences industries.
Andrew Hilton from Calon CardioTechnology Ltd also gave a short
presentation on how the technology
provided by HPC Wales is helping
them in developing industry-leading
heart pumps in a fraction of the time
previously taken.
Dr Ian Grimstead, Training and Outreach Mentor for HPC Wales, engaging in a
one-to-one discussion with one of the delegates at Innovation Marketplace
Since its establishment in 1996,
Cardiff University’s Innovation
Network has held an annual event
aimed at connecting local innovative
businesses together and with
University technology, expertise and
facilities.
which included a presentation and
consultation on the Innovation
Strategy for Wales, a series of
workshops by exhibitors, and the
opportunity for delegates to have
one-to-one meetings to discuss their
specific requirements.
This year more than 100 individuals
from SMEs, business support
organisations and academic
establishments attended the event
Dr Ian Grimstead, Training and
Outreach Mentor for HPC Wales
introduced attendees to high
performance computing (HPC) in one
Delegate Dr Ian Brewis, CBS
Operational Director at Cardiff
University’s Central Biotechnology
Services, said “The event was
extremely informative and impressed
upon me how crucial HPC is to our
research needs.”
If you would value a no obligation
one-to-one discussion on how high
performance computing could be
applied to your business or research
project, please contact us on 01248
675093.
Fujitsu and HPC Wales give keynote speech at
Govnet’s Science and Innovation 2012
On the 27th June HPC Wales technology
partner Fujitsu sponsored GovNet’s 9th
Annual Science & Innovation conference
which took place in London.
Supported by the Department for
Business, Innovation & Skills, the
conference drew together over 400
stakeholders from academia, industry and
government to discuss the critical role
science and innovation has to play in the
Government’s plans for economic growth.
Central to this economic growth is the
need to foster collaboration between
Government, Universities, research
councils industry and the NHS. David
Craddock, CEO of HPC Wales, joined
Michael Keegan, Executive Director,
Fujitsu UK and Ireland, in delivering the
keynote address on the topic of
‘Sustainable growth through the removal
of barriers to innovation’.
High Performance Computing Wales Tŷ Menai, Ffordd Penlan
Parc Menai Business Park, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 4HJ, UK
t: +44 (0)1248 675093
e: [email protected]
hpcwales.co.uk
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Get in touch
If you have any queries, please contact
us by emailing [email protected]
or calling 01248 675093.
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Copyright © High Performance Computing Wales
2012. All rights reserved. No part of this document
may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form
without prior written permission of High Performance
Computing Wales. High Performance Computing
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