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Centre for High Performance Computing SA

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Derek J Moore (talk | contribs) at 09:18, 20 May 2024 (Added a section about the means of production. An article by Ben Williamson clarified my thinking. See https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2042753017731238). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Introduction

The Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC) offers high performance computing to industry and academic researchers. The CPHC, in 2016, joined the petaflop club when the CSIR unveiled the fastest computer in Africa [1]. Called Lengau, which is a Setswana word for Cheetah[2], this high performance computer is measured in terms of FLOPS floating point operations per second (FLOPS). High-performance computing (HPC) can process thousand-trillion calculations (a petaflop)[3]. These servers have massive amounts of every type of resource that can bought. Every CHPC is different, as much of the configuration depends on the vendor and how big the budget is.

Means of Production

Lengau is a key player in academic and industry research[4]. Countries, research centres and universities can use these systems to advance scientific discovery while commercial firms improve their efficiency or competitiveness. The CHPC is part of the | National Integrated Cyberinfrastructure System(NCIS), and is supported by the South African Department of Science and Innovation (DSI). Unlike HPC infrastructures in the global north, where ownership of the means of production lies with for-profit companies[5] or well-resourced private universities like Stanford. The CHPC (https://www.chpc.ac.za/) is state-owned. It collaborates and shares computational clusters to neighbouring countries in the SADC region[6]. In contrast to the global north, where many theories of learning are built into the educational technologies provided by the private sector[7]. The social life of educational data science and its methodological capital is shaped, at present, by the state.

  1. ^ https://www.top500.org/news/south-africa-joins-petaflop-club/
  2. ^ https://www.chpc.ac.za/south-african-chpc-unveils-lengau-supercomputer/
  3. ^ https://www.dst.gov.za/index.php/component/content/article?id=1813:minister-pandor-congratulates-the-csir-s-chpc-for-unveiling-the-fastest-computing-system-in-africa&catid=46&Itemid=101
  4. ^ https://www.technologynetworks.com/informatics/articles/how-south-africa-chpc-responded-to-unprecedented-computing-needs-to-address-the-covid-19-pandemic-348132
  5. ^ Williamson, Ben (2017-05). "Who owns educational theory? Big data, algorithms and the expert power of education data science". E-Learning and Digital Media. 14 (3): 105–122. doi:10.1177/2042753017731238. ISSN 2042-7530. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ "Advancing High-Performance Computing in South Africa: The CHPC".
  7. ^ Williamson, Ben (2017-05). "Who owns educational theory? Big data, algorithms and the expert power of education data science". E-Learning and Digital Media. 14 (3): 105–122. doi:10.1177/2042753017731238. ISSN 2042-7530. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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