The cloud is not always greener on the other side

The face of modern day computing has seen a dramatic change since the advent of the cloud, which in recent times has been accelerated by the rapid transition to remote work spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, digital transformation has been catalysed at record speeds, shifting many organisations and their entire processes to the cloud. Witnessing the benefits that cloud-based high-performance computing (HPC) can bring – improved agility, efficiency and optimised business value – many organisations have made this move permanent rather than temporary.

“All areas of contemporary research require access to advanced computing capabilities such as big data, data science and HPC,” said Professor Andrew Rohl, Head of the School of Electrical Engineering, Computing and Mathematical Sciences, Curtin University. Cloud-centric architectures, which introduce an entirely new approach to problem solving by facilitating better collaboration and digital dexterity, is key to bringing solutions to market at an expedited pace, cost-effectively. 

However, adopting a cloud-centric approach to your computing needs isn’t always a straightforward process. For any organisation embarking on a cloud transformation journey, their long-term success might often boil down to the crucial first step of determining a suitable cloud provider for their business. Selecting a provider that truly understands your business needs is of paramount importance for the successful integration, rollout and use of a cloud within your organisation.

While large public and private cloud providers claim to offer comprehensive services, they often only supply the infrastructure. This leaves users to equip themselves with their own software and an extensive skill set in code onboarding and optimisation, job queuing, file sharing and security in order to effectively leverage the HPC system. All of these more often than not result in hidden costs borne by the user.

Experienced Australian provider offers client-centred HPC solutions.

With over 18 years of international experience, Perth-headquartered DUG Technology (DUG) is proud to design, own and operate a network of some of the greenest supercomputing installations on Earth. DUG offers private HPC as a service (HPCaaS) – pure performance in a secure, fully-provisioned and fully-supported environment.

In their “as a service” offering, DUG provides, secures and maintains the whole service. DUG’s differentiated capability in cloud-based HPCaaS offers the user the full HPC stack, which includes trimmings typically unavailable in public or private clouds – high speed networks with low latency, innovative storage systems, expert support and measures of data sovereignty – all configured and tailored to the user’s specific computing requirements. This includes not only support for the infrastructure (which is offered by most clouds) but also bespoke end-user support for domain-specific workflows. This unique service includes benchmarking, tuning and testing to ensure clients are using optimal hardware and benefiting from efficient and effective use of the platform. Whether it’s cost-effectively accelerating the delivery of commercial projects, or providing the right tools for researchers to rapidly prototype novel big data workflows, the experts at DUG are wholly committed to client success.

DUG’s HPCaaS is ideal for both sophisticated users and those who lack the resources, time and expertise to set up and configure virtual machines, manage workflows, optimise software for the hardware and oversee the security. It also affords greater system flexibility by dynamically allocating resources for each task while maximising productivity without the need for dedicated hardware resources per application. Ultimately, you only pay for the capacity you utilise, eliminating any upfront capital investment. You may choose to work independently or collaborate with DUG’s team of world-class research scientists, mathematicians and software engineers who are available to help get your project up and running quickly and cost-efficiently. With complete confidence that your intellectual property is safe and secure you can configure sensitive workloads that meet your compliance and sovereignty requirements.

IT numerical modelling specialist Dr Guido Cadenazzi said: “DUG is, by far, the best cloud-computing provider I’ve ever worked with. The combination of having both HPC and physics-modelling experts on staff is incredibly powerful. They suggested many valuable improvements to my weather-model workflows. I get my results sooner, with more reliability and efficiency, and at a highly-competitive price.”

Pioneering green HPC for a sustainable future.

Apart from operating one of the largest supercomputers in Australia, DUG also strives to provide highly accessible HPC that is sustainable and climate-friendly. PUE (power usage effectiveness) and WUE (water usage effectiveness) metrics can be used to monitor and quantify the usage of these resources. DUG’s Perth data-centre operates with a PUE as low as 1.02 and a WUE of 1.35 (compared to 1.59[1] and 1.8[2] respectively for an average data-centre). These metrics are made possible due to DUG’s innovative dielectric-fluid immersion-cooling solution, DUG Cool, which uses 85% less synthetic refrigerants and slashes power consumption by up to 51%. Those are significant numbers with respect to both their environmental and economic outcomes. At the end of the day, the most sustainable energy is the energy you don’t use.

DUG plans to build the world’s first climate-positive HPC campus in regional Geraldton, WA, powered by renewable energy. It will utilise DUG’s patented cooling technology to provide some of the most energy-efficient and greenest HPC on the planet, while taking advantage of the high availability and accessibility of wind and solar in the region. As we transition to a sustainable future, DUG envisions that its Geraldton campus will not only accelerate scientific research and big data analysis, but also simultaneously help clients achieve their carbon-reduction goals and meet environmental, social and governance requirements.

Coupled with professional services such as code optimisation, algorithm development and on-demand software support, DUG’s unique and green HPCaaS offering allows you to divest yourself of time-consuming onboarding so that you can focus on your science goals and support your broader range of business applications – everything you need to be successful.