Intel and IBM have announced a joint investment to create high performance computing (HPC) expertise in the Gulf.

The two companies have opened an HPC Competency Centre at IBM’s Dubai Internet City building, which will provide academic organizations and businesses with a centre to test and fine tune applications for HPC environments.

Tom Donnelly, Intel’s director for IBM Sales Region said: “The HPC partnership with IBM brings value to the private and public sector across the region delivering industry-standard HPC to the mainstream. This pioneering step will enable companies in the region to overcome what have now become everyday computing challenges that previously hindered their businesses.”

The centre is running a cluster of ten IBM high performance servers, powered by Intel Stokely dual socket 3GHz processors. The centre, which is located in Intel’s existing data centre, will be available for new and existing customers of IBM and Intel to test high performance applications and code, to improve performance and efficiency.

The centre is expected to attract interest from industry sectors such as energy, financial services and digital media, as well as playing a role in helping academic research in HPC.Dr Christopher Cooper, Industry Systems Division Leader, IBM CEEMEA commented: “We need to use the system to help build the ecosystem locally, which starts at the academic end, to provide qualified graduates to move into the industry sector.

The centre will complement existing HPC centres in Montpelier and Moscow, which have already been used by some Middle East customers of IBM and Intel to test applications

“We are trying to leverage our previous track record - we have found [these centres] have been an outstanding success, so as a result we feel that it makes sense to invest in this region, to help organizations to do this locally,” Cooper added.

The centre hardware is currently undergoing testing, and with the first customers expected to use the facility in a few weeks time.