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 Technology Facilities Council’s (STFC) Hartree Centre in Daresbury, the supercomputer will give companies and public sector organisations entry to unparalleled computing power and experience.
Named in honour of Mary Coombs, the UK’s first feminine business 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, situated on the Daresbury Laboratory within the Liverpool City Region.
Professor Kate Royse, Director of the STFC Hartree Centre, highlighted the importance of the expertise: “Here on the Hartree Centre, our new Mary Coombs supercomputer can present UK trade with the computing power, experience and expertise wanted to flip formidable concepts into real-world options.
“From drug discovery to local weather analysis, companies can course of huge and complicated datasets sooner and extra effectively than ever earlier than, without having in-house supercomputing or AI experience.
“By giving industry access to world-class AI and high-performance computing, and to the leading skills of our Hartree Centre scientists, Mary Coombs can help businesses innovate with confidence, accelerate research, and bring solutions to market more quickly, delivering tangible benefits for our economy and society.”
Powering discovery at unprecedented velocity
The Mary Coombs system is a technological powerhouse. Delivering an unbelievable 24.41 petaflops of efficiency – or 24.41 quadrillion calculations per second – it presents 10 instances the efficiency of its predecessor, Scafell Pike, whereas working with improved power effectivity.
To put that in perspective, a human performing one calculation per second would want over 773 million years to obtain the identical outcome.
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 creating new medicines and predicting local weather change to advancing clear power options, its capabilities promise to remodel how advanced issues are solved.
A catalyst for UK productiveness and development
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 sooner than ever earlier than, the Mary Coombs system is predicted to have a profound influence on the UK financial system.
It will empower small companies in addition to massive enterprises to harness the complete potential of AI and superior computing applied sciences which are 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 flip 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 expertise, digital expertise and high-value jobs.
“By giving businesses the infrastructure to explore and apply advanced digital technologies, we’re helping to build a stronger, more innovative digital economy and ensuring the UK remains at the forefront of global research and development, driving growth and opportunity across the nation.”
Driving the UK’s AI future
The launch of the Mary Coombs AI supercomputer additionally aligns with the UK Government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan, a nationwide initiative to strengthen the nation’s place as a world chief in synthetic intelligence.
As 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 development, sustainability, and discovery are nearer than ever to changing into actuality.