Advanced Computing Platform
Monash University Malaysia's Advanced Computing Platform (ACP) provides a research infrastructure with high-performance computing services, reducing the time taken for computationally intensive tasks. It caters to multidisciplinary research in natural and social sciences, aiming to publish outcomes in esteemed journals and conferences.
Funded by the University's Research Excellence Unit and overseen by the School of Information Technology, the platform is research-focused and applied in various fields including computer vision, image processing, optical network, machine learning, pattern recognition, combustion, turbulent flow, nanomaterial, genome analysis, and disease association studies.
Expertise
Our team provides specialized expertise in leveraging the Advanced Computing Platform (ACP) to advance research in the exciting field of artificial intelligence (AI). With a deep understanding of AI algorithms, machine learning techniques, and neural networks, we harness the power of the ACP's high-performance computing services to drive groundbreaking AI research. From computer vision and image processing to natural language processing and predictive analytics, our team excels in applying AI methodologies across diverse domains.
With the ACP as our foundation, we are able to discover and develop cutting-edge AI solutions, pushing the boundaries of innovation and shaping the future of intelligent technologies.
Key instrumentation
Our instrumentation within the Advanced Computing Platform (ACP) is specifically designed to empower researches that require big data analytics and artificial intelligence, which include:
- High-performance computing clusters for efficient and accelerated computations
- Specialized hardware accelerators for advanced AI and data processing tasks
- Optimized frameworks and libraries for machine learning, deep learning, and data analysis
- Advanced tools for data preprocessing, feature engineering, and exploratory data analysis
- Support for computer vision techniques, including image recognition and object detection
- Natural language processing capabilities for tasks like sentiment analysis and text classification
- Scalability to handle large datasets and train complex AI models
- Integration with big data frameworks for processing and analyzing massive data sets
- Cutting-edge technology to drive innovative research in AI, data science, and related fields.
Specialist services
Our platform's specialist services also include providing software application expertise for conceptualizing, planning, developing, troubleshooting, and supporting projects on the HPC. We collaborate with HPC users and researchers to advance their expertise in software applications, focusing on tools such as Ansys, Discovery Studio, GROMACS, LAMMPS, VASP, Quantum Espresso, OpenFOAM, deep learning frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, Keras), genomics applications (GATK, BCFTool, BEDTool), and MATLAB. Additionally, we explore emerging technologies and maintain collaborative relationships with peer HPC research organizations to address evolving analytical requirements in the HPC field.
Specialist service #1: Internal and External Services
Our platform offers specialized fee-for-service options for both internal and external researchers. Researchers within our institution can access our high-performance computing clusters, specialized hardware accelerators, and advanced tools for free. This enables them to conduct their computational research activities efficiently and effectively, leveraging the platform's resources and expertise. External researchers from other institutions or organizations can also access our platform for a fee, providing them with the opportunity to utilize our cutting-edge infrastructure and benefit from our specialist services.
Specialist service #2: Consultancies
Our platform provides expert consultancy services to researchers, offering guidance and expertise in utilizing the platform effectively for their specific research needs. Our team of experienced HPC specialists works closely with researchers to understand their requirements, provide technical advice, and assist in optimizing their research workflows. Through consultancies, we help researchers to conceptualize, plan, and troubleshoot their projects, ensuring the best utilization of the platform's resources, software applications, and specialized tools. The consultancy services aim to enhance researchers' productivity and enable them to achieve their research objectives efficiently.
Specialist service #3: Collaborations for Researches
Collaboration is a key focus of our platform, and we actively encourage and facilitate collaborative research projects with researchers and research organizations. Through collaboration, we aim to leverage the capabilities, expertise, and resources of our platform to jointly tackle complex research challenges in fields such as AI, data science, and related domains. Collaborative research projects involve close collaboration between our platform's specialists and researchers, with a shared goal of achieving impactful research outcomes. Such collaborations often result in valuable insights, joint publications, and innovative research breakthroughs, benefiting both parties involved.
Specialist service #4: Training Programs
Our platform offers comprehensive training programs to researchers, equipping them with the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively utilize the platform's resources, software applications, and specialized tools. These training programs cover various aspects of high-performance computing, data analytics, and AI technologies. Researchers can participate in workshops, seminars, and hands-on training sessions conducted by our experts. The training programs aim to enhance researchers' technical proficiency, enabling them to maximize the potential of the platform and conduct cutting-edge research. By providing training, we contribute to the skill development and professional growth of researchers, fostering a vibrant research community.
Advanced Computing Platform
When you register an ACP account, here’s what you may want to know:
1. How to login and what are the best ways to access the host remotely?
2. How to transfer files between the host and your PC or to another Unix system in your lab?
3. After you login to one of the hosts, which directories can you use to run your jobs?
4. What are the batch LSF queues for running long hours computing jobs?
This introductory guide answers the above questions. Together with the relevant links provided, we hope to help you get started smoothly.
At ACP, all systems are managed by LSF (load sharing facility). With the LSF commands, you can submit your jobs to different hosts with different features, capabilities and limitations. You can monitor your jobs while they are running or check the load and status of each host to choose your submission queues and hosts. Therefore, before you start your work, do check the User Guide in ACP home page or read the man pages (type man followed by the command) for different commands to familiarise yourself with the LSF commands, queues and hosts used in the LSF environment. The recommendation is to submit all compute intensive jobs as batch jobs through the LSF.
Some users may be new to the Linux operating system. A list of the Linux commands are available here for your reference.
Unified Research Computing (URC)
Unified Research Computing is a new infrastructure that has been introduced to assist researchers in more interactive ways. This infrastructure is based on the virtualisation technology using Nutanix. The aim of this infrastructure is to provide easy access to researchers.
For more details on what these services offer in comparison to the ACP, please view the documentation here.
Download eFlyer here.
Location
Building 9, Level 5,
School of Information Technology,
Monash University Malaysia