IT IS claimed to be the equivalent for computers, of motorists upgrading from a Ford Fiesta to a Formula One car - allowing online work that takes days, to be completed in hours or even minutes.
A pilot project is to link a high performance computing (HPC) network hub in Inverness and Easter Ross with computer clusters in other parts of the UK, as well as in Europe, China, Japan and the US.
The IT giant Fujitsu, which has bases in the Highland capital and Alness, is to launch the four-month trial of the super-fast computer service with The Highland Council and Energy North, the trade group of over 200 members in the oil and gas, renewable energy and nuclear industries.
HPC can handle and analyse huge amounts of data at high speed, giving businesses and research institutions unprecedented problem- solving power that will accelerate and improve their work. Among its countless uses, HPC can advance medical research and treatments, develop climate change technology, create complex simulations and animated graphics and carry out rapid mathematical calculations.
Fujitsu, which will fund the pilot, says it has been inspired by proposals for a Highland Science Skills Academy which is aimed at growing science, IT and technology careers.
With HPC in the Highland region, Fujitsu and other companies would be able to consider establishing research and development operations in the area, which would be a catalyst for bringing new, highly-qualified posts to theremote region.
The system will use a portal to connect initially to a HPC cluster in Wales and, ultimately, to a pilot scheme in Northern Ireland, and Fujitsu operations at Hayes in Middlesex, as well as facilities in Europe, Japan and the US. Drew Hendry, Leader of The Highland Council, said HPC would open up a "new world of potential" for Highlands businesses.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article