Swinburne University of Technology's Supercomputer Searches for the Secrets of the Universe While Minimising Its Footprint on Earth

The Centre wanted to build a new supercomputer that could support large increases in the number of users and jobs, and process time-critical data from some of the largest radio telescopes in the Southern Hemisphere. In addition, it wanted to reduce rising power and airconditioning costs by switching to an energy efficient solution that would also minimise greenhouse gas emissions. Dell PowerEdge 1950 servers formed the building blocks of the supercomputer, dubbed the Green Machine for its powerful performance and low energy consumption. Dell's 'Rack and stack' option allowed the Centre to build, test and launch the supercomputer in three weeks. Easy scalability is assured, as each new node takes an average of 10 minutes to deploy.