A brand new period of digital innovation has arrived within the UK with the launch of the Mary Coombs AI supercomputer, a state-of-the-art system designed to speed up breakthroughs in science, drugs, and clear power.
Housed on the Science and Expertise Amenities Council’s (STFC) Hartree Centre in Daresbury, the supercomputer will give companies and public sector organisations entry to unparalleled computing energy and experience.
Named in honour of Mary Coombs, the UK’s first feminine industrial programmer, this next-generation AI supercomputer represents a landmark in British computing historical past.
It has been put in inside STFC’s brand-new £30m Supercomputing Centre, positioned on the Daresbury Laboratory within the Liverpool Metropolis Area.
Professor Kate Royse, Director of the STFC Hartree Centre, highlighted the importance of the know-how: “Right here on the Hartree Centre, our new Mary Coombs supercomputer can present UK trade with the computing energy, experience and abilities wanted to show bold concepts into real-world options.
“From drug discovery to local weather analysis, companies can course of huge and complicated datasets quicker and extra effectively than ever earlier than, with no need in-house supercomputing or AI experience.
“By giving trade entry to world-class AI and high-performance computing, and to the main abilities of our Hartree Centre scientists, Mary Coombs can assist companies innovate with confidence, speed up analysis, and convey options to market extra rapidly, delivering tangible advantages for our financial system and society.”
Powering discovery at unprecedented velocity
The Mary Coombs system is a technological powerhouse. Delivering an unimaginable 24.41 petaflops of efficiency – or 24.41 quadrillion calculations per second – it affords 10 occasions the efficiency of its predecessor, Scafell Pike, whereas working with improved power effectivity.
To place that in perspective, a human performing one calculation per second would wish over 773 million years to realize the identical end result.
Designed particularly for AI workloads, machine studying, and superior visualisation, this GPU-based AI supercomputer will dramatically velocity up analysis and innovation throughout a number of industries.
From growing new medicines and predicting local weather change to advancing clear power options, its capabilities promise to remodel how complicated issues are solved.
A catalyst for UK productiveness and progress
The Mary Coombs supercomputer is a part of the £210m Hartree National Centre for Digital Innovation (HNCDI), a strategic collaboration between STFC and IBM.
The programme helps UK companies and the general public sector in adopting rising applied sciences akin to AI, quantum computing, and information analytics – key instruments for reinforcing productiveness and competitiveness on a world scale.
By turning cutting-edge analysis into real-world purposes quicker than ever earlier than, the Mary Coombs system is predicted to have a profound affect on the UK financial system.
It would empower small companies in addition to giant enterprises to harness the complete potential of AI and superior computing applied sciences which can be quickly reshaping industries worldwide.
Paul Vernon, Head of STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory, added: “The launch of the STFC Supercomputing Centre and Mary Coombs marks an necessary milestone for UK innovation, giving companies entry to world-class instruments and experience to show concepts into actuality.
“This new facility is a crucial nationwide asset for analysis and innovation, strengthening the North West’s place as a hub for superior know-how, digital abilities and high-value jobs.
“By giving companies the infrastructure to discover and apply superior digital applied sciences, we’re serving to to construct a stronger, extra progressive digital financial system and guaranteeing the UK stays on the forefront of worldwide analysis and growth, driving progress and alternative throughout the nation.”
Driving the UK’s AI future
The launch of the Mary Coombs AI supercomputer additionally aligns with the UK Authorities’s AI Opportunities Action Plan, a nationwide initiative to strengthen the nation’s place as a world chief in synthetic intelligence.
Because the UK’s solely supercomputing centre devoted to industrial collaboration, the Hartree Centre continues to drive digital innovation and scientific progress.
With Mary Coombs now on-line, the nation’s ambitions for AI-driven progress, sustainability, and discovery are nearer than ever to changing into actuality.
