12 technology


Region leads project to develop IT as a utility


In an era when people rely implicitly on the likes of cars and electricity supply, there is significantly less trust in and use of IT utility services.


To address this, a £1.5 million investment by the Research Council UK’s (RCUK) Digital Economy Programme (a consortium of UK universities led by the University of Southampton), is to establish a research network focusing on the challenge of ’IT as a Utility’ (ITaaU).


ITaaU is about the provision of information and technology in a transparent and highly usable manner.


In our digitally-driven society, people are increasingly


accustomed to having broadband access to a wide range of applications. Commerce and industry too are using the same technologies to support staff, market products, service their customer base and manage supply chains.


Many of these services are provided through digital content, multi-functional sensors and other connected devices and as their use increases, user communities and urban/rural infrastructure will become more integrated with the Internet and the Web.


The three-year ITaaU Network+ project will work towards simple, usable and safe IT provision from smart services, surroundings and information stores. It will also


examine the perceived barriers that inhibit new users of these services.


The consortium is led by Jeremy Frey from the University of Southampton. Frey explained: “IT as a Utility is closely related to grid and cloud computing with its emphasis on making IT resources effortlessly and almost invisibly available to the end user. Cloud models for access to applications and infrastructure are well established and changing the way users interact with applications, especially where the application is accessible from multiple devices and users.“


In the public arena, smartphone apps – a typical download being the one to follow and support London 2012 recently – have


Supercomputers keep UK at leading edge


The UK’s most powerful GPU-based supercomputer, Emerald, has gone into service alongside the University of Southampton’s own supercomputer Iridis 3, with the combination of these two high- performance computing systems allowing businesses and academics unprecedented access to their super-fast processing capability.


Using the newly-available technology, researchers will tackle areas ranging from healthcare (Tamiflu and swine flu); astrophysics (real-time pulsar detection application for the forthcoming Square Kilometre Array Project to deploy the world’s most powerful radio telescope) and bioinformatics (analysis and statistical modelling of whole- genome sequencing data). It will also tackle climate change modelling; complex engineering systems; simulating 3G and 4G communications networks and developing new tools for processing and managing medical images.


Both supercomputers were unveiled at the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL), which will host and operate Emerald.


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shown that there is a demand for such easy-to-use IT functions, yet the potential scope is much greater.


“Information technology is now crucially important to almost everyone in the UK,“ Frey continued.


The ITaaU Network+ will bring together researchers from universities and industry, alongside users and content and data providers and processors from the many disciplines needed to understand the provision, uptake, usability, management, robustness, security, trustworthiness and sustainability of applications and services delivered in the future Internet.


The network will be arranging a variety of workshops – including smaller focused discussions and larger-scale community meetings – and will initiate new collaborative research and provide academic and industrial secondments.


AV company honoured


Beaulieu-based audio visual company DJ Willrich (DJW) has been shortlisted for two industry awards.


It has been honoured for its work on two projects out of the three shortlisted, in the ’consumer installation of the year’ category of the AV Awards 2012 – Titanic Belfast and Fort Edmonton Park in Canada.


Iridis 3, the University of Southampton’s supercomputer


Iridis 3, hosted by the University of Southampton, was launched in 2010 when it was ranked 74th in the top 500 supercomputers worldwide.


The occasion also marked the official launch of the e-Infrastructure South Consortium which comprises four of the UK’s leading universities: Southampton, Bristol, Oxford and University College London. The consortium has collaborated with the department of scientific computing at RAL to form the e-infrastructure South Centre for Innovation,


which will own and operate both supercomputers.


Both supercomputers have been funded by a £3.7 million grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), part of a £145 million government investment in e-infrastructure.


Minister for universities and science David Willetts said: “They will drive growth and innovation, encourage inward investment in the UK and keep us at the leading edge of science.“


DJW designed, supplied, installed and programmed the AV and show control systems for the Capitol Theatre show experience at Fort Edmonton Park, Canada’s largest living history park. Through its use of AV, it was able to create a 3D effect with the use of glasses, using two screens to both create the illusion of a cinema screen being cracked by ice and trigger snow falling on visitors.


Its work at the recently-opened Titanic Belfast project has received international acclaim as innovative interactive features have helped to bring the story of the Titanic to life.


The results will be announced in London next month.


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – SEPTEMBER 2012


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