A supercomputer said to analyse massive amounts of data at high speed has launched in Belfast in efforts to bolster Northern Ireland’s economy.
Japanese IT firm Fujitsu has invested £1.1m in the high performance computing (HPC) service, which is aimed at small and medium-sized businesses looking to develop applications across a number of sectors including life sciences, healthcare, IT and agriculture.
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, who unveiled the technology at Belfast’s Titanic Quarter, said he expected it to provide competitive advantage to a wide range of local businesses and researchers.
"Fujitsu employs over 1,000 people at sites in Belfast, Antrim and Timber Quay in Derry Fujitsu offering quality jobs in the very dynamic IT sector. Today’s announcement is not just good for Fujitsu it is good news for our small and medium sized enterprises," he said.
"Through the new HPC service tasks that previously would have taken months or weeks can now be completed in days or hours. This will deliver faster turnaround times, increase efficiency and most importantly help reduce costs.
He added: "Businesses are the backbone of our economy and we need to ensure the issues businesses face are addressed and the Executive continues to do everything we can to make sure we can all look forward to a prosperous future with confidence."
