The NZSC will be available to universities or research and development organisations - or indeed any institution across any sector that requires on-demand power and performance to analyse large amounts of data but lack the computing infrastructure.

Other uses for the NZSC may include computer-aided engineering, digital content and creation, economic and financial modelling, life science and geo-science research and development.

The first initiative to market since being acquired by Telecom, Gen-i will market the service nationally and internationally, and with Telecom manage a communications infrastructure to enable access to the NZSC environment from almost anywhere in the world.

"This is a flag in the ground for New Zealand, putting the country at the forefront of supercomputing-based research and development", stated Chris Quin, Group General Manager, Gen-i. "Telecom and Gen-i are very proud to be opening the NZSC. The computing power now available at the NZSC will help advance local New Zealand research while also attracting world-class projects to New Zealand."

Telecom will provide dedicated national connectivity between all main centres up to one Gigabit per second, as well as dedicated international connectivity to a number of global sites.

The NZSC is available immediately and Gen-i is now actively seeking projects. Customers can book the NZSC by the number of processors for set time periods, depending on their needs. Gen-i has made the connectivity speeds and pricing models flexible in order to meet the anticipated variety of needs.

Network security is provided by Gen-i's Safecom suite of services, which includes a managed firewall service and 24/7 proactive monitoring.