A focal highlight of SC23 has been the discourse around groundbreaking developments, one of which is the convergence of artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.

That melding has sparked a revolutionary power dynamic, promising to propel innovation while reshaping the future. Dell Technologies Inc. and the Ohio Department of Higher Education are partnering to catalyze that future.

“We, as a larger state entity, are able to buy in large aggregate — happy to have four [HPC] clusters right now from Dell,” said Alan Chalker (pictured, right), program director at Ohio Supercomputer Center at the Ohio Department of Higher Education. “[That’s] almost 60,000 cores that then could be used by anybody in the state, be it academics, be it private industry, be it whatever. And we have $25 million in Dell hardware on our floor right now that they can leverage. Any given university, for the most part, can’t do that.”

Chalker and Armando Acosta (left), director of HPC product management at Dell, spoke with theCUBE industry analysts  John Furrier and Lisa Martin at SC23, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed the industry’s relentless pursuit of innovation and collaboration in the quest for computational excellence. (* Disclosure below.)

AI and HPC: A symbiotic relationship

Powered by Dell hardware, the Ohio Supercomputer provides a shared infrastructure accessible to all kinds of institutions and organizations, from universities to enterprises. Crucially, enabling a broader user base empowers more users and results in a ripple effect, solving more complex problems and benefiting diverse sectors, according to Acosta.

Rather than being an either/or situation, HPC and AI coexist as two symbiotic entities — one needing the other in some way. It is, therefore, important that the industry embrace both technologies in tandem, especially in relation to solving complex human problems. One example is weather modelling, Acosta noted.

“In the past, you would run a simulation and that model will tell you, ‘OK, here. This is where we think the hurricane’s going to hit,’ for one example,” he explained. “But can you imagine now, you take that result out of that simulation and you plug it into a neural network. You run training and that insight combined with that model now gives you two different perspectives, so you can actually get a better insight without each individual one — that’s the beauty of AI.”

On the topic of opening HPC to a wider audience, there’s Open OnDemand. The platform allows students, industry professionals and researchers remote access to supercomputers. By doubling down on simplicity in use, it has seen widespread adoption, with nearly 700 research-computing sites across 62 countries, according to Chalker.

“[Users] have no idea what all is involved behind the scenes –and they don’t need to,” Chalker explained. “All they need to know is that they can go and connect to some of the most powerful computer resources in the world using the latest and greatest technology. Two years ago, if I had said that sentence that I just said, it wouldn’t have made sense.”

The example showcases the seamless integration of technology into diverse fields, making powerful computing resources accessible to individuals who may not have technical expertise.

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of SC23:

(* Disclosure:Dell Technologies Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Dell nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE