UK Research & Innovation has awarded a £1.43m ($1.82m) contract for a new high-density computing room within the RAL HPC Data Center in Oxfordshire.
The contract, won by Workspace Technology Limited, will last 2.5 months, during which the company will provide "additional rack space targeted at hosting 500-600kW of high power servers providing computational data analysis facilities thus allowing the growth in demand of Science and Technology Facilities Council's (STFC’s) scientific computing programs to be met."
Details about the hardware to be used have not been included.
The contract commenced on January 8 and is expected to be completed by 31 March, 2024.
The contract was held against the HE Framework Agreement for Supply, Installation, and Management of Data Centre Management Equipment and Infrastructure, which is expiring this month. Workspace Technology is one of the vendors on that contract, alongside 2BM, Advanced Power Technology, Keysource, FEL Group, Sudlows, and Upnorth Engineering Services Ltd.
The RAL HPC Data Center is part of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, funded and managed by the Science and Technology Facilities Council and located in Didcot, Oxfordshire.
The RAL is home to the High-Performance Systems Group (HPSG) which provides system and infrastructure support for the Hartree Centre systems, BlueWonder, and BlueJoule. The HPSG also offers remote support for the Hector and Archer supercomputers located in Edinburgh.
Workspace Technology Limited is a data center solutions provider. The company offers design and build services, colocation rack hosting, micro and mobile data centers, and cooling solutions.