ACADEMIA

eResearch SA launched South Australia's most powerful public research computer.

Dubbed "The Tizard Machine" in memory of James Tizard, a previous director of the eResearch SA, researchers say the computer is six times faster than its predecessor and will be a "game changer" in the fight against diseases such as cancer, cystic fibrosis and epilepsy.

It is also expected to support scientific efforts to unlock the secrets of evolution, improve the compatibility of medical implants and develop sustainable food and agriculture practices.

"This is the biggest and fastest supercomputer South Australian researchers have ever had access to," eResearch SA deputy directory Dr Paul Coddington said.

"Our previous supercomputer was capable of six trillion calculations per second, Tizard provides 40 trillion calculations per second, so it ... provides more memory, and is more energy efficient than our previous machine."

By contrast, a personal computer with a 3 gigahertz processor is capable of about 3 billion processes per second, while the world's fastest supercomputer is capable of 8.162 quadrillion operations per second.

The supercomputer's design has been dictated by the specific needs of researchers, and University of Adelaide head of Bioinformatics Professor David Adelson said it will make research easier and allow experts to get results faster.

South Australia is banking on the supercomputer, which is located in the University of Adelaide's Data Centre, to attract increasing numbers of world class researchers to the state.

Science Minister Tom Kenyon said its launch was an exciting development for the state's computing research capability.

"It's an important investment ... which will ensure that our State remains competitive in research fields requiring large and complex calculations," Mr Kenyon said.