Ahmedabad University Gets High-Performance Computing System to Strengthen its Research Ecosystem

Ahmedabad University has commissioned Stepwell, a state-of-the-art High-Performance Computing (HPC) system, ranked among India’s top 50 by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC). As the only private university in Gujarat and one of just two private universities in India on the list, the HPC system distinguishes Ahmedabad University’s focus as a research university.

Stepwell has a computational power of nearly 167 TFLOPS, built on the latest Intel Xeon processors along with GPU systems. It features four CPU compute nodes, two CPU + GPU compute nodes, and two SMP compute nodes, delivering robust performance for intensive computational tasks.

Many fields, including healthcare, life sciences, agriculture, finance, social network analysis, and logistics, involve long-running processes. Researchers often tackle problems with unknown solutions, using approaches like heuristics and AI in areas such as space exploration and social network analysis. The recently established High-Performance Computing (HPC) facility will benefit faculty research by providing the computational power needed for complex simulations, modelling, animation, and extensive data analysis.

The HPC facility will enable faculty to generate preliminary results, strengthening proposals for external funding. The facility will help produce concrete results based on simulations or experimental data, increasing the chances of securing funding. The HPC facility will also support faculty in conducting industrial research, which is more goal-oriented than academic research. This includes consultancy and industry-sponsored projects, enabling faculty to leverage the HPC's capabilities for practical, real-world applications. The presence of HPC facility in funding proposals aims to enhance their chances.

The HPC facility will also assist PhD students in their research, particularly those who require high-performance computing for data analysis. It will enhance the quality and impact of student research, enabling them to conduct more complex analyses and simulations. Access to the HPC will give them a competitive edge when they enter research or academic careers and be particularly beneficial for students in fields that rely heavily on computational resources.

The HPC facility will address the increasing need for rapid research results. By significantly reducing computation times from days to hours and from hours to shorter periods, it accelerates the pace of research across various disciplines. This speed is crucial for both theoretical and empirical studies. The HPC facility will improve the effectiveness of research by enabling researchers to include preliminary results and present their capabilities. The facility will strengthen its research enterprise of Ahmedabad University, comprising faculty, students, laboratories, centres, and partners, each driven by curiosity to discover and explain and a deep sense of responsibility to translate for the benefit of society.