Curtin sets up supercomputing helpdesk

Supercomputing consortium iVEC has committed 15 staff to a new Curtin University facility, designed to provide "advanced ICT assistance" to researchers.

Curtin Professor Graeme Wright, Curtin Professor Andrew Rohl, iVEC Chairman Mal Bryce and iVEC@Curtin Director Florian Goessmann. Credit: Curtin University.

The newly launched iVEC@Curtin comprises a total of 19 staff, including director Florian Goessmann and three Curtin ICT Services staff.

Goessman said the facility would provide fit-for-purpose ICT tools and services, as well as supporting the uptake of cloud computing.

An iVEC spokeswoman said iVEC@Curtin expanded its presence at Curtin's Bentley Campus, which previously hosted two iVEC staff.

iVEC is a state-supported joint venture between the CSIRO, Curtin University, Edith Cowan University, Murdoch University and University of Western Australia, and has been working on the $80 million Pawsey supercomputing project in recent years.

According to iVEC's spokeswoman, Curtin researchers used more than 15 percent of iVEC's supercomputing resources, accounting for half of resources allocated to partner universities.

The consortium intended to conduct a series of 10 visits to partner universities, to boost researchers' interest in supercomputing in the lead up to its launch of the Pawsey Centre this year.

Liz Tay contributed to this story.

Edited at 12.30pm on 14 March: This story initially indicated that Curtin researchers used more than half of iVEC's supercomputing resources. iTnews apologises for the error.