Make fit-for-purpose investments aligned with sector needs
By working closely with research communities to understand their aspirations and goals, NeSI is able to be more flexible and responsive to addressing needs and capitalising on opportunities to better support New Zealand’s research sector.
Over the course of 2019, NeSI supported new capabilities in genomics research, machine learning applications, and high performance end-to-end data transfers between institutions and NeSI. Additional new services, such as advanced data analytics tools, virtual laboratory capabilities, and remote visualisation features, are being rolled out to lift researchers’ capabilities to tackle large, complex, and unique research challenges.
Responding to specialised needs
In late 2019, NeSI enhanced its HPC platform to better support users running simulations with high memory demands. Two “large memory” nodes with 1,536 gigabytes of memory, along with one “huge memory” node with 6,144 gigabytes were added to the platform. With larger and faster memory, and processors based on a newer generation of Intel technology, users of this new infrastructure could run more complex simulations with increased performance. The new nodes complemented NeSI’s original set of large memory nodes (16 nodes with 512 gigabytes) and the original huge memory node (with 4,096 gigabytes), which remain active and accessible.
Staying connected with researcher feedback
In 2019, of the 249 unique responses to a question in our end-of-project allocation survey, 231 researchers (93%) Agree or Strongly Agree that NeSI services are meeting their needs. Of the other responses 14 were neutral, 2 disagreed and 1 strongly agreed.
