SINGAPORE, 20 JANUARY 2010 – Singapore industries are set to get advanced applications technologies courtesy of a research and development agreement between Fujitsu and the agency for science technology and research (A*STAR)’s institute of high performance computing (IHPC).
Both partners will synergise their energies to jointly develop advanced applications technologies for petascale computing or the next generation of scientific computing.
High-speed calculation
What makes petascale computing unique is its ability to leverage sophisticated supercomputers to undertake a quadrillion (1015) calculations per second. Calculation done at this high speed is expected to provide high quality computing that will help to solve difficult scientific and engineering problems.
Standard software will not be able to complement these computers and thus a complete set of compatible software applications will be built to enable the effective use of the immense computing power of petascale supercomputers.
Twenty researchers from both Fujitsu and IHPC will develop scalable algorithms for petascale computing in the areas of computational fluid dynamics and materials science. Fujitsu supercomputer system will be used to help achieve this goal and will be housed at A*STAR’s computational resource centre (A*CRC) at Fusionopolis, a top-tier global supercomputer site.
Fidelity and accuracy
This initiative will help researchers in their study of highly complex real and engineering systems. The R&D in petascale computing applications will enable a very high degree of fidelity and accuracy that is expected to create innovative solutions for advanced applications in diverse areas in Singapore.
Lim Chuan Poh, chairman, A*STAR, said this agreement will aid both partners to develop further capabilities to drive advances in high-performance computing. This collaboration has already completed its first year, focused on the physical sciences, and will be expanded to the biomedical sciences.
“Petascale computing is the new frontier in high-performance computing and will open avenues to solve complex problems in the physical and life sciences, as well as engineering,” said Dr. Raj Thampuran, executive director, IHPC. “ IHPC’s expertise in computational science and engineering complements Fujitsu’s skills in developing new architectures. We are privileged to partner with Fujitsu in this exciting endeavour.”
