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Goonhilly opens new data centre with green HPC platform

The new managed platform delivers GPU-based compute and storage for decentralised and centralised AI and machine learning applications to meet the needs of the automotive, life sciences and space marketplaces.

Goonhilly Earth Station, a satellite communications provider and space gateway, has opened a new data centre and increased its eco credentials by launching a managed green HPC platform for AI and ML compute on demand.

Goonhilly’s green platform is designed to meet the data-intensive needs of the automotive, life sciences and space/aerospace marketplaces.

The platform’s onsite array of solar panels can support the data centre’s full power requirements of 500KW and local wind power will be added to the mix shortly.

According to Goonhilly, the company aims to create a UK hub for AI and ML services that acts as a marketplace and allows academia and enterprise to collaborate and share ideas.

The new managed platform delivers GPU-based compute and storage for decentralised and centralised AI and machine learning applications to meet the data-intensive needs of the automotive, life sciences and space/aerospace marketplaces.

By provisioning both compute and AI and machine learning resources on demand, customers can reduce the cost of deployment and accelerate time to market.

Further extending its AI capabilities, Goonhilly has joined the NVIDIA Inception programme for businesses that are transforming industries through advancements in AI and data sciences.

Goonhilly will use the NVIDIA DGX-1, the world’s first supercomputer purpose-built for enterprise AI and deep learning.

Additionally, owing to the fact that Goonhilly’s tier 3/4 data centre sits at the junction of global subsea cables, satellite feeds and fibre, customers can analyse data at the edge, eliminating the cost of a leased line to send huge data volumes back to London, or farther afield, for processing.

Existing satellite customers are also expected to use the data centre. Previously, the data transmitted was solely small packets of communications signals, but today’s satellites are used for applications including 8K real-time imaging, which use petabytes of data. By analysing the data at the edge, a much smaller packet can then be cost-effectively distributed.

To mark the data centre opening and as part of its celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, Goonhilly is hosting an event on-site on Thursday, July 18, 2019, for space industry partners, academia, customers and prospects. It includes a panel discussion on trends in AI, cloud and edge computing.

Zizo is one of the first data centre customers to have chosen to host its big data analytics as a service at Goonhilly.

Peter Ruffley, Chairman at Zizo commented: “When looking at data centres to host our cloud-based service, only Goonhilly could address our critical issues such as availability, resilience and affordability but also offer the value-add of green energy and immersive cooling. Customers are increasingly asking questions about the carbon footprint of compute power, which makes Goonhilly a great choice.”

“There are people working on some clever algorithms to save our planet from climate change. The irony is that these models require heavy processing power. Fortunately, new technology is helping, such as immersion cooling which is 45-50% more efficient than air cooling, cuts electricity demand in half, and also allows us to use the exhaust heat elsewhere,” added Chris Roberts, Head of Data Centre and Cloud at Goonhilly.

“Through our strong partnerships with industry and academia, we pride ourselves on being at the forefront of innovation. Our new green data centre is no exception. It is satisfying to open our doors to the many businesses and organisations with data-intensive applications who can benefit from this facility and the community we are creating,” noted Ian Jones, CEO of Goonhilly.