DEFENSE

HRH Prince Philip did the honours Friday at Edinburgh University's Advanced Computing Facility, which will help scientists to tackle complex scientific puzzles. The opening of Europe's premier supercomputing facility will help researchers make key scientific breakthroughs in a way that would have been unimaginable only a generation ago. The University of Edinburgh's Advanced Computing Facility (ACF) will enable scientists to make advances in such crucial areas of research as drug discovery, climate prediction and the design of new materials. It will also help researchers grapple with big scientific questions, such as understanding better the structure of the universe, or, at the other end of the scale, exploring the make-up of sub-atomic elementary particles. The opening of the ACF, based at Edinburgh Technopole – a £100 million science and technology park – underlines the University's pioneering role in the use of computer simulation to tackle some of the world's most complex scientific puzzles. Over the past 25 years, computer simulation has helped scientists overcome challenges that are just too complicated – and potentially expensive – to be dealt with by the traditional problem-solving approaches of theory and experiment. The new centre, opened by His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, Chancellor of The University of Edinburgh, houses a vast storage area network and a range of range of high performance computers, including three installed in partnership with IBM. Their vast computing power will enhance the reputation of the University and IBM in this field. The ACF's supercomputers have a combined performance of 20 Teraflops – equivalent to being able to perform 3,000 calculations each second for every man, woman and child on Earth. A generation ago, such capability would have been almost unthinkable. Since 1980, however, the University of Edinburgh has been pre-eminent in exploiting the biggest available High Performance Computers (HPC) to push forward their research in this discipline. In 1990, the University founded Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre to act as the focus for its interests in this area – today, EPCC is the premier HPC centre in Europe. The opening of the ACF, supported by an IBM Shared University Research award, is the University of Edinburgh's latest strategic investment in HPC and its applications. Director of the Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre, Dr Arthur Trew, said: “Computer simulation has, over the past 25 years, become recognised as the third scientific methodology, complementing theory and experiment. The emergence of simulation as this vital scientific tool is due in no small part to the pioneering work of Edinburgh researchers. It has a unique ability to investigate complex scientific phenomena which are too fast, too slow, too large, too small, or simply too expensive for the traditional approaches.” The University Principal, Professor Timothy O'Shea, said: “The University of Edinburgh has a world-wide reputation in science, and also in informatics. These strengths intersect in High Performance Computing and we have enjoyed a strong position in this area through the leadership shown by our physicists in particular, by other elements of the scientific community, and by EPCC. The Advanced Computing Facility is evidence of our very strong and ongoing commitment to maintain that leadership and to support the most advanced possible scientific research.” Freddie Moran, IBM Distinguished Engineer, said: “This Shared University Research award once again demonstrates IBM's commitment to its academic partnership with the University of Edinburgh. The donation of this powerful computer will enable the researchers to accelerate their understanding and knowledge of the fundamental processes governing biological system behaviour. With this knowledge, we will be better able to tackle the big challenges associated with disease mechanisms and drug development: things that will deliver tangible benefits to society in the future. Today marks another important step in what we expect to be a long and fruitful relationship.”