NGED connects UK's most powerful supercomputer to grid

We have successfully provided a grid connection for the UK’s most powerful AI supercomputer, which has just become fully operational.

The Bristol-based Isambard-AI is 100,000 times faster than the average laptop and will accelerate advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning and large-scale data analysis across academia, government and industry.

Backed by government investment and developed by the University of Bristol in close partnership with tech firms HPE and NVIDIA, the £225m supercomputer aims to boost the UK’s capabilities in responsible and cutting-edge AI development and is ranked the 11th fastest supercomputer in the world.

NGED engineers installed the new network infrastructure required for the project in just three weeks.

Hundreds of meters of underground cable were laid from a primary substation in the Bristol suburb of Emersons Green and a new high voltage substation was constructed.

Isambard-AI, built and run by the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing, requires power equivalent to that needed by 2,000 homes.

Stephen Blackwell, NGED’s Bristol head of operations, said: “Isambard-AI is a nationally important step forward in AI-research infrastructure and is the first supercomputer grid connection we have enabled in the region.

“We have worked at pace to enable energisation, collaborating with the university, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and others to make this happen, and in the process helping to boost the country’s AI capabilities.”

Professor Simon McIntosh-Smith, director of the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing and co-founder of Isambard-AI, said: “Securing a 5MW grid connection was a critical step for the project. It enables us to launch Isambard-AI and open up its full potential of next-generation supercomputing, whilst paving the way for innovation, skills development, and economic growth across the region and beyond.

“Isambard-AI places Bristol at the centre of the AI revolution, spearheading AI innovation and scientific discovery in important areas such as drug discovery and climate research.”