Compaq and Australian APAC join forces in a high-performance computing

Housed in the APAC National Facility at The Australian National University in Canberra, the Compaq supercomputer will be available for use by researchers Australia-wide for work in areas such as molecular modelling for new drugs and pattern discovery for fraud detection. The powerful capacity provided by the system will pave the way for innovative research and development across the country.

The APAC National Facility will contribute to Australia's capability for innovation, said Professor John O'Callaghan, executive director, APAC. We chose to partner with 2 Compaq on the basis of it being the company in Australia with the most cost-effective solution to the computing capacity we need.

Compaq's high performance systems will empower the Australian scientific community to develop applications with significant benefits for society, Brandling said. APAC will also be using the Compaq solution to support organisations working on engineering, medical, pharmaceutical and chemical applications. The National Facility will have enormous potential for Australian companies to solve large-scale problems in modelling, simulation, logistics, scheduling, fraud detection and risk management, said O'Callaghan.

It will be a major factor in attracting international researchers here, he concluded. The initial system will be operational in April 2001, and implementation will be complete in October 2001.