Compucon CPD Seminar
Wed 11 December 2013
Compucon House, Albany

4:00pm – 4:15pm  Reception
4:15pm – 4:45pm  NZ in Mega Project (Andrew Ensor)
4:45pm – 6:00pm  Compucon Roadmap (TN) 
6:00pm – 6:30pm  Muffin Break
6:30pm – 7:00pm  Prospect of HPC in New Zealand (John Bancroft)
7:00pm – 7:30pm  Peer Reviews (Dave Fielder & Hamish Fenn)
7:30pm   End of Seminar

NZ in Mega Project

Dr Andrew Ensor is director of the AUT-led New Zealand Alliance research & design team for the SKA (Square Kilometre Array) telescope project. He will talk about the involvement of New Zealand in the Central Signal Processor and Science Data Processor work packages of the biggest science and computing project in this century- www.skatelescope.org. Specifically, who in New Zealand will be doing what over the next 3 years that lead to the construction of the telescopes and computer systems in Australia and South Africa? What are the challenges to the researchers and New Zealand? New Zealand is one of the biggest teams in SKA and particularly in its computing aspects and thus we have a significant presence in this mega-science project. How are we going to leverage our involvements for the benefits of the country and the local industry?

Compucon Roadmap

TN has talked about various technology ideas over the last many years and has added big data iron, IPVS, and GPU parallel computing to the Compucon stable gradually.  At this point in time, Compucon is gearing up for yet another technology acquisition and this is the biggest effort of all in history.  The new venture is in high performance computing (Mt Everest) for top tier customers and not in cloud computing for the average consumer.  This venture is given birth by a unique position the SKA project has given to Compucon- that being one of the few industry members having the first peep into various potential ground breaking technologies for SKA employment.  Nevertheless, Compucon I business is still the bread and butter of the company and Compucon I is only going to get stronger whilst Compucon II is building up.  TN will talk about plausible scenarios for 2014 to 2016.

Prospects of HPC in NZ

Professor John Bancroft is the head of Project Development of Science and Technology Facilities Council in UK and has been heavily involved in the funding process and people networks of the SKA project amidst other efforts.  John will talk about customer spaces as the hook for major project funding acquisition and how to connect with customers. He will reveal the opportunities for HPC to enable other industries, especially via developments coming out of the SKA project. John has personal relationships with many top industry players and vendors in the world, and his current interest lies in high performance and parallel computing.  Together with Andrew, John will assist New Zealand to develop capabilities that will be recognised as a leader in HPC and they will employ Compucon as a vehicle.