Fujitsu to deliver Australia’s most powerful supercomputer

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Fujitsu Australia Limited has been awarded the contract to upgrade the nation’s fastest supercomputer, which will help to keep Australia at the forefront of the world’s research community.

The new machine, which will be housed at The Australian National University in Canberra and operated by the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI), will provide a 10-fold increase in speed and provide Australian researchers with world-class, high-end computing services.

The new supercomputer is called Gadi, which means “to search for” in the language of the Ngunnawal, the traditional owners of the Canberra region. In November 2019, Gadi will replace the NCI’s current supercomputer, Raijin, which was also provided by Fujitsu back in 2012.

The upgrade has been made possible with $70 million in Australian government funding under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS).With 3,200 nodes, Gadi will power some of Australia’s most crucial research, seeking to solve some of the most complex and pressing challenges facing the world currently. Researchers from organizations including the CSIRO, Geosciences Australia, and the Bureau of Meteorology will benefit from faster speeds and higher capacity compared to the existing supercomputer.

Professor Brian Schmidt, Vice-Chancellor, The Australian National University, said the upgrade will power some of Australia’s most vital research. “NCI plays a pivotal role in the national research landscape, and the supercomputer is the centerpiece of this important work. Investing in Australia’s research is an investment in our future. The upgrade of this critical infrastructure will see Australia continue to play a leading role in addressing some of our greatest global challenges. This new machine will keep Australian research and the 5,000 researchers who use it at the cutting-edge. It will help us get smarter with our big data. It will add even more brawn to the considerable brains already tapping into NCI.”