The Pawsey Supercomputing Centre based in Perth, Western Australia is delighted to receive $70 million in funding for the replacement of infrastructure.

As announced today by the Federal Government, the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre will receive $70 million in funding for the replacement of infrastructure to enable scientific outcomes for the benefit of Australia.

The Board of the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre is pleased with this announcement. The funds will be used to procure a replacement for Pawsey’s flagship supercomputer, Magnus, as well as the real-time supercomputer, Galaxy, as both systems, are close to the end of their operational lives. Magnus, a Cray XC40, is considered to be one of the most advanced supercomputers in the southern hemisphere.  Galaxy is dedicated to the operational requirements of the Australian Square Kilometre Array (SKA) pathfinder telescopes, Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) and the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA).

The Chair of the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre, Mr John Langoulant AO, welcomed the news of the funding and said, “Today’s announcement, together with last year’s investment into the National Computational Infrastructure located in Canberra, will strengthen Australia’s position in the global research environment and enable Australia to stay globally competitive.”

“This is a reflection of the government’s understanding of the value that the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre delivers to the Australian scientific landscape by accelerating innovation and increasing opportunities for engagement between Australian researchers and their peers internationally”, Mr Langoulant continued.

During this new phase, Pawsey staff will continue to engage with Australia’s researchers to identify their needs which will inform the configuration of the next systems. The procurement process for the capital refresh will commence immediately with the intention of new infrastructure being available from 2019.

“It is an exciting time to be at the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre”, said Ugo Varetto, Pawsey Acting Executive Director.

“The investment in Pawsey will have a positive impact on the Australian research community. The Centre has already been accelerating scientific outcomes and will now be able to solve even bigger scientific problems.”

Pawsey is a collaboration hub. The Centre currently serves more than 1,500 active researchers from across Australia, involved in more than 150 supercomputing projects to deliver scientific outcomes. Nine Australian Research Centres of Excellence benefit from Pawsey’s infrastructure and expertise.

This investment will enable Pawsey to continue to drive innovation and accelerate discoveries in medical science, engineering, geoscience, marine science, chemistry, food, agriculture and more.

Pawsey is unique in the Australian scientific landscape as an unincorporated joint venture that brings together the Federal Government, Western Australian Government, University Partners (CSIRO, Curtin University, Edith Cowan University, Murdoch University and The University of Western Australia) and collaborating organisations in a consortium that has been steadily producing outcomes for more than fifteen years.

Read Prime Minister, Minister for Jobs and Innovation, Minister for Education joint media release here.