Canadian research

SFU’s new supercomputer, Fir, is now online

By: Jin Song, Peak Associate SFU now hosts Canada’s fastest supercomputer, Fir. Designed for data and compute-intensive research such as artificial intelligence (AI), Fir came online in September and is the only Canadian machine in the global top 100 supercomputers. Fir replaced its predecessor, Cedar, which was “an eight-year-old system at the time that it was decommissioned,” said James Peltier, director of research computing at SFU. Peltier is “also the site lead for SFU with respect to the supercomputing systems that are part of the national platform.” From a technology perspective, eight years is a significant number. Peltier said Fir…

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