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ClusterVision joins Birmingham’s elite academic community to showcase latest research projects from the University’s BlueBEAR High Performance Computing facility
Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 10 August 2011 — ClusterVision, specialist in high performance compute, storage and database clusters, has continued to strengthen links with the University of Birmingham, UK, by sponsoring its 2011 Post-Graduate BEAR Conference. The Conference is one of the University’s premier events, created to showcase the wide variety of innovative research projects enabled by its High Performance Computing (HPC) facility, BlueBEAR.
The Birmingham Environment for Academic Research (BEAR) was set up as a central forum to advance academic research within the University, with ClusterVision being selected as the main solution integrator for its impressive High Performance Computing (HPC) facilities.
 At the heart of BEAR’s HPC capability is the BlueBEAR IBM compute cluster. Originally opened as Phase-1 in 2007, today BlueBEAR comprises over 1,500 processing cores (AMD Opteron dual and quad-processors), and 150 terabytes of user storage. The system, which operates on Scientific Linux and includes advanced immersive visualisation capabilities, hosts over 80 commercial and in-house software applications, covering such diverse fields as Manufacturing Simulation, advanced Medical Research, Astrophysics and Archaeology.
“BlueBEAR provides a unique resource to Birmingham’s academic community,” said Dr. Andrew Chan, Professor in Computational Engineering, School of Civil Engineering at the University of Birmingham, and Chair of the BEAR User Group. “The projects presented by students at our 2011 Post-Graduate Conference, represent a vast body of scientific research which is addressing many fundamental challenges to our society”.
The 2011 Post-Graduate Conference took place at the School of Chemical Engineering, and was attended by around 60 people. In his opening address, Professor Nigel Weatherill, Head of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, at the University of Birmingham, described the exceptional HPC opportunities which the BlueBEAR facilities offers to students and staff, and emphasised the importance of communication between researchers.
Over 35 presentations were considered in the 2011 Conference agenda. They included papers on climate change, research into Alzheimer’s disease, and engineering applications on topics such as the mechanics of concrete failure, double-glazing and mobile communication performance. As one of the largest user communities of the BlueBEAR capacity, applications in Chemistry were also well represented.
Top prizes in the oral presentation category were awarded to David Ryan (Chemical Engineering), Mark Rowan (Computer Science), and Jonathan Eden (Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences), and in the poster presentation category to Julia Hofinger (Chemical Engineering), Andrew Logsdail (Chemistry), and Minxi Bao (Civil Engineering). The prizes were presented by Dr. Eugene Ch'ng, Senior Lecturer in Visualisation at the University of Birmingham, and Professor David Wales, Professor of Chemical Physics at the University of Cambridge. Joining them on the judging panel were Dr. Roy Johnston, Professor of Computational Chemistry, Dr. Andrew Chan, and Dr. Gerdjan Busker, UK Country Manager of ClusterVision.
To complete proceedings, Dr. Eugene Ch'ng, and Professor Wales presented recent work on Artificial Life and Energy Landscapes undertaken by their research teams at the Universities of Birmingham and Cambridge respectively.
Since the original installation in 2007, ClusterVision has been closely involved in subsequent evolutionary stages of the BlueBEAR facility, and continue to take an active interest in the pioneering research which the system enables.
“Our mission is to enable exactly the scale and quality of HPC capability which BlueBEAR clearly now offers to its research community,” said Dr. Gerdjan Busker, of ClusterVision. “We are proud to have been involved in the design and realisation of the BlueBEAR project, and we look forward to further partnership with the staff and students at the University of Birmingham, as their HPC research environment continues to develop.”
About ClusterVision
ClusterVision is specialist in the design, implementation and support of small- and large-scale computer clusters. Their clustering technology provides a cost-effective alternative to traditional supercomputers by connecting multiple computers to form a unified powerful computing system. ClusterVision's team of experts has designed and built some of the largest and most complex computational, storage and database clusters in Europe. With a background in applied scientific research and practical experience with a wide range of HPC technologies, the team understands customers' requirements and provides tailor-made solutions. ClusterVision has offices in Amsterdam, Gloucester (UK), Munich, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Oslo and Madrid.
For more information
Dr. Tony Kent
Marketing & PR Manager
ClusterVision
Tel: +44(0)7795 44 1655
pr [at] clustervision [dot] com
| Julia Hofinger (Chemical Engineering), first prize winner in the poster presentation category |
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| Dr. Gerdjan Busker, UK Country Manager, ClusterVision |
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| Professor Nigel Weatherill, Head of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Birmingham |
| Dr. Andrew Chan, Professor in Computational Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, University of Birmingham |
| Professor David Wales, Professor of Chemical Physics, University of Cambridge |
| David Ryan (Chemical Engineering), first prize winner in the oral presentation category |
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