Anna and Sun allies for HPC

Anna University, a premier technical university has entered into a partnership with Sun Microsystems to promote research and development on High Performance Computing (HPC) technology. The focus area of HPC research will be on computational biology and scientific computing. A Memorandum of Understanding to this effect was signed between A Kalanidhi, Vice Chancellor of Anna University and Bhaskar Pramanik, MD, Sun Microsystems India Pvt Ltd.

"Bio-informatics, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Grid Computing, Natural Language Processing, Development of Finite Element code fir CAD/CAM, Computer Aided Molecular Design, Polymer Science, Applied Parallel Computing, Econometrics, Psychology are the areas where IT is a requisite. That is why we joined hands with one of the leading international company like the Sun Microsystems on a partnership basis. We are aiming to be the world's best technology University. This tie-up will definitely enhance the educational quality," said

Kalanidhi.

Sun will install a Super Computer of HPC and will provide technical resources and training to support Anna University's requirements to promote the usage of HPC by industries and other collaborative partners. The deployment of Sun hardware on campus includes Sun Fire Ultra SPARC III Enterprise server and Cluster of Workgroup servers and Ultra SPARC workstations. Anna University will provide the infrastructure. "Though there are many universities with more than 200 years of performance, this venture with Anna University was made possible only through the faculty, infrastructure and the global reputation it has. Through this tie up we will be setting up a high performance computing technology and in return Anna will provide with the human capital which can be used in a collaborative way across the globe," said Pramanik. He added, "Every year Sun spends nearly one and a half billion in research. Through this collaboration we will be bringing real life problems to Anna University to be resolved."