Thailand’s CMKL University will be deploying an NVIDIA DGX POD artificial intelligence (AI) accelerated computing infrastructure will be the central computing node connecting research and university nodes across the country.
As part of Thailand’s AI research infrastructure, CMKL is setting up the AI computing cluster to provide capabilities for data exchange, and an AI analytics platform to support competency building in the new normal economy. This will help drive research in various domains such as food and agriculture, healthcare and smart city.
“The platform that we are developing will allow researchers to store and manage their datasets with ease. They will be able to exchange their data with other researchers, and utilise the cloud HPC infrastructure to run machine learning codes and models at lightning speeds,” said Akkarit Sangpetch, CMKM Program Director (Thailand), CMKL University.
Established as a collaboration between the world renowned Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL), the university provides cutting-edge engineering research and education in Southeast Asia.
Its NVIDIA cluster comprises six NVIDIA DGX A100 AI systems delivering 30 petaflops of AI processing power, NVIDIA Cumulus networking software, NVIDIA Mellanox Spectrum 100GbE and Quantum 200Gbps InfiniBand smart switches that interconnect the processing nodes, and 2.5 petabytes of DataDirect Networks (DDN) storage.
20x performace boost
When operational in early November, the system will deliver up to a 20x performance boost, which is greatly beneficial for AI projects such as automated speech recognition research that needs to collect and process 1,000 hours of voice input, and a bottle recycling model that contains 600,000 high-resolution images.
“This platform will accelerate AI work in various research and development fields to create substantial positive impacts on society. Examples are an increase in quality of life in cities through better management and logistics; better optimisation of circular infrastructure, consumer insights, and biomedical research; and an increase in the quality and quantity of crop yields countrywide,” said Sangpetch.
According to Dennis Ang, Director of Enterprise Business, SEA and ANZ Region at NVIDIA, the NVIDIA DGX POD will help accelerate CMKL University’s research to develop solutions that will benefit not just Thailand but also Southeast Asia and the world.
Entelechy Asia 