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Work begins on supercomputing collaboration in Australia
from Contact 14
BY JUAN CARLOS GUZMAN, SKA-LOW HEAD OF COMPUTING AND SOFTWARE
In early August, SKAO staff joined representatives from the Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre in a workshop to begin negotiations on a collaboration agreement between the two organisations.
Pawsey will host the data centre for the SKA-Low telescope at its site in Perth, Western Australia – next door to the SKAO Science Operations Centre. The organisations have adopted the Vested® relational contracting methodology to develop this agreement, the same method used in the SKAO software contracts.
The main outcome of this workshop was the co-creation of a statement of intent, which includes a shared vision, guiding principles and intended behaviours for the collaboration agreement.
The SKAO-Pawsey team worked well together, bringing positive attitudes and energy to the workshop that is well aligned with SKAO values. It was an example of true collaboration between the two institutions. The aim of the team is to have the agreement ready for signature by the end of 2023.
The SKAO and Pawsey are similarly aligned in their commitment to sustainability in their design and operations, and excellence in their goals and achievements. Pawsey’s newest supercomputer Setonix was named the most powerful public research supercomputer in the southern hemisphere and fourth greenest supercomputer in the world in November 2022.
Pawsey’s Setonix currently processes data for SKA precursors in Australia, ASKAP and MWA, and the SKA-Low prototype instrument AAVS2. Data from the recently constructed final prototype AAVS3 will also soon be stored at Pawsey.
