Hewlett Packard Enterprise Powers the University of Edinburgh’s International Data Facility with Software, HPC and AI Solutions

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) today announced that it has been chosen to power the Edinburgh International Data Facility (EIDF), Europe’s first regional data innovation center at the University of Edinburgh EPCC in Scotland. HPE will deliver an end-to-end infrastructure featuring its industry-leading high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions powered by HPE Apollo Systems and HPE Superdome Flex Servers, as well as HPE Ezmeral Container Platform software capabilities.

The deal, which has an expected value of more than US $125 million over 10 years, will help 1,000 public, private and non-profit organizations to develop products and services using R&D and other data-driven programs, with a long-term vision to establish the Edinburgh region as the Data Capital of Europe.

As a hub for innovation, the EIDF will enable R&D on initiatives focused on addressing global issues such as food production, climate change, space exploration and genetically-tailored healthcare. The EIDF will offer researchers access to HPC and AI technologies to apply analytics to modeling and simulation to increase accuracy of results and speed time-to-discovery.

The EIDF will also improve overall insights by allowing users to securely access shared datasets and analytics from public and private sources.

The EIDF will play a critical role in the region's Data Driven Innovation (DDI) program, which involves greater collaboration between industry, the public sector and academia. The new facility will power five DDI hub sites with vital infrastructure to meet complex long-term project demands. The DDI program was pioneered by the University of Edinburgh, along with Herriot Watt University, to tackle societal and industrial challenges and deliver benefits from the data economy, while improving the digital and data skills of over 100,000 people from across the region.

“We are pleased to be working with HPE to deliver what we believe is the only facility of its kind in Europe focused specifically on data-driven regional growth,” said Mark Parsons, Director of EPCC at the University of Edinburgh. “With the Edinburgh International Data Facility, we are combining computing and data resources to create a facility that will allow organizations to use data to innovate throughout their organizations. HPE is uniquely positioned to provide the spectrum of infrastructure and services, as well as the flexibility that this project demands.”