Australia, Singapore strengthen tie with supercomputing agreement
Singapore and Australia are set to boost their high-performance computing communities after the National Supercomputing Centre of Singapore and Australia's Pawsey Supercomputing Centre signed a memorandum of understanding. The wide-ranging agreement aims to deliver "better, faster, and more innovative scientific outcomes" for both nations, focusing on areas including nanotechnology, medical research and the petroleum industry. Pawsey said it was the first of many such international agreements.
NSCC CEO Professor Tan Tin Wee and Pawsey's data technical specialist Mark Gray sign MOU Image: Supplied

Australia's Pawsey Supercomputing Centre has announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the National Supercomputing Centre (NSCC) of Singapore that will see both facilities work together on supercomputing, networking, data analytics, scientific software applications, and visualisation.

According to Pawsey, the MOU between the two facilities marks the start of their collaboration plan, which is aimed at delivering "better, faster, and more innovative" scientific outcomes for the benefit of both Australia and Singapore.

Based in Perth, the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre is a national supercomputing joint venture between the CSIRO, Curtin University, Edith Cowan University, Murdoch University, and the University of Western Australia.

It focuses on areas such as nanotechnology, radio astronomy, high energy physics, medical research, mining and petroleum, architecture and construction, multimedia, and urban planning.

The MOU is expected to enable the flow of knowledge between both centres, with Pawsey noting such knowledge transfer will in turn benefit the high-performance computing community within each country.

"The two supercomputing centres will collaborate in areas such as strategy, best practice and shared experiences in planning, defining, administering, and supporting industry engagement, outreach activities, training, and stakeholder management," Pawsey continued.

"Governance matters on resource access and sharing, resource allocation, export control, infrastructure accreditation; user support tools and methods; HPC software development and cybersecurity will also be considered."

See also: In pictures: The world's 25 fastest supercomputers (TechRepublic)

Both parties have plans in the pipeline which include joint initiatives to optimise researchers' activities, such as training and code optimisation, the Australian centre said.

"The proximity of the two facilities, similarities in storage solutions, but mostly creative thinking approach to problems, have driven Pawsey's interest in crystallising this relationship with NSCC," Pawsey acting executive director Ugo Varetto said.

"We are convinced that this type of initiative will enhance the services each centre provides, therefore researchers and their outcomes will be impacted. By working together, we aim to continue accelerating scientific discoveries in these two nations for the benefit of humanity".

While this is the first international agreement entered into by the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre, the centre said more will soon follow.

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