NeSI Newsletter - November 2012
An update on Otago University joining NeSI, a visit to Dunedin, announcing an annual survey for researchers, groundbreaking bioinformatics supporting New Zealand's biosecurity response, technical upgrades and more.
This is the newsletter than went to NeSI News subscribers. You can sign up to receive updates directly by submitting your email address here:
NeSI Annual Survey
All researchers invited to respond
NeSI is conducting a survey to inform our future plans. Whether you are a heavy HPC user, or have a broader interest in eResearch or education and training, we would appreciate your time to improve our services. Take Survey.
NeSI Visiting Dunedin
On 11 December 2012, NeSI is visiting Otago University in Dunedin. Come talk to us about your research needs and we can explore how NeSI could assist. To learn more or register your interest please contact Dr Blair Blackie.
Improving our chances of catching pests
Dr Laura Boykin has completed ground breaking bioinformatics via NeSI's HPC Facilities, improving our ability to control threats to our biosecurity that can cause billions of dollars-worth of damage to crops.
Otago Joins NeSI
During November the University of Otago joined NeSI through a side-agreement with The University of Auckland. This will increase the overall HPC resources available to all institutions nationally. Researchers affiliated with Otago gain access rights to NeSI's HPC via the Collaborator Allocation Class.
Connecting the sector
Tuakiri, a sector wide login service
Tuakiri, the New Zealand Access Federation, is continually growing, currently connecting 11 research sector institutions to 29 services, including NeSI services, with 34,000 uses of services already!
Tuakiri service manager Sat Mandri recently presented at the NZ ITP Sector Annual Conference in Wellington, introducing the service to the NZ Institute/Technical/Polytechnic sector. This sector has similar challenges when it comes to accessing shared learning resources and collaborating on research initiatives. Tuakiri and the NZ ITPs are exploring extension of the service to the sector during the coming year.
Upgrades to HPC Facilities
Two major NeSI HPC Facility upgrades are underway over the coming months. Recent investment from Otago adds a significant upgrade to the Pan cluster at Auckland, increasing by 1,000 CPU cores. A further upgrade to Pan is planned for 2013. NIWA are almost doubling their Fitzroy HPCF to near 3,400 processor cores early in 2013!
New Green Data Centre for Auckland
The University of Auckland's Tāmaki Innovation Campus will soon be hosting Pan in their new energy efficient Data Centre. The move is confirmed for 7-10 December 2012.
NeSI website updated
NeSI’s website has recently been updated, providing a fresher, cleaner look and feel, and some new features including an interactive calculator to easily estimate project HPC needs and costs.
New Features Coming
Researchers will soon be able to track the status of their HPC Facilities proposals and see their usage
