Supercomputer gets to work at university

A SUPERCOMPUTER has been  installed at the University of Sheffield by a South Yorkshire eco-computer manufacturer.

VeryPC’s latest project named, after the Greek god of craftsmen, ‘Hephaestus’, was built at the company’s environmentally-friendly factory at the city’s Parkwood business park, for the university’s department of engineering materials.

The nine eco-friendly servers offer a large amount of processing power and by using energy-efficient technology, Hephaestus uses far less power than a standard supercomputer.

Managing director of VeryPC Peter Hopton said: “We’re proud to display the ‘Made in Sheffield’ mark on our products. We take our role within the local economy very seriously, and love the fact that our message, a progressive, environmentally-aware approach to IT and business is sent out to the world so clearly aligned with our
fantastic city.”

Mr Hopton opened his shop on Langsett Road in 2004 and five years on, VeryPC’s computers are being used both nationally and internationally in schools, businesses and in local and central government.  VeryPC has won various national and international awards, including, a special award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Sustainable IT’ from SustainIT, an initiative from the UK Centre for Economic and Environmental Development.

One person who will benefit from the new computer is electro-ceramics post-doctoral research assistant Alex Goncharov who said: “The computational demands of our research mean we need an extraordinary amount of processing performance. Large-scale simulations can only be practically achieved with a supercomputer like Hephaestus.”