It was exciting to visit the remarkable State of Ohio Computer Center yesterday to help Ohio Supercomputer Center officials dedicate the state’s latest investment in state-of-the-art, shared, statewide technology resources — the HP/Intel Ruby Cluster supercomputer.
This new system is a boon for Ohio for many reasons – it promotes continued collaboration and efficiency around the state, it supports and strengthens our commercialization efforts, it helps to train a high-tech workforce, and its availability will increase the quality of the education and research here.
The Ohio Technology Consortium, called OH-TECH for short, was created by the Board of Regents to foster collaboration and efficiency, and this investment by the Ohio Supercomputer Center is the latest in a series of vital partnerships. As another example, Ohio’s state agencies are in the process of moving onto OARnet’s ultrafast, 100-gig broadband network, which already advances research and job growth across Ohio’s medical centers, colleges and universities, K-12 schools, public television stations, and technology networking corridors.
We also are working with JobsOhio to ensure we are maximizing our job-creating assets statewide. Smart technology investments, such as OSC’s Ruby Cluster, are important incentives that will draw new technology- and research-based businesses to the state and to retain existing ones.
OH-TECH and Ohio’s colleges and universities are working closely with the State of Ohio Computing Center, also known as SOCC. Over the last few quarters, employees with the Department of Administrative Services have completed significant upgrades to the SOCC, which have resulted in increased ceilings for primary power, backup power, and cooling for its tenants – all of which are vital to such a large data center.
Director Blair and his DAS staff also headed up a consolidation effort with several state agencies, which not only saved the state tens of millions of dollars, but also lowered the resource consumption of their tenants at the SOCC. This set of improvements has paved the way for increased investments by the Ohio Supercomputer Center and other OH-TECH organizations, and also prompted the move of two entire data centers to the SOCC – those of The Ohio State University and the university’s Wexner Medical Center.
I’m confident this impressive machine will enhance the Supercomputer Center’s offerings to its clients and partners, as well as solidify the center’s standing among its peer organizations. I’m eager to see how OSC’s university and industry researchers will use the Ruby Cluster to further strengthen research and innovation across our state. Stay tuned!
