Infrastructure
Computational Infrastructure
UQ researchers have access to a wide range of shared computational resources including high-performance computing, data storage, and cloud computing. Such resources include:
National Computational Infrastructure (NCI)
The federally-funded National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) operates Gadi, the fastest supercomputer in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere (as of December 2020).
Gadi is a 3,200-node supercomputer. It offers a seven times increase in computational performance, and a significantly increased number of GPUs compared to its predecessor, the Raijin supercomputer. This provides significant benefits for the largest parallel codes in particular, and all users will benefit from shorter queues and higher throughput.
Gadi was first launched to NCI users in mid-November 2019.
250 million service units on Gadi (NCI) is available for competitive access via the National Computational Merit Allocation Scheme. UQ has an additional 25 million service units available to UQ researchers; and QCIF has a further 5.7 million service units.
Bunya
Bunya is a HPC system for broad research use across UQ. It is a Dell Technologies-manufactured HPC that will start out as a traditional central processing unit (CPU)-based supercomputer with a number of high-memory capacity nodes for special uses. Subsequent upgrades of Bunya will likely add different node types, such as high-performance accelerators, including GPUs.
Bunya uses novel methods of software deployment and management to allow for flexibility and ease of operation for researchers.
Bunya was funded by UQ with contributions from the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), and QCIF.
Bunya has been co-located with QRIScloud and uses QRIScloud's identity management system to ensure interoperability with RCC's other HPCs and storage infrastructure. For more information, visit the Bunya webpage.
Wiener
Wiener is UQ's high-performance computer (HPC) for imaging-intensive applications. It is a Dell EMC-manufactured HPC, and is designed to expedite the pace of research in a diverse range of imaging-intensive science, generated by UQ’s world-leading microscopy facilities.
Wiener harnesses the capabilities of the most powerful GPUs (Graphics Processing Units) ever made.
Wiener was funded by strategic funding from UQ and a consortium of the university’s various cutting-edge microscopy facilities housed within the Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis (CMM), Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), and Queensland Brain Institute (QBI). Researchers from these institutions will have priority in using Wiener.
MASSIVE
The Multi-modal Australian Sciences Imaging and Visualisation Environment (MASSIVE) will be the primary Australian high-performance computing facility for computational imaging and visualisation.
The MASSIVE facility provides the hardware, software and expertise to help researchers apply advanced imaging and visualisation techniques across a wide range of scientific fields. It provides scientists an unprecedented view of captured data and simulated models by providing the capability to view full resolution data sets.
MASSIVE was formed by the Australian Synchrotron, CSIRO, Monash University and VPAC, with funding from the State Government of Victoria and National Computational Infrastructure (NCI).
MASSIVE comprises two separate installations, one at the Synchrotron and the other at Monash University — both in Melbourne. These two interconnected computers operate at more than 5 and 30 teraflops, using traditional CPUs and GPUs.
15% of MASSIVE is available for competitive access via NCI’s National Computational Merit Allocation Scheme.
QRIScloud
QCIF operates the Queensland node of the ARDC Nectar Research Cloud, a national resource.
The Queensland node is called QRIScloud, and its main data centre is currently located at the Polaris Data Centre in Springfield, Brisbane.
UQ researchers can apply for access to a number of virtual machines through QCIF.
Other resources
There are dedicated clusters in the Diamantina Institute, Queensland Brain Institute, Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, Institute for Molecular Biosciences, and in UQ's School of Earth and Environmental Sciences.