Big Blue IBM and Rutgers will Collaborate to Build High-Performance Computing Center in New Jersey

Last month Rutgers University announced the formal launch of a high-performance computing (HPC) center. Part of a joint effort with IBM, the center will be focused on the application of “Big Data” analytics in life sciences, finance, and other industries with the end goal of “improving the economic competitiveness of New Jersey’s public and private research organizations,” according to a statement.

IBM will provide the school’s HPC center with the software and the supercomputing equipment which will become part of the newly created Rutgers Discovery Informatics Institute (RDI2). From the press release, Rutgers University officials believe that planned future expansion of the center will eventually give the school one of the most powerful academic supercomputers on the planet.

At the core of the computer system is an IBM Blue Gene®/P supercomputer. The capabilities of the system will allow for the creation of an HPC resource, with expert support, for industry in New Jersey and the surrounding region.

Another advantage of the system will be the Education the New Jersey workforce and Rutgers students in working with advanced analytics and a state-of-the-art HPC center, and finally providing HPC resources to Rutgers faculty members and regional organizations, who are expanding their use of extremely large data sets.

“There is immense potential here because Rutgers and IBM have some of the best minds in high-performance computing,” said Michael J. Pazzani, vice president for research and economic development and professor of computer science at Rutgers. “The ability to conduct data analysis on a large scale, leveraging the power of ‘big data,’ has become increasingly essential to research and development.”

“Just as important is the valuable new resource that we are creating for industry,” Pazzani said. “The Institute will collaborate with businesses that need high-performance computing capabilities but can’t justify the cost of building their own system.”

The collaboration involving Rutgers and IBM scientists and engineers is expected to extend beyond computer science and engineering, to encompass fields such as cancer and genetic research, medical imaging and informatics, advanced manufacturing, environmental and climate research, and materials science.