Intel, IBM in Gulf supercomputer partnership

Technology giants Intel and IBM on Wednesday announced a joint investment to boost high performance computing (HPC) expertise in the Gulf.

The companies said they have opened a HPC Competency Centre at IBM’s Dubai Internet City building, which will provide academic institutions and businesses with a centre to test and fine tune applications for HPC environments.

The centre is expected to attract interest from industry sectors such as energy, financial services and digital media, they said.

Tom Donnelly, Intel’s director for IBM sales region, said the partnership "brings value to the private and public sector across the region delivering industry-standard HPC to the mainstream".

"This pioneering step will enable companies in the region to overcome what have now become everyday computing challenges that previously hindered their businesses," Donnelly said.

The companies said the centre hardware is currently undergoing testing, and with the first customers expected to use the facility in a few weeks time.

The centre is running a cluster of ten IBM high performance servers, powered by Intel Stokely dual socket 3GHz processors, they said.

The centre will complement existing HPC centres in Montpelier and Moscow, which have already been used by some Middle East customers of IBM and Intel to test applications, they said.