Join Aditi, Stacy and Mark as they discuss all of the major milestones the Pawsey Capital Refresh achieved in 2021, and what the year ahead in 2022 looks like. 
 
What happened in 2021:  

• Dell and Xenon were awarded the contracts for Acacia and Banksia providing researchers with 130PB of multi-tier storage at the Centre.   
• Pawsey underwent thorough networking and building upgrades to support the installation and running of Setonix, Acacia and Banksia  
• We commissioned Joey, our baby quokka, the test and development system for Setonix  
• The PaCER program kicked off at Pawsey with some major achievements, including:  
  • Liam Scarlett, a Future PaCER postdoc was named ExxonMobil Student Scientist of the Year for his work in developing a theory and a suite of computer programs that is capable of producing the most detailed database of electron-molecule reaction probabilities to date.  
  • PaCER’s Principal Investigator of the EXESS project, Dr Giuseppe Barca and his team have set a new world record for quantum chemical calculations, using a supercomputer to predict the chemical reactions and physical properties of molecular systems with tens of thousands of atoms.
• The inaugural PaCER Conference, P’Con, kicked off with international speakers across a range of high-performance computing, hardware and data topics  
• The big one – we welcomed the arrival Phase 1 of Setonix, Pawsey’s new HPE Cray EX Supercomputer; we had the pleasure of hosting Margaret Whitehurst a Wajarri Yamatji artist, at the Centre, who signed her artwork printed on Setonix.   
• On the topic of phase one, as we wrapped up the year, we announced the successful Pawsey supercomputing project allocations for 2022.  

What's in store for 2022:  

• Setonix marks a step-change in Pawsey’s supercomputing firepower – the system will deliver 30 times more computing power than its predecessors and be at least ten times more energy-efficient 
• Q1 2022, testing is expected to be complete for Setonix, Acacia and Banksia and they will go into production  
• We will be announcing migration dates and training opportunities from March 2022 – (listen out for our next podcast for more information) 
• Supply chain issues and COVID-19 have prompted us to review and adapt to personnel and workforce mitigation  
  • Phase 2 of Setonix will be delivered in a number a small expansions rather than 1 big expansion 
  • More information regarding the timing of these staged expansion will become available in the coming months 
• Pawsey's new visualisation room and high-end visualisation services are now available to researchers 
  • Pawsey’s visualisation lab and services have undergone major changes in the last year 
  • The new lab features a 4.8m wide stereoscopic 3D Sony CLED display with HDR and almost perfect contrast 
  • It's perfect for large scale data visualisation and analysis, as well as serving as a collaborative space for researchers 
  • The call for us to support your visualisations will be opening soon, contact [email protected] to access these services or find out more  
• Pawsey's training and engagement will undergo refurbishment as we anticipate growth in these areas during researcher migration 
• Acknowledgement of Paul Nicholls, ex-Pawsey director and current board member who is moving to the University of Queensland