Richard Gilham

Little Isambard getting ready for a trip. Stay tuned for a mixture of proper work updates and some fun ones.

AIRR advanced supercomputers for the UK

After the official switch on of Isambard-AI last week, you can now apply for time on this amazing resource! Open for researchers and companies in the UK, find out how to apply to the UK's newest and fastest supercomputer at the following link: www.gov.uk/government/p...

The image shows Professor Simon McIntosh-Smith, Director of the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing, explaining some of the components of Isambard-AI.

The image shows the Isambard-AI sign, with the logos of the University of Bristol, the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing, UKRI, HPE, NVIDIA, arm, the NCC and DSIT.

The image shows the exterior of the National Composites Centre.

Last week, #GW4 joined a special event at the National Composites Centre to celebrate the launch of Isambard-AI, the UK’s fastest supercomputer. 💻

Developed by @bristoluni.bsky.social w/ #HPE and #NVIDIA, this extraordinary facility will supercharge the UK’s research capabilities. 🚀🔬

Bristol University to receive £225m to create UK's new supercomputer Isambard AI will be 10 times more powerful than the UK's current fastest supercomputer.

🖥️ UK’s Isambard-AI supercomputer goes live.
Supports AI, NHS, and climate work.
🔗 bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-67296381
#Supercomputing #AI #UK

🚀 The UK’s most powerful AI supercomputer, Isambard-AI, is now live in Bristol. Officially launched at the NCC today by Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology Peter Kyle, it can complete 80 years of human work in one second. A new era for research begins🔬
➡️ brnw.ch/21wUdXk

Isambard-AI Now Fully Operational, Supporting Cancer Research and AI Security July 17, 2025 — Faster, more accurate cancer diagnoses and new clean-energy innovations are some of the key breakthroughs which are now closer to reality as the UK’s most powerful […]

Isambard-AI Now Fully Operational, Supporting Cancer Research and AI Security
ow.ly/ncsf50WrnMI #NVIDIA #HPC #HPCwire

Enjoyed the read, thank you. Just the right amount of 'opinion' too for my taste.

Not unmasking @hpcguru.bsky.social is a miss though. Surely someone knows...

UK's Isambard-AI super powers up as government goes AI crazy : Brace yourselves Britain, PM Keir Starmer's challenged his teams: 'show me how they can use AI'

Great to see the news about Isambard-AI starting to spread
www.theregister.com/2025/06/09/u...

One should only appear on @theregister.com three times in one's career. Once in On Call, once in Who, me? and once in BOFH. Thankfully, I don't think this counts!

A railway line glinting in the sun

On rails this week. 335 miles (and 56 chains) today ready for a talk at #Durham #HPC days.

Really interesting being on a panel at #AIUK today discussing sustainability in #AI #supercompuing

Must have been important, I wore a jacket and everything

A mega-busy March continues... Next stop #AIUK!

Looking forward to learning loads and sitting on a panel discussing sustainability in #AI

Conference organisation is at fever pitch... Everyone keeps sending me reasonable and pertinent work messages, and all I want right now is to go out and grab a pasty.

(for those not resident in SW England, you may not understand the importance of pasties in the diet)

B only for me. L is being useful at the moment.

Isambard Day '25 Isambard Day 2025 (ID25), celebrating the remarkable achievements of the Isambard supercomputers and exploring the opportunities ahead.

Last minute remote registration for an event I've been organising...

Isambard Day 2025 | 11th & 12th March
Two days of #AI & #HPC discussions with sessions on LLMs, AI in healthcare, physics simulations & more.

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/isambard-d...
Please note, remote participation is viewing only.

ECMWF going operational with AI forecasts is a big deal IMO. Their next steps will be super interesting too!

Going operational with a weather model takes huge effort and verification even when you're not changing the fundamental modelling approach everyone's been using for 50-odd years.

Amazing opportunity!

Where was Larry @number10cat.bsky.social?

Insightful interview with the father of Isambard-AI, Simon McIntosh-Smith @simonmcs.bsky.social 👏🏻

#hpc #ai #aioap

@emmamrose.bsky.social @rjjgilham.bsky.social

AI supercomputer being used to develop vaccines for Alzheimer's Waste energy from the supercomputer could one day heat nearby homes in north Bristol.

A world changing supercomputer? Yes please 🙋‍♀️

#hpc #ai

@emmamrose.bsky.social
@simonmcs.bsky.social
@rjjgilham.bsky.social

To be fair, a walk like that with a sidekick makes a million tech problems pale into insignificance.

This old fart was 11 yesterday and be best listener I’ve ever met. His name is SamDog

Interesting crop of replies, thanks. Certainly resonates with the users we presently have.

Is it OK to implement fair-share punishments when user's tickets are solved by reference to existing documentation?

This week, I'm thinking a lot about User Experience for #HPC. How can I make users 'productive' and 'happy'?

Imagine I had a magic wand. What would you wish for?

Want to use the Isambard-AI or Dawn #AI #supercomputer?
AIRR Expression of Interest to use UK large scale compute is finally out!

engagementhub.ukri.org/epsrc-resear...

The call is aiming broader than just universities so definitely worth a click.

U.K. PM Keir Starmer to announce new plans to transform the country into an 'AI superpower' - SiliconANGLE U.K. PM Keir Starmer to announce new plans to transform the country into an 'AI superpower' - SiliconANGLE

Under the U.K.’s “AI Opportunities Action Plan,” the government has set itself an ambitious goal of increasing the country’s data center capacity by as much as 20-fold by the end of the decade

siliconangle.com/2025/01/12/u...

#AI #HPC

I'd love to see the actual top500 to see where the compute really goes, other than these cloudy types of course :-)

They'll carry on obsessing about #Top500 anyway?

Saying that, UK academia seems to be showing a slight (and welcome) trend away from fixed-term contracts for RSEs and folk that enable #HPC. A recognition of the value of 'corporate memory'?

Conch-quering Federated Cloud SSH! How Isambard's certificate authority, Conch, & SSH connection manager, Clifton, can bridge the gap between external researchers and Cloud HPCs.

Starting this year with a blog post on Enhancing Security with @openstack.org Federated Cloud SSH Authentication. Discover how Keycloak can provide robust authentication/authorisation in federated cloud deployments. Perfect for sharing #HPC #AI workloads across #GPU resources.

tinyurl.com/3dt7y93s

Developing large scale hydrodynamic flood forecasting models for Exascale GPU systems

Interested in a fully-funded PhD developing the next generation of flood forecasting models for the Exascale computing era? Have a look at this project as part of the ExaGeo PhD programme - supervised by EPCC with colleagues from Edinburgh, Glasgow, and the BGS

www.exageo.org/phd-student-...

Exmoor Search and Rescue Team on LinkedIn: #exmoorsearchandrescue #mountainrescue #volunteers #donatetoday… Rope section training. Imagine ... you went for a run at Castle Neroche as it was getting dark. You trip on the slippy tree roots and tumble down the steep…

2024 retro thingie... When not being an #HPC person, I'm a #MountainRescue #volunteer where I've nearly completed my first decade as a member and first year as Rope Rescue Officer. It's a hobby-job like nothing else- buy me a beer and I'll tell you all about it!

www.linkedin.com/posts/exmoor...

Computer getting into the Christmas spirit too. Just one meeting left for the year. N e a r l y t h e r e! 🧑‍🎄

I'm thinking of setting up something similar for the Isambard supercomputers. How much take-up do you get?